You Say: The Trial of Barbie

August 11, 2011

Barbie has been charged with a number of crimes in her lifetime, most often she is held accountable for enforcing unrealistic aesthetic ideals and contributing to the growing epidemic of a lack of self-esteem in kids, specifically young girls.

If the icon were to stand trial for the accused crimes by a jury of you, where would your verdict fall?

I, wearing a ‘Free Barbie’ t-shirt, would be firmly planted in favor of the defendant.

I am a feminist and I love Barbie.

She had a large impact on my childhood and it was definitely positive.

As a child (and admittedly, well into high school) I played seriously with a large array of Barbie dolls. I spend countless hours with my sister, crafting who each doll would become. Playing with more than ten dolls at a time, each one was unique, possessing different personality traits, mannerisms and skills. As each doll was ‘born’ into her world, (to my sister’s dismay) I would painstakingly dress each one in a manner that would visually let everyone know who she was – a skill that developed over time and is now invaluable to my career as a costume designer where my work is based on the ability to visually showcase the idiosyncrasies of different characters through their clothing. Therefore, I must credit Barbie for giving me the opportunity to hone my craft long before I even began my career.

With such a diverse group of personalities assigned to each, logically, they followed various different career paths. The Barbies I played with always re-assured me that ‘girls can do anything’. Many held the expected jobs as models, dancers and fashion designers, but some just worked to make an honest living as a car mechanic,  store clerk, organic farmer and server. Many were academics; a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer and even a politician who had to balance single motherhood with being the city’s Mayor. My Barbies were literally (in the words of Beyonce) “Girls, who run the world”.

Yes, Barbie is designed with unrealistic proportions and I can see how a line is drawn from her to problematic body ideals. But, most humanoid toys are not reflective of accurate proportions, so why single out Barbie? I played with these dolls more than the average child and I can’t find evidence that links dolls to my personal self-image growing up.

No, I was not an infallible super confident tween, in fact, I was riddled with insecurities especially around my appearance, but the blame doesn’t fall on my dolls. In my case, these insecurities are more likely credited to the fact that I grew up in a home filled with beautiful women. Seriously, I had a little sister that on more than one occasion garnered the interest of my crushes, an older sister whose good looks were always highlighted when friends met her and a mother, that upon introduction of the term MILF into pop culture, quickly received the title by my male friends.

These were the women with covetable looks and who I would compare myself to when I looked in the mirror. But they aren’t guilty of any crime either, because they were always much more than what they looked like. They set the bar high with intelligence, creative talents, academic achievements, spirituality, generosity, sociability, and despite their own struggles with self-doubt, a seemingly effortless sense of confidence. So although they contributed to my diminished self-esteem as a teenager, they are also the role models that taught me to be a well-rounded and self-assured adult.   

Although I adore fashion magazine in all their airbrushed glory, they are more likely suspect in the crimes of un-realistic beauty standards, much more so than a plastic doll could ever be (but let’s leave that can of worms for another time).

Lastly, Barbie not only utilizes imagination, it offers young children a safe world where they can mimic issues in their real environment with dolls serving as their personal stand-ins. I observed this kind of alter-ego playing when I visited my nephews during the holidays. They went across the street to play with their female cousins who were eager to play with their new Barbies and Kens. Each child played with one doll that quickly became a heightened version of themselves. Their chosen dolls not only physically resembled each of them in some obvious way (same gender, same hair color, etc), but as the stories unfolded, they also embodied the same personalities as the individual players controlling them. They used the dolls as an extension of themselves and explored self-expression throughout the game. For example, one of my nephews is shy when pressed to answer direct questions about himself, but when asked the same question about his doll (that is obviously him) he answers quickly and surely. The doll actually gave him an improved sense of confidence. As I went from childhood to adolescence, I often used the world of Barbie to recreate issues in my environment and explore different outcomes and even, versions of myself. Proving that Barbie can be a wonderful source of enjoyment, as well as a tool to help young people find themselves and grow as individuals.

In closing, I can’t imagine my life without the amazing and positive influence of Barbie, without her, I would not be who I am today. But I do understand there are a myriad of different ways in which Barbie can influence an individual child, positively and negatively.

What about you? Did she support your dreams? Taunt you with her perfectly painted features? Give you a therapeutic space to play out your issues? Instill un-obtainable body ideals deep within you? Was she a physical representation of contemporary girl power or traditional gender roles?  Or was she nothing more than a plastic toy with no significant impact on your life whatsoever?

Please share, what do you really think of Barbie, and why?

In the ongoing trial of Girls Self-Esteem vs. Barbie, as a character witness… you say?