Research Debunks 'Barbie Ideal'

[arlekindearrabal]

interesting... thx

 

[fashionbutterfly]

well to me in my country where most gals are burnettes,barbie to them is torture because it let them think that to be beatiful means you have to be blonde with blue eyes.i spoke to a girl once and she said that to me flat!!!

i was totally struck i never knew kids think like that!!!

 

[kawaii_elle]

i remember my barbies were really sexual, which was weird, when i think about it now. i didn't mutilate them or anything. although i always wondered why my sister named barbie and my barbie dolls did not look alike.

what do microwaved barbies look like, anyway?

 

[oanadobre]

I don't think Barbie is the main issue here. I blame it on the parents' lack of time/will to explain the kids the difference between the visual models and their own identity. I can't find the words to phrase this right now, but I feel that parents should pay more attention to the kids, to show them that they are beautiful and worth loving, despite the fact that they do not resemble the doll on the shelf or the model on tv...

 

[Diorling]

My Barbie's were fabulous. My favorite wasn't Skipper or the others, it was the Birthday Suit Barbie (which is actually quite dirty now) who was wearing a nude colored "chiffon" dress with a huge full skirt and had little rainbow swirls on the dress. She was incredible. I also had a Ken that rollerbladed, wore a torn up tshirt and lime green bike shorts, he lived on South Beach with his long time companion the Blue Power Ranger...

 

[oceanharlot]

man, i was EVIL to my barbies. i was so spolied... my grandma gave me one a week when i was 6 or 7... i had a trunk full of them. it was kind of scary actually, when the pile of barbies starts to resemble a mass grave of battered soldiers. i would burn off their hair, their skin, repaint makeup on them, change the eyecolor with markers, give them scars with needle and thread...

they were warriors. i used to go get oil based clay and alter their bodies (we didnt have pregnant barbie then).

Then I'd take my fleet of crazy barbies and make dramas. real ones, not like... oooh no! our fridge broke, let's go buy a new one Ken! . More like- i would have robber barbie who would mug pregnant barbie, who would have an anxiety attack and have to go to the hospital where she would meet burn victim barbie and leukimia barbie and meet nurse ken and doctor barbie (who were having an adulterous affair in the coat closet when they weren't doing rounds).

i had an overactive imagination. plus, i spent a lot of time in hospitals as a kid, so i guess it made me pretty demented for a 7 year old.

 

[fab_fifties_fille]

Ah I really loved my barbies when I was young...and wasn't spoilt, but my mam gave me 'creative license' so to speak...she didn't make me keep them pristine, but wasn't always too happy when I was chopping away at their hair.

I would cut the hair off my barbies (also a few punk barbies, barbies with bad bobs etc) and I would colour their hair with lipsticks my mam had given me for dressing up. I'd also paint underwear on them with nail varnish. I think that's part of my love of clothes, fashion and creating came from... finding scraps of fabric/old bedsheets and cutting, sewing and pinning them to make dresses...so basically they were a 3D creative output, me and my friends would also do the typical 'playing families' thing with them. ah good times

I did however, try to make one do the splits once (outwards like an action man doll could) and ended up with a leg in each hand and a little barbie torso on the floor

I was around at my neices house the other day who's 8 and went up to see her in her room where she was playing with her dolls with one of her friends...and all of her dolls were Bratz, not a barbie in sight...I prefer barbies but I think that's because of nostalgic value. They all looked pretty pristine...no hair cuts or spare legs in sight

 

[christilynn]

My brothers used to iron my barbies boobs flat

 

[DreamsAreMade]

^ oh my Lord.

 

[Fabulyss]

I believe I had around 45 Barbies, none of which were mutilated (well, my lesbian sister butched out one of them but that was not my idea).

Oh, and to those girls that were strangely sexual with their Barbies...I thought I was the only one!

 

[Boomer]

Let's face it, Barbie affected us all in one way or another- image, ideals, whatever. I was once called "my Ken Doll" by an "older woman" and never knew how to take that...It WAS meant as a compliment, but I felt funny, I guess.. (Now if she had only looked a bit more like Barbie... ;->

 

[Taper-Jean Girl]

I use to break my Barbies legs off. Just to be PC, I thought there should be a handicap Barbie.

 

[*Princesse*]

I never mutilated my Barbies, or felt like I had to live up to their "ideal image." In fact, I was glad I didn't look like her because whenever I'd dress them in ballet outfits or swimsuits, they'd look fat because the fabric would have to stretch so far from their little plastic bodies to get from their little plastic boobs back to their little plastic tummys. That's the one time I remember even thinking about Barbie's figure lol. She was just a doll. I do, however, remember being VERY intrigued by Ken's abs. Yummm - for as a much as you can say that about a plastic doll without being sick lol. And again, about the mutilating thing, when I started 'growing up', I just started having my Barbies perform full length Shakespearian plays. Yes, I was a strange little child.

 

[Boomer]

Shakespearian Barbie! I LOVE it! I can see it now, "As You Like It" in the West End starring Barbie and Sienna Miller! I'd go every night!!!

 

[*Princesse*]

Shakespearian Barbie! I LOVE it! I can see it now, "As You Like It" in the West End starring Barbie and Sienna Miller! I'd go every night!!!

Haha it was so great! And each of the Barbies in the play would have a "real" alter ego, who would be in the dressing room, going to fittings, getting their hair and make-up done, and then I'd open up one of my big Shakespeare books, and read through a play with all the Barbies doing different roles. I had two Kens, which was just enough to make it through most of the plays lol. I remember making my parents even sit through some of my plays.

 

[Boomer]

You should have video taped it! What an adorable idea!!

 

[fourboltmain]

I just had to post this.






Go Gemma! Go!



Source: www.bellazon.com

 

[iluvjeisa]

I believe I had around 45 Barbies, none of which were mutilated (well, my lesbian sister butched out one of them but that was not my idea).

Oh, and to those girls that were strangely sexual with their Barbies...I thought I was the only one!

Hah, well, that's a blast to be strangely sexual with 45 barbies I guess that's what's been done in the latest dolce & gabbana campaign, lol. Anyway, I think I had about 10 barbies and one Ken (which I hated because he was so inflexible) - and then of course I had about 30 Barbie horses and a room devoted to them all

 

[Hanne]

Barbie Foosball Table

Speaking of mutilating Barbie..

I saw this and thought it was rather fun.

The alternative foosball table is the brainchild of French designer Chloe Ruchon and was presented at the DMY Youngsters Exhibition in Berlin.





images from cubeme.com/blog

 

[Trista]

That's actually a great idea-if I had the funds it would be mine.