To think that Barbie advert can piss off?

[TammySwansonTwo]

Starts with a small girl giving a lecture to a room full of adults, then switches to showing her actually playing with barbies. Then says something about how when you're playing with Barbie you can be anything you want to be.

Huh, really? Like something other than an anatomically inaccurate sexualised image of a woman? DFOD.

Anyone seen it?

You're either being naive or obtuse, I'm not sure which.

Do boys have the same level of body image expectations as women, and the same sense of being defined primarily by their appearance, and therefore the likelihood of being susceptible to these images from a young age? No. Boys playing with barbies is really beside the point, beyond given them unrealistic expectations of female bodies I suppose. But hey, they'll have porn for that when they're a bit older.

I think its hard for us divorce the current barbie with a range of occupations, from the preceding 50 odd years of barbie as solely eye candy.

Kids today may well see barbie as an expression of be anything...but that doesn't mean we can easily ditch the baggage iyswim.

I do think her new incarnation could include realistic body proportions...just coz why not?

My dd plays the same games with barbies that she does with objects like pennies and pens. Does that mean she will grow up wanting to be a pen? Or a penny?

"unrealistic"?

One of my faviourite women makes a great point.

You're yet to explain how Barbie is sexualised.

Sorry, watch from 1:20

Its like seeing the old unilever adverts for domestic appliances...they are appear to be sexist on a level unimaginable in this day and age...but at the time they were selling vacuum cleaners to women to free them from drudgery....

I think it’s arguable, actually.

I don’t think you can underestimate how much emphasis young, impressionable young boys put on appearance.

Love Island, for example, is a perfect example of how there is pressure and expectations leveled at both sexes.

Is it more prevalent for females? I believe so.

Is it Barbie’s fault? Absolutely not.

You are, IMO, looking for something to be offended by. And your thinly veiled insults aren’t covering you in glory.

At least Barbie has manners on her along with perfect hair and teeny waist.

Christ on a bike. Honestly, I despair.

And you're precisely right Morphene - if her proportions are so irrelevant, why haven't they changed more significantly? Why are there so few dolls that girls can actually relate to directly without these messages.

They may be trying to rebrand her in an empowering image but it's so transparent to me.

barbiesears that is a truly daft comment. Children anthropomorphise pens etc occasionally, but they obviously identify more strongly with toys in the shape of human beings....

tammy don't worry these discussions usually get more informed and less bat shit after the first few pages....

Kids today may well see barbie as an expression of be anything...but that doesn't mean we can easily ditch the baggage iyswim.

I won’t be teaching my dd anything about the history. I’d much rather her enjoy the “new” Barbie.

You cannot realistically equate the two - men and women have very different pressures in society as it stands. There is certainly more pressure on men to conform to specific standards of beauty, but the message from society still is that their appearance is not of critical importance compared to other factors.

And I'm not looking for offence, just paying attention.

mad indeed! I meant we as adults can't easily mentally separate her from her baggage, not that we should teach girls today the entire history of the barbie franchise.

Well, I will continue to teach my dd that her appearance is not of critical importance.

I will also continue to teach my sons that they can be sensitive, and soft, and even dislike football.

Neither gender is without its societal pressure or gendered expectations. I believe it is a parent’s shop to counteract the bullshit.

I meant we as adults can't easily mentally separate her from her baggage, not that we should teach girls today the entire history of the barbie franchise.

That’s a fair point. In the same vein, though, I think it’s only fair to acknowledge that the current advert is a leap in the right direction in terms of the message Barbie sends compared to her history.

Love the new advert actually, thought it captured how children place themselves into fantasy and aspirational situations through play.

Was very surprised when it swapped to be a little girl playing with Barbie (was never allowed to play with barbie as she was a tramp pmsl but Sindy was for some reason fine). I think it’s wasier for some people to blame products and companies than accept the reason why all children have body image issues is because of the damage humans are doing not products.

Mad I completely agree! I think it is a parents role to be critical of the biases presented to children by society and to challenge them all day everyday.

Anyone who thinks parents have the larger influence on their kids has obviously forgotten what being a child is like though....in order to make a dent on societal gender stereotyping, not to mention peer pressure, it feels like you have to be screaming at the top of your voice nonstop....its tiring.

Well, its a hard sell for their agency to be honest. They haven't got much worthwhile to work with.

At least they aren't still calling the vet version of Barbie 'Animal Doctor Barbie' (I hope).

I never liked dollies like that anyway when I was a kid.

A parent’s job! Not shop, ffs!

Tammy what would you like to happen to Barbie I am not being obtuse or batshit I am genuinely interested

I notice the other day watching the lego nijago series (sometime after noticing there is a ratio of one female character to every 9 male characters, and the main female serves only as damsel in distress in the episodes I've seen) how massively unfeminine the female characters are because they are all based on the standard body shape for lego 'men'.

I mostly noticed because of how 'fat' and bulky it made them look when we have been trained by every single other animation to expect waify slender waisted female characters.

If you think the some total of all these images, including barbie, isn't damaging, then you are nuts.

mrsJayy to be fair it was me that made reference to batshit posts...though never posters....and that was mostly in regards of the post suggesting that barbie is no more likely to influence a child's body expectations than a pen....which is genuinely batshit.

I honestly am not too bothered about what happens to Barbie - it's the juxtaposition of telling girls they can be anything they want while forcing unrealistic standards on to them that really irked me. I don't generally think of Barbie in my everyday life to be honest. I wish Barbie weren't quite so unrealistic, I think it's quite telling that young girls are drawn to dolls with such an exaggerated shape in the first place. And there are plenty of dolls that are outright unrealistic / exaggerated and that's clear, but pushing proportions and staying with a generally naturalistic appearance is what bothers me so much.

What annoyed me was the message when a girl plays with Barbie, she can ....
cannot remember the rest.
But what annoyed me was it went back to the stereotype of what girls/boys play with.
They made Barbie a girl toy. They could have said when a child plays.

When mine where younger I never saw toys in relation to their sex. They were just toys.

There was something about the ad I didn’t like just in the same way I don’t like LEGO for girls for example. It’s just a toy.

No one complains action figures aimed at boys have unattainable figures. You don't see any chubby, bald, middle age superhero/action dolls but no one says it's giving boys unrealistic expectations of men's figures. But girls get stereotyped as being unable to play with a Barbie without being influenced by her figure and looks.