Barbies. Would you allow them in your house?

[SoupDragon]

IMO, Barbies create an unrealistic body image that is simply unobtainable. I think they cause eating disorders and image problems in young girls and should be banned from sale completely before the female population is turned into unrealistic, plastic people capable only of being Fairytopia Princesses, vets to cute fluffy animals and beards to clearly gay men like Ken.

They should all be rounded up and shot with a toy gun or decapitated with a stuffed axe.

And don't get me started on fairy wnads which hurt a lot if you get whacked on the head with one and create an unrealistic dependance on magic.

Well I find reading dd OK and Heat as a bedtime story has given her all she needs to know about being a proper career girl

Lol, especially at wands creating an unrealistic dependance on magic! I keep waving our wands at the irorning to no avail!

Barbies breed too - once one gets in the house, suddenly theres a box stuffed full of them in various states of undress, often without the full compliment of limbs all having a very bad hair day!

they conjoin wherever they are to form a blend of golden shimmering hair which unites then all in one untangleable mat!

There is absolutely NO WAY that one of those things is coming across this spiders threshold. Far too much pink and fluffiness for my wee viking to have to deal with at such a tender age . Am hoping to stick to ordinary dolls and am searching for one for dd for Christmas and just cant decide on what to buy at all. Might end up making a viking doll (with historically correct costume) to go with her axe

Seriously I do agree re the Barbie and body image stuff tho. Am waiting for Barbie vet to farm animals complete with pregnant cow. Now that would cause an uproar.

I want a magic wand to do the ironing too please

Nope, they never darkened my door. My DDs had proper little girl dolls from Fisher Price, with squishy fabric bodies (I wonder what that did to their body image?).

Grandma's was Barbie heaven though!

I agree with you ...but then I think, there are so many external influences which contribute to eating disorders and fluffy princess syndrome, that I am tempted to just throw in the towel and give in

no Barbies required in our testosterone fuelled household........Action Man is welcome though, especially when he is carrying a full complement of offensive weapons

PMSL i thought it said "BABIES. would you allow them in your house"

haha

"there are so many external influences which contribute to..."

Precisely! And this was, in fact, my point when I started this thread. Boys have such a hard time IMO. They're simply not allowed to or are frowned upon when they play traditional "male" games. Of course we've progressed from neanderthal days and are now in a civilised society but the traditional "male" role is hunter & defender whilst traditionally females are "nurturuers". Girls are still allowed to play at nurturing without people looking askance at them yet boys are not allowed to play at hunter/defender without being labeled aggressive, violent and potential gun wielding maniacs.

OTOH, males are not deemed suitable to work in "nurturing" professions such as childcare - as seen on the thread about the male nursery nurse.

Give the boys a break. Barbies don't turn girls into plastic, anorexit monsters and toy guns don't turn boys into agressive serial killers. It's outside influences in society as a whole that do that and how your child is raides to make judgements and what they base those judgements on. What we let our children play with makes very little difference to how they grow up. How we let them play with those toys makes the difference.

soupy the voice of reason

couldn't agree more

My brothers and I played with guns and look, we're all normal and do not own guns!

Soupy

What a great post. I couldn't agree more.

Ds (aged 2) was unpacking a box of my old toy bits and pieces yesterday and there was a naked Sindy doll there. He turned her round and round, and I was holding my breath wondering waht he was going to say. "Pretty feet mamma" was the verdict!!!

Soupy,

I'm very consistent. My ds will be allowed to play traditional male games if he wants!

I did not want Barbies and spent my time commenting on the fact that all those dolls have anorexia etc. Now we have more Barbies than the shops and dd1's room is.... I dont like to say it its..... pink Who did the painting? Me How often does she play with this pile of undressed freaks? She claims they are only played with by dd2. I actually think she'd like to turn them all into darleks. The current Dr Who phase because I would not let her watch it! I think pandering to her fancies actually helps her work through the phase, I'm glad it doesn't work with books.

My son (sic) loves high heels and teeters around the house pretending he's wearing them. The only high heels he has come across are Barbie's.
I hate ugly, skinny Barbie with her pointy up boobs, vacant grin and stupidly small pointy feet. But where are the alternatives? I would love to see more dolls with more realistic body shapes and a broader range of pursuits.

Excellent post, Soupy.

Perhaps there is a niche in the market for a size 16 Barbie complete with stretch marks and cellulite.

yep - its everyone elses fault - its never mine as a parent.

We have a few French dolls, Correlle or some such, they aren't so thin but they have been dropped in vats of perfume! ELC have some broader dolls but they don't do much in the way of work... I think one is a fairy

Message withdrawn

I keep reading the title of this as

Babies: Would you allow them in your house?

Just discovered I was not the first to think this .

Will get back to a more suitable thread for me seeing as DS hasn't yet requested a Barbie.

Or could even do some work I suppose....