The Barbie Effect | Teen Ink

The Barbie Effect

August 26, 2011
By Kay_Kay GOLD, Maclagan, Other
Kay_Kay GOLD, Maclagan, Other
10 articles 34 photos 20 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Don't dream your life, live your dream."


Women put their bodies through killer exercise regimes, crazy diets (to the point of eating disorders! Anorexia and Bulimia ring a bell?), surgical and non-surgical procedures such as acid peels and plastic surgery and various other things…For what? To look like a Barbie and her dream boy Ken!? Or maybe we want to look attractive..?
Because plastic is definitely more appealing than a good old fashioned natural girl; you know, with her own nose…I say all of the above and societies harsh definition of what a ‘perfect’ woman looks like.
The majority of men can chow down their food like there is no tomorrow!
Sadly it is us women our society picks on. Our looks! Our weight! Why!?
We should be able to go out, stuff ourselves with food, and not have to worry about receiving those judgmental looks or if that slice of cake really will go straight to our thighs…Us curvolicious gals have more fun anyway.
We starve ourselves into anorexia, or anorexia nervosa, a disorder of both mental and physical levels that causes a loathing for food; it may get us that skinny look we are after but the long term effects can be fatal…the lack of food results in serious malnutrition.
Doctor of medicine Roxanne Dryden-Edwards states that, “Anorexia is a condition that goes beyond concern about obesity or out-of-control dieting. A person with anorexia often initially begins dieting to lose weight”
Or binge and purge formally known as bulimia; a compulsive disorder marked by sessions of overeating followed by induced vomiting, the use of laxatives, fasting or various other ways to physically eliminate the food from their bodies before they gain the weight…
And don’t get me started on Barbie! Growing up, little girls were given these skinny, delicate dolls (or 10) so we played with them and basically were completely influenced by this ‘perfect woman’.
A big bust and small waist; that is the Barbie criteria we strive to meet when we go under the knife; facelifts, nose jobs, thigh liposuction, implants on various parts and jaw surgery just to name a few of the procedures we inflict on ourselves…Chiselling through muscle and sawing through bone; is it really worth it?
Cindy Jackson, a woman


that was so influenced by
Barbie that she dedicated her life to looking exactly like her! She spent over one million dollar$ and had over 60 cosmetic procedures just to reach this goal!
Get this, she is still going! Just so she can keep her Barbie body looking young and perky (did I mention that as of this year she is 55years of age…)
Speaking of princesses, child beauty pageants are full of them! These contests are for children aged 0 to 18 years; 0!! These girls are being taught fake smiles, wearing flippers (fake teeth) and wigs, breathing in clouds of hairspray, wearing rather revealing clothes and competing in categories that include ‘talent’, ‘swim wear’, ‘interview’ and various others like modelling routines! Did I mention that these are KIDS!?
They are losing their childhood! These girls don’t get to play in the dirt (because they would be






scared that they might break a nail…) do you think these girls get to play in the playground without a care in the world? NO! They are taught to worry about their image and basically to grow up way too fast…
Their mothers enter them into these pageants to “boost their child’s self-esteem, as well as teach poise, public speaking skills, tact, and confidence” or to “ensure that their child knows they are beautiful” although, many experts say that it is just so the child can live their mothers dream.
Women should stop focusing on reaching that impossible goal of ‘perfect’ and concentrate on just being themselves!
Whether you are skinny or curvy it doesn’t matter as you are who YOU are…not a human version of a doll or the pretty princess your mothers wish for!
Forget the media! Those models are photo shopped anyway…Forget Barbie and forget being the ‘perfect’ size 2! Just be YOU!

The author's comments:
I am very passionate about just being yourself and how everybody is perfect just as they are. This article is specifically aimed at the girls and women in our society...the targets of media. I hope any girls reading this realise just how AMAZING and SPECIAL they are!
Here is some food for thought:
$5.6 billion is the amount of money it takes to put 100 million uneducated children in school...it is also the amount of money U.S. parents spend on Barbie dolls each year.
1000 women die each year from anorexia.
The #1 wish for girls aged 11 to 17 is to be thinner.

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This article has 2 comments.


on Apr. 18 2016 at 12:23 pm
I don't understand articles like these. Yes, Barbie's figure (slim, busty, blah, blah, blah...) is nearly impossible and not "normal". BUT, people like y'all teen authors keep saying that us ladies shouldn't let society tell us how to be. that's what city girls everywhere are saying. But you then talk about how Barbie has made you feel like you aren't normal because that seems to be the body image society wants you to have. If you had truly rejected the body figure standards society sets, then you wouldn't feel pressured to get Barbie's figure. You don't need to try to find comfort in your body type by pushing Mattel to make curvy Barbie dolls. if you want to be yourself then do it. God thinks you are beautiful, and that's all that matters.

bamalam6 said...
on Sep. 23 2011 at 8:05 am
Just scraping the surface of a huge issue.  Many good points. Those women that allow themselves to get past the society pressure and image of beautiful to 'just be themselves' are the most attractive regardless of size or looks.