To Barbie or not to Barbie?

[mrsruffallo]

I never wanted dd to have one, but her friend has a couple and ny dd loves them.
She has told me she wants to save up for one-what do you think?

Barbies, not barbie's

whats not to like?

they are cheap, long lasting and dd2 plays with hers for ages

she has 32 Barbies

don't comprehend why on earth this is an issue - choose your battles carefully!

Ye-es. Now why were Sindy's more okay somehow?

Was it because she is very slightly less freakoid of figure?

OR because she has a very big head to contain all her clever Girlbrains?

Message withdrawn

32!!!??!!Why?

I did a thread on this last year but must have been in Chat as I can't find it now. Then someone else slagged it off.

I did a thread on this last year but must have been in Chat as I can't find it now. Then someone else slagged it off.

Dd's have been thoroughly trained to think they are uuuugly. I am content. They have dollies like this one.

The more you resist Barbie, the more desirable she will become! Smile sweetly, buy Barbie and watch how little interest she will show after say 2 hours! Same goes for all the Disney stuff.

Really, they are all passing phases - my DD wouldn't be seen dead with a Barbie/ Cinderella dress/ Minnie mouse lunch box nowadays. However, a year or two ago, she WAS 'Barbie girl'! We even had the Barbie with the dog that pooed.

I quietly put it all in the bin about 6 months ago and she's never mentioned or missed any of it!

If I should have banned the Barbies on grounds that they give a false representation of a woman's body- what about the Russian babushka my dd was bought when she was two? Would you say that is a more accurate representation?
(all right, so dd would no doubt argue it is an accurate representation of my body, charming and supportive child that she is ).

Personally I can't see any little girl growing into her preteens and saying to herself 'I really want to look like Barbie'. She is just too obviously unreal. The real danger IMO is that they will want to look like some famous model or actress- but you can't ban those or even their images. All we can do, is to give our daughters an idea of the fun of being a real healthy woman who is happy in her own skin.

I'm not sure that the fact that they grow out of them v quickly means that they haven't absorbed any messages, though?
Might just mean that they've absorbed them really quickly!
Moved onto the next ambition-destroying article?

I'm still of the opinion that a mother who yo yo diets is far more harmful to her dd's self image than a barbie.
I also owned a cabbage patch doll but I never had a burning desire to look like one!

The Barbie films are great too.

I really don't think Barbies are the negative influence many think they have.

ye-es ranting
But logic dictates that because one thing is harmful, doesn't mean that another isn't.

There is, sadly, plenty of harmful to go round.

Redneck Barbie

or the ironic

anorexic barbie

or the political

clash of cultures barbie

OBM, can't agree with you, it's a toy.
If you (and I don't mean you, personally) are walking around constantly obsessing about how much weight you need to lose then that will imo be detrimental to your dd's self image.
A toy will get used and then, eventually not cared about.

Think you are being irrational. It is a toy and I LOVED my Barbies when I was little. Remember that LOs don't think like adults think!! They are innocent!

(although as I got older I did make Ken and Barbie lie on top of each other and snog )

We live in the culture of the individual now. I really don't think girls today grow up thinking of themselves as 'the other' or the 'object' - today everyone who isn't you is 'the other'.

And if we really thought hyper augmented beauty was oppressive then why do women's magazones groan under the weight of them. I agree it may not make us very happy sometimes but that we'd be doing it in the street if we couldn't get it on paper. I think it's human nature, is what I'm saying, amnd while there is a healthy balance to be argued for, that doenst mean we should demonise everything.

that is a v good point MT about the rise of a peculiar type of performative individualism but ( as you may remember) i can't be doing with this human nature business.

At all? ReallY?

oh you know what i mean full well missus. have to go and do women's work.

although, in the matter of said performative individualism, I think the point is that everyone is their own object now, no? So yes, not objectified by men (hooray!) but objectified by self (boo!)

and actually, now I come to think, Barbie et al is conceivably responsible for precisely that performative individualism (where self is other) which is now, as you say, the norm.

Wrong thread Une chauve-souris mère!

sorry, unechauvesourismère