Barbie Syndrome... even for boys

I have a love/hate relationship with Barbie.

I do like her, believe me. I had what would probably be considered too many Barbie things growing up:

• I had a small army of nearly 50 (k, maybe that is an exaggeration... 30?) Barbies - men, women, even retro ones - some of my aunts' dolls from the 70s that my Granny kept. 

• Then there was the hot pink, remote-controlled convertible. Oh yes! 

• And, the crowning glory: my 3-story, bright pink Barbie Dream-House complete with an elevator and a cat that purred from the kitchen sink windowsill. No lie.

My Barbies - even just one - provided endless hours of entertainment. 


And they also provided 

the breeding ground for body and beauty insecurities. 

For me and nearly every other girl in America.

It is no surprise really.

BARBIE WAS THE TOP-SELLING TOY IN THE 20th CENTURY!?! (1)

So she affected a lot of girls. But not in a good way.

Check out this comparison of the average woman and Barbie: (1)

                      Height:             5'4"                            6'

                Weight:            145 lbs.                      101 lbs. 

                Dress Size:       11-14                          4 

                Bust:                 36-37"                        39"

                Waist:               29-31"                        19"

                Hips:                 40-42"                       33"

Frightening right?

A more accurate Barbie might look like this: 

But would we still play with her? Want to dress her up? 

I think there should be a balance between unattainable beauty standards but also health. I'm not sure that the above picture strikes that balance but it certainly does make a point: 

Barbies don't look like real women. 

This is being dubbed "Barbie Syndrome."(1)

The odd thing is that it has started to affect boys as well. 

It seems their dolls (excuse me: "action figures"), have set some pretty high body standards as well. 

"Male action figures have grown increasingly muscular over the years. GI Joes, for example, have biceps that are twice as large as those of a typical man and larger than those of any known bodybuilder. These action figures (and comic strip heroes) put boys at risk of developing the 'Barbie Syndrome' - unrealistic expectations for their bodies. As a result, some researchers maintain, increasing numbers of men are becoming preoccupied with working out and taking dangerous drugs such as anabolic steroids" (1) emphasis added

Good, maybe people will pay attention to the problem now. 

Don't get me wrong, I still wear pink and high heels and I wouldn't mind driving a pink convertible around BUT I'd like to do that without worrying about blowing away in the wind because I don't weigh enough to be fully human and healthy. 

Also, I'd love for my future daughter one day to have a Barbie Dream-House and all that I had but 

my hope is that...

her Barbies will provide a realistic body image. 

Further, I hope that her Barbie will be arriving at her Dream-House, getting back from some fabulous job where she will be far too busy planning exciting, intelligent and more important things than to have to waste brain energy worrying over whether her business suit makes her butt look big or something shallow like that.

(1) These notes were taken from my textbook: Marriages & Families: Changes, Choices, and Constraints by Nijole V. Benokraitis, 7th ed, 2011,  p 116-117

A Sad Reality: young girls and body image

I went ice skating today. With friends from my Sunday School class and our teacher and her two daughters - one in pre-K, the other in 4th grade.

I brought my camera: purple, easy to operate, enticing to the youngest girl.

She wanted to take pictures. I let her.

At one point, she was photographing her older sister who she no doubt looks up to. Her sister said, "NO! Don't take pictures of my legs."

"Why," I asked her.

"Cause they're ugly," she said.

Completely shocked, I asked this beautiful, young girl before me, "Why do you think your legs are ugly?"

"They're fat," was all she said.

Recently she hit a growth spurt and now she is super tall and stretched out; my mom insists that she is "skinny as a beanpole."

I quickly tried to reassure her that there was not an ounce of fat on her but I could tell by the resolute self-disgust in her face that she did not believe me :(

This broke my heart and as much as I was sure it would break her mother's, I called her later to alert her to this body image issue in hopes that she could nip it in the bud.

Unfortunately, upon recounting the brief discussion, before I could finish she said, "her fat legs?"

Apparently this has been an issue for awhile and even today while driving home from the skating rink, the girl asked her mom, "What is the average weight for a 9 year old girl?"

Though this situation seems awful and perhaps abnormal, it isn't.

It is a sad reality.

"According to figures provided by the country's first residential eating disorder treatment facility, the Renfrew Center, and the Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40% of 9-year-old girls diet regularly. According to the Harvard Eating Disorder Center in Boston, 42% of first-, second-, and third-grade girls want to be thinner. Eating disorders also have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness." This came from a great article entitled "More Young Girls Worry About Their Weight."

I remember struggling - though not dieting - when I was younger. One thing that encouraged me AND I think could encourage this young girl and many others who think their legs are "fat" is the old Thunder Thigh, etc. ads from Nike.

Check them out. Show them to the young girls - AND women - that you know.