Comments on: Barbie-Buyer’s Remorse

By: Leanne

Leanne — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:14:17 +0000

hi karen,

imho …..means “in my humble opinion” cheers!

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:52:35 +0000

I completely agree with you Leanne. Cinderella’s story doesn’t bode well with me either, (I actually wrote about her specifically on my first blog) but given the choice between the two evils, the Cinderella doll was at least clothed more respectfully than Barbie. As I said at the beginning of my entry, I definitely lost myself for awhile. Great to hear your ideas. Thanks for writing. (Please Tell me what imho means.)

By: Leanne

Leanne — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:45:30 +0000

Children are so exposed to so much junk without our control as it is- ie.magazines in stores, playmates choice of toys, etc. that I say why not shield them from that which we can control? at least until they are of an age to understand rationally about how and why exposure to certain things(and the values accorded to those ‘things’) may not be in their best interest.
just curious though- how it is that Cinderella became so much more agreeable over Barbie? to me she is portrayed as helpless and victimized -with her situation only being resolved by the arrival of a fairy and a prince. hmmm…the ‘need to be rescued’ syndrome doesn’t bode well for me anyways imho!~peace~

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:16:02 +0000

Thanks for your thoughts Marn. Ha! Barbie can’t stand on her own two feet! That’s so true! I thought your point about most baby dolls being very realistic was interesting. I hadn’t considered the fact that ‘Barbie’ is the first ‘adult’ doll that kids play with. This is obviously a topic that people are very opinionated about….I love it!

By: Marnie

Marnie — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:12:30 +0000

Good points ladies, now I’ll make a few of my own…and someone else’s! Firstly, just so you know where I am coming from, we have talked about Barbie with my 5 1/2 year old daughter. She has heard her father and I say that we are not particularly fond of Barbie and she knows the reasons: Barbie is all about her outside beauty, she doesn’t really “do” anything, (she can’t even stand on her own two feet!) and she is always smiling (who understands better than a emotional toddler that noooobody is always happy). My daughter also knows the value of a sensible shoe:) If my daughter does desperately want a Barbie one day, I would like to think she has made an informed decision! At three, she would not have been able to look critically at Barbie. Now…Before Barbie young children are playing with “baby” dolls. If you haven’t seen children’s dolls these days, let me tell you how realistic most of them are: They wear diapers (some of them even wet them), they gurgle, they are appropriately dressed, they are chubby, they cry etc. Then comes your daughter’s first doll that portrays an adult… meet Barbie. “Not only do these dolls have fictionally proportioned small body sizes, but they lean towards escalating the belief that materialistic possessions, beauty and thinness equate happiness. Barbie has more accessories available to purchase than can be believed, including Ken, her attractive boyfriend. Barbie Dentist (nice to know she has risen above the 1992 Barbie, who said “Math is tricky” ) wears a mini-skirt and has enough hair that would choke her patients. I do believe it helps to perpetuate an ideal of materialism, beauty, and being thin as important elements to happiness in one’s life. At an age where children are very impressionable and seek to be like the role models around them, it’s important to emphasize that they are pretend.” Do I personally think Barbie=eating disorders, poor body image later in life for the young adults that used to play with them? No. However, If there were no Barbie, no boobjobs, no Brittany, no botox … hmmm

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:47:56 +0000

I’m glad you giggled Aurora; I liked the Lady and the Tramp too!

By: Aurora

Aurora — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:04:25 +0000

Just loved the Lady and the Tramp reference Karen! I giggled all the way through the post. I wouldn’t be buying barbies, toy guns, make-up or high heels for children as gifts but if they go through a stage of wanting to play with them, better not to draw too much attention to it. The stages pass…..

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:46:57 +0000

I wondered if I would hit a nerve with this post! Thank you for the reactions ladies.

I do appreciate the fact that these are ‘toys’ and that there are many other factors that will have a greater influence on the young women Fig and Pip will become, but I still feel good about my decision. Toys are a huge part of children’s learning, and if I had boys interested in playing with toy guns and other weapons, I wouldn’t welcome them into our house either. It’s true that all of their friends might have them, but that doesn’t mean they’re a good idea.

I was a huge Barbie fan as a young girl, and, I’m not saying that Barbie was completely responsible for this, but I think that I placed far too much importance on my looks for several years. I had the stereotypical notion of the ideal figure; long legs, tiny waist, perky breasts etc. and I admired movie stars instead of admiring athletes and writers and artists. I’m just hoping to steer my daughters in a different direction.

My article was a little tongue-in-cheek, and I’m not sure that I’ll always forbid my daughters from playing with Barbie, but they are so terribly young and impressionable. Why not surround them with positive impressions?

(To clarify: I do believe that many actors are great artists worthy of admiration, but not solely for their looks. )

By: Allison

Allison — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:12:57 +0000

I read a great article about how little girls never actually aspire to be Barbie; rather they control her. They cut her hair and dress her funny and draw on her face. Kind of a tribal ritual and definitely social capital – pretty much all your daughter’s friends will have Barbies. We all laugh about them as grown-ups. I had Barbies and I don’t look a thing like her now!

By: Sue

Sue — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:37:31 +0000

Karen, Barbie is just a doll and the shoes are just dress up. These items will have nothing to do with how your daughter turns out in the end. You and Big-Daddy-O are amazing parents and will be the biggest influence on your children. Don’t get drawn into the “my daughter would never play with barbies train of thought”. I played with Barbies and I like to think I turned out OK. I also used to have great fun wearing my moms shoes around the house for dress up, didn’t you?
I wear high heels almost everyday and I don’t think I am any less of a person for it. I know I have taken your concerns a little on the literal side, but I would not be to concerned over these material items. They are not what makes the woman in the long run!