Everyone knows who Barbie is, that ever-popular doll that was made in the 50's that every young girl played with at least once in her life. Lately Barbie hasn't been so popular with some people, when Barbie was made she began a whole new lifestyle in women, showing them new images of what they are supposed to look like and be like when they get older. Although Barbie has been the most popular doll since it's fabrication in the 50's, the image it promotes to young girls paves the way for an unhealthy and self-destructive lifestyle. .
"Mattel estimated that 95 percent of girls aged three to eleven own at least one Barbie" (PM, SM, CC) From these young influential ages girls are conditioned to believe that looking like Barbie makes you beautiful. Therefore when they eventually get to the age after puberty where boys become interested in them and they become interested in boys, they have a mind set that they are supposed to be beautiful like Barbie. So they then begin thinking they are fat and unattractive and start asking others "Am I fat?" or "Does this make my butt look big?" If she feels as if she is unattractive or fat she then starts packing on make-up like a prostitute or skipping a meal or two everyday and starts to see a gradual slimming rate. But she still doesn't see her self as Barbie, so gets to the point where she barely eats anything and is loosing weight at a very unhealthy rate. Some girls even go to the extremes of eating disorders like being bulimic or anorexic." A negative body image doesn't just end in eating disorders, but also contributes to teen smoking, sexual experimentation, and other self-harming behavior"(Amy Cross, pg., par. 2)" (AL, TI FI). Some girls even commit suicide feeling they"ll never be as beautiful as Barbie. As you can see it gets to be very dangerous, but what these girls need to realize is that if Barbie were real her measurements would be "36-18-33", if a woman had those measurements, she would be unproportionalized and there wouldn't be enough room inside her body for all her vital organs.
