Barbie Dolls and Princesses

Before I go on my rant, I feel I have to preface it by saying that, for the most part, I was not a normal little girl. Mom went into motherhood imagining that I would, like all little girls, love playing with dolls and dressing up. She instead ended up with a little girl that pitched a fit if she had to wear a dress, and knew more about baseball by the age of four than most little boys do by the time they are old enough to play it. I had a room full of dolls, given to me for birthdays and Christmas that I never played with. When I overheard my mother telling a friend that she had given up on buying dolls for me because I ignored them, I thought I would give playing with dolls a go because I felt a little sorry for her. What did I do? I stripped them naked, hung them by the neck from the curtain rods, and taped signs to their butts that read, "Help me." I thought it was great fun. My mom, at this point, was not overly surprised, but never again did she complain.

I would post the link, but it is really pointless to do so. This one circulates every few months. Again, self proclaimed feminists afraid to tackle real issues are in an uproar over Barbie dolls, and claiming that they are the cause of eating disorders. They blame her unrealistic proportions, and have even built a life size model of Barbie to demonstrate what she would look like were she a real woman. Surprise, surprise, she looks like a mutant. Cue my eye roll.

Of course Barbie is not going to look normal with those measurements as a life sized human. She's a doll!!! But this goes a bit deeper than that, because Barbie has long been demonized for being a bad influence on little girls. Sure, there have been some ill conceived versions of Barbie out there, where she has been marketed to little girls in an overtly sexist way. However, let's not forget that Barbie has also been a rodeo star, a veterinarian, and an astronaut. She has her own beach house, a bad ass car, a wardrobe that even the most die hard tomboy would envy, and sue her, she looks good for her size and proportions. Women are allowed to take pride in their appearance still, aren't they?

Barbie has even managed to be a princess at some point or another, and there's nothing wrong with that. Even I wanted to be a princess at some point during my childhood. Well, that was until my grandfather pointed out that it was better to be a fairy tale princess than a real one because real princesses married their cousins and had ugly children.

A little girl that emerges from childhood with an eating disorder, a low self esteem, or a sexist self image does so not because of Barbie dolls. She does so because her parents did not encourage her to be her own person and to love herself as she is. Little girls are generally attracted to little girl things, and while I am not saying that she should be discouraged from little boy things if they interest her, it is hardly unnatural and certainly isn't sending a negative message if she goes through a phase of dressing herself in pink and insists on being called Your Highness during play time.

I think it might be a good idea for anyone that doubts the normality of gender specific play to look up Brenda/David Reimer. Be warned, his tale is tragic, but very telling. I linked to the Wiki article for simplicity's sake, but if you want to find out more, track down the "Horizon" documentary about this poor guy. You'll be riveted and in tears, but it is well worth the watch.