"Hawaii Barbie, Feminist Barbie" The positive and negative effects of the Barbie doll in modern sociey.

Essay by QuilathHigh School, 11th gradeA+, March 2006

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Barbie is a popular doll that became the symbol of the desired beauty norms that nearly no woman can achieve. The American Barbie is a doll that is beautiful, tall, skinny, and blond. It has slim waist, large breasts and long legs. Barbie is a goddess that symbolizes the norms of feminine beauty in the western world. Barbie owns a handsome man named Kan, a Barbie baby, Barbie children, multi-floored villas, cars, an accessorized kitchen, electronic devices, a swimming pool exc. Nevertheless, is Barbie really a good-for-nothing blond doll?

There are obvious problems that concern Barbie and her line of products. For example, in the eyes of many women Barbie is accused of anorexia, bulimia, creating a society that only appreciates white and blond beauty, globalization and more. In addition to those accusations, think about the fact that every time we buy a Barbie doll, we root the impossible Barbie role model in our subconscious- for girls as the ultimate feminine model and for boys their favorite feminine model.

On the other hand, Barbie is not such a disaster after all. Throughout the years Barbie has blended into all of the once-masculine jobs: she was a proud astronaut, a veterinarian, a doctor, and practiced many crafts until women have entered them in reality. Furthermore, lately politically correct Barbie dolls were started to be made- we were introduced to ethnical, black, Hispanic and Indian Barbie dolls to satisfy all if the market's consumers. I don't think the actions to make the Barbie more socially friendly are right but I don't thing bad of them as well. After all, Barbies are just dolls little girls play with, and if it is not the Barbie then TV/ magazines/ commercials will give girls the same message about the wanted beauty in...