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Sayavong 1
Hanley Sayavong
Chris Tomlinson
Honors English 1
14 May 2010
Barbie: The Bitch Has Everything?
On eBay, a bidder can purchase a pink license plate frame that says, “I want to be Barbie. The
bitch has everything.” Barbie appears to have the perfect body, Ken, her handsome boyfriend, a
multitude of careers ranging from a teacher to an astronaut, and an endless wardrobe with all the
accessories. But a close examination of Barbie may reveal that she does not have everything.
Mattel’s Barbie doll has enjoyed a long and profitable history. Invented by Ruth Handler, the
first Barbie was marketed in 1959. This simple Barbie, named after Ruth’s daughter, wore only a
black and white swimsuit and sold only for three dollars (“The Pros and Cons”). Today, Barbie is
the best selling fashion doll around the world. Currently she is sold in 140 countries with annual
sales of approximately $1.5 billion. Somewhere in the world, a Barbie is sold every half-second
(Dittmar, Halliwell, and Ive). Barbie makes up more than 80 percent of Mattel’s profits
(Lawton). In the United States among girls between the ages three and six own an average of
twelve Barbies. Ninety percent of girls aged nine to ten own at least one Barbie (“The Pros and
Cons”). Barbie has not only been a profitable toy but a culture icon for the past 50 years.
Although a powerful socioculture agent, the Barbie doll, is good for fantasy play, she
promotes stereotypical gender roles and unhealthy body images in young girls.
Barbie dolls can be an excellent outlet for fantasy play. “Research has shown that fantasy and
play are considered important part of girls’ socialization and development. Also, toys portraying
gender and adult roles, like Barbie, provide girls with a tangible image of social values and social
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interactions” (Griffin). By playing with Barbie dolls, girls can imitate adult conversations and
situations that are socially appropriate. The Barbie doll encourages girls to express their
creativity and expand their imagination through pretend play.
“Interestingly, a 2004 study in the journal Adolescence found that as girls approach late
childhood and early adolescence they are less likely to engage in make-believe play with their
Barbie dolls and instead increasingly expose them to ‘torture’ or ‘anger’ play’”(Griffin).
“Torture” or “anger” play included painting, shaving or pulling the dolls apart. Although this is a
hostile form of play, researchers view it as a normal and healthy outlet for a child to express
aggression and frustration that would otherwise be inappropriate in public. “Torture and angry
play are both common and involve disfiguring Barbie Dolls (torture) and acting out scenes in
which Barbie did something mean to the child and punishing Barbie for it as a way of releasing
emotions (angry)” (Abramson). Though torture and anger play with Barbie dolls appears to be
advantageous, imaginative play with Barbie dolls seems to activate female stereotypes in young
girls.
Playing with Barbie dolls promotes stereotypical gender roles. “Significant results would
mean that exposure to Barbie could lower self-perceived ability and makes female stereotypes
more salient” (Abramson). A simple example is the emphasis on Barbie’s massive accessories
and her love for shopping. This alone makes the stereotype of women shopping until they drop
prominent. A conspicuous example of stereotyping was the 1992 teen talking Barbie that uttered
the phrase, “Math class is tough” (“The Pros and Cons”). This doll strengthened the idea that
girls were not as smart as boys and did not have the same mathematical skills. The most notable
Barbie that instills stereotypes was the Doctor Barbie. The packaging specifically called her a
baby doctor, not a pediatrician. Her only medical instruments are a stethoscope and an otoscope,
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instruments usually used by a nurse. The accessories were cute babies and lollipops. She wore
jeans with pink glitter, which is not professional medical attire (Abramson). Mattel failed
miserably in portraying Barbie as an equal with man in the medical profession. But the company
was successful at sending out the message that Barbie is obsessed with cute things. “It has been
argued that Barbie dolls reflect a highly sexualized image and circumscribe girls’ play by
emphasizing prescribed roles and patterns of interaction. It is feared that by dramatizing
stereotypical feminine roles during play, girls will internalize and later embody such roles”
(Kuther and McDonald). Even as Barbie promotes stereotypical gender roles by diminishing
young girls’ perceptions of talent and capabilities, she also internalizes prioritizing surface
beauty.
Barbie’s own physique elevates an unhealthy body image in young girls. Close scrutiny of
Barbie’s anatomy reveals disproportionate body parts when compared to the average, healthy
woman. “If Barbie were full size, her measurements would be 32-17-28, typical of a woman
suffering from anorexia. Add to this anorexic frame her large gravity-defying breasts and you
have a body ideal that is virtually impossible for a healthy, non-surgically altered woman to
attain” (“GI Joe vs. Barbie”). According to the article “The Pros and Cons of Barbie and their
Extreme Effect on Society,” if Barbie were a real woman she would have a waistline 39 percent
smaller than the average anorexic patient. Her fat-to-body-weight ratio would be below 17
percent, which is required for a woman to menstruate. “Researchers generating a computer
model of a woman with Barbie-doll proportions, for example, found that her back would be too
weak to support the weight of her upper body, and her body would be too narrow to contain more
than half a liver and a few centimeters of bowel. A real woman built that way would suffer from
chronic diarrhea and eventually die from malnutrition” (“The Pros and Cons”). From the article
Sayavong 4
