Just this morning, I was scrolling through Facebook (as usual) and came across a BuzzFeed link that caught my attention almost immediately. We come across articles that constantly mention the importance of keeping our younger generation of girls from contemplating an “ideal body type”, however little is done to make sure this is actually implemented. I find it so disheartening that our society has made it so that even young girls are conscience of their weight. We all have the “ideal” female body type as skinny and perfect, even though this may go over our heads. It is not a secret that the popular toy Barbie has also had a large role in influencing younger girls from early ages, setting ideals and expectations for themselves that should not cross their mind at these ages.
So in response to all of this criticism, Nickolay Lamm came out with a Barbie doll completely different to what they have been producing up until now. This doll is supposed to replicate a “normal” girl, coming with things like acne, stretch marks, tattoos, bruises, etc. I found this to be an amazing act of effort towards reclaiming what a “normal” girl is, and the response in the video by all the girls made it all worthwhile. The word “real” was repetitively used by these second graders and some were even able to relate these dolls to their sisters, mothers, aunts and other people they actually know. The children found them just as entertaining and loveable as dolls they have had in the past, and in fact seemed to find them more interesting because they were able to find realistic human features in them. I was touched just to hear that young second-grade girls were able to point out the fact that they were not as skinny or fake as what they are used to. However, this also proves that children’s minds are most shapeable when they are young, and therefore we should be taking advantage of this and shaping them in the proper way.
As a girl in her twenties, I can definitely speak for myself when I say that a doll like this would have changed things. Growing up in Los Angeles, there were constantly things like toys, advertisements, reality TV shows and real people that felt that there was an ideal picture of a woman to strive towards. Younger generations nowadays have even more of a possibility of being affected by these critiques with all of the new forms of media and their easy accessibility. We need to be reminding girls that there are more important things out there than being skinny and perfect, and I think that this doll is the perfect step in that direction. Watch the video here: