"Toys" and "Barbies"

When one usually thinks of toys the words enjoyment, childhood, and nostalgia usually pop into mind. However, when describing those plastic painted Matel-made objects, Roland Barthes and Emily Prager took a different kind of approach. Instead of reminicising about the fantasy world that Prager made Barbie and Ken live in, she criticized the maker of the toy and his biast opinions of how the female anatomy should look on Barbie versus the Ken figure. And rightly so.

Hardly any woman on Earth will ever have the physique that Barbie is blessed with. Yet, Barbie is perhaps one of the most commonly bought toys by little girls across America. What kind of message does it send if Barbie "...looks like someone who got her start at the Playboy Mansion" (133)? An unexisting small size, perfect hair, flawless skin (regardless it is painted on) is not how women look. We have blemishes, frizzy uncontrollable hair, and God forbid, we have fat.

Why couldn't Barbie be normal? And why do celebrities have to also feed into the image of a Barbie figure? No wonder so many girls in their teens have eating disorders and spend all of their money to get the coolest clothing from the hippest store. If Barbie did it, then obviously we have to look exactly like that in order to get our own Ken. Girls all over the country felt as if they need to be endowed in their feminist parts just as much as Barbie as well. It's just wrong. Girls should stoping purging themselves or going to surgeons for the perfect body. The only specialist they should be seeing is their own, inner-self. They need to look in the mirror and realize that healthy, for Tanya, may be a size eight and for Carrie it may be an eighteen. Being happy with their figures for their own personal well-being and for society is the only way to cure the image of Barbie perfection that we all feel we need.

The more women figure out who they are and can proudly announce, "No, I am not a Barbie-figure and never will be, but I love who I am," the better our society's image will be. There needs to be a "Barbie" doll named Tanya and Carrie, to whom real girls can relate to. There needs to be more celebrities who announce that they are happy with their shapes God blessed them with and will not try to lose 15 extra pounds for the camera. There needs to be more moms who tell their children they are beautiful just the way they are.

Beauty starts from the inside and isn't it ironic that the inside of Barbie is just solid plastic? Barbie does not have a real, pumping heart that can send compassionate words to friends. Barbie is a toy, not a role model. As Prager writes, "...we're all trapped in Barbie's world and can never escape" (135).

I agree with Prager's description. Barbie sucks.