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.

We have groovy dolls as well and they NEVER play with them. I think they are lovely but they just don't do it for my dds!

that's really sad that at 5 and 7 they are passing the stage of playing with dolls.

As long as they wipe their feet, mind their manners and don't torture the cat! Then they're welcome....

Soupy I felt like you once however we now have avast array of barbies, bratz disney dolls polly pockets etc. Barbie may be a dizzy blond harking back to teh time when women were decorations or house wifes but in our house barbie is a mechanic, teacher, doctor whatever dd wants her to be cos at the end of teh day it's abit of plastic. More scary I think is teh research which says if your dd closely relates to cinderella , sleeping beauty they are more likely to suffer or put up with domestic violence. As a vigilant parent I always make sure a bit of girl power (for want of better phrase) is added to play / stories all people being equal etc. sorry not read all of the thread

I have been so succesful in my anti-Barbie indoctrination that when my cousin bought dd a really gorgeous floppy straw hat which happened to me a barbie hat (no possible way of telling other than a tiny little barbie label on the side) dd declared it disgusting and refuses to wear it.

It probably doesn't do much harm... yes, the quality of the play is the main thing. But as an adult I can't help feeling that these toys are the equivalents of supermarkets and that they encourage children to see their toys not as personal friends but as tokens of successful fashion following a la trainers/computer games/lunch box snacks. OK, this is an endemic trait... I'm not totally idealistic about this... but it's awful if the doll that is different is something to be ashamed of.

gothicmama - do you know where I can read about that research - sounds very interesting.

will try and find it for you - it is buried in a pile of uni stuff I will let youknow when I find it

does this include the Roald Dahl versions tho GM . Ill make sure dd relates to Little Red Riding Hood then [heads off to buy replica pistol for dd......hhhmmm might need to wait till shes toilet trained tho]

Yes Gothicmama that is interesting about the Sleeping Beauty thing. My dds do watch them and like them but aren't as obsessed with the princess thing as other little girls I know. They have never really wanted the dressing up dresses etc to flounce around in. dd1 (7) has lots of attitude so I think Bratz etc appeal more to her than pretty, pretty things. dd2 is softer and more into the Disney Princess idea. She also lets dd1 and her bf walk all over her too much!! Aarrgh she's the victim type already!!

Hercules - they still play with dolls (ALL the time!) but pretend they don't really like Barbie anymore because she's not really seen as 'cool' once you hit 7ish! They do play with them but dd1 would probably tell all school friends etc that they play with Bratz and My Scene dolls.

I played with my dolls til I was about 11 I think. Their step-sister who is 10 still plays dolls with them sometimes.

I was an avid barbie devotee as a child and look how I turned out

but agree yes... far more Barbie paraphernalia on the market these days... I said to a 4 year old girl this morning that I had a barbie for her (bought at red cross) and she said ´which one?´

That was confusing for me... its just Barbie, you know the one with long blond hair....

I haven't read the thread but actually, I don't like Barbie. I seem to remember reading that were she scaled up to adult size she wouldn't be able to stand up given her low body weight and useless proportions so I think giving a doll with these proportions to small girls isn't going to help them develop a healthy body image. And there's so much other stuff already contributing to womens' anxiety about how they look, I think this is just another of those crappy things. but I'm aware mine isn't a popular view and that the counter arguments go that banning it makes it more interesting, that it doesn't affect a girl's body image, that it's just a doll fhs etc etc. I'm still not sure I buy any of them though.

I'd love to ban Barbie in our house but don't quite know whether I'll get away with it, I may have to sort out how I feel on this a bit more first. I succeeded with guns though so we'll see. MI's dd said 'Barbie is an alien' and I think she was right

I haven't really read this, but DD1 has Barbies and loves dressing them up.
I do draw the line at Bratz though.

Interestingly, DD1 said to me the other day, "Why isn't there a builder Barbie, mummy?".
She decided to invent one...

i think a few barbies are ok, as long as they are not the main or only toy they play with. my sil has started buying them for my dd but she's not interested at this age (4). i myself was more affected by the horrible comments of my mother and friends about my weight & figure than playing with barbies.

Yes has there ever been a non enormous boob, medium sized barbie made? or is she always abnormal?

Aesthetically I can't cope with that shade of pink, so NO, I wouldn't have them in the house.

we have a barbie-type doll that is a sort of actiongirl, with climbing gear and velcro backpack. but yes, she still has the same tiny waist, enormous tits etc. sigh. even the seemingly angelic polly pockets have similar vital statistics..

Barbie doesn't have to wear pink. I ADORED Barbie. I had brunette Barbie and Blonde Barbie because they suited different colours, and they had a wild and extensive wardrobe including a really beautiful bright blue velvet strapless evening dress wtih matching bag, and shoes, pearls, pearl earrings, and a white fur bolero lined with blue satin. Sigh.
She also had a variety of national dress, sportswear, cocktail dresses etc. I did go on to work on women's magazines, so she may have been influential, I'm not sure. But I do still like clothes.
And yes, Soupy, I do realise your first post was ironic and I get your point about how we are much quicker to condemn boys' activities than girls'. Like you I'm not much bothered by swords or space guns and stuff. I simply don't believe that nice little boys get turned into gangsters by playing games in the back garden. Having said that, ds isn't remotely interested in guns but he's a funny 'un anyway. My stepdaughter, however, was mad about swords and now does fencing as a teenager.

I would like to think not but seeing as how when DS was a toddler I was determined not to have the house filled with plastic action figures (turtles / power rangers and the like) and he's now 4 and I seems surgically attached to them I am reserving judgement until DD is old enough to develop a ridiculous attachment for a piece of plastic cr@p that makes my skin crawl

I am now going back to the start of this thread to read the doubtless pithy and entertaining Barbie is the devil comments

Message withdrawn

actually before I go and read this thread I did think you meant barbies as in you can cook beefburgers on them and wondered why anyone would have one inside the house

my sister used to have one.. the teen sister to barbie I think (Robin??) ...you wound her arms around and her boobs got bigger!

I am now starting to think that barbie without counter mentality influences is not a balanced way to play. I was abit of a buble headed princess as a child... thankfully I woke up abit.

girrafeski, it was a birthday present but suspect from department store as friend lived near us in N7 when she bought it. can't remember the name but there was a whole range to collect of non-stereotype female action figures