The Unrealistic Proportions of Barbie

 

     The image above is one of the images I plan on using in my multimodal project over Barbies influence on our distorted definition of beauty.
   
     The image above is a photograph of a woman holding a Barbie in front of her chest. Half of her body has been left normal while the other half has been photoshopped to fit Barbies proportions.

     I think the fact that Barbie is in the center of her chest not only serves the obvious job of covering her chest but also of putting the image of Barbies beauty into the center of womens being. Women revolve their idea of beauty and of what they think they should look like around unrealistic portrayals of beauty such as Barbie.

     I also think it is important to note that most of the woman's head is not shown in the picture. This serves to  allow all women to relate to the picture. It is not simply a picture of one woman but symbolically of all women.
   
     The skin colored background is not distracting in any way so that all the viewer notices about the picture is the woman.

     The purpose of this picture is to demonstrate visually how unrealistic Barbies proportions are. It also serves to encourage girls and women of the fact that they are beautiful just the way they are and do not need to try and live up to unattainable expectations of beauty.

Sources:
ImageURL: http://content.messynessychic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120807-090608-246x156.jpg

Article about Barbie that I plan on using in my writing project

     In my English class we have to write a research paper over a topic we find interesting. I chose to write my paper on Barbies influence on our modern definition of beauty and the harm that this definition can cause to girls.

     One of my areas of focus in this paper will be how unrealistic Barbies measurements are. I think the photo below does a very good job of summing it up.

     In addition to the photo above (that I plan to use in my visual presentation) I found an article that focused on a study in which  Barbie was scaled  to life size, had her measurements taken and was compared to the measurements of average women. The title of the article is " Measuring Up to Barbie: Ideals of the Feminine Body in Popular Culture" and it was written by Jacqueline Urla and Alan C. Swedlund. I determined that this article was scholarly and therefore a good source for my paper because it includes a study with data divided into multiple sections and has multiple references. Below is the main table I plan on using in my paper:

Measurement                         Barbie                  Average

Height                                     5'10"                     5'4"

Chest Circumference               35"                        35.7"

Waist Circumference               20"                        31"

Hip Circumference                  32.50"                   38.10"

Hip Breadth                            11.6"                     13.49"

Thigh Circumference               19.25"                  22.85"

     The article had many other interesting points such as how Barbie continues to strive in changing social climates. For example Barbie used to have careers such as ballerina and candy striper and now in the modern times she has jobs such as doctor and astronaut to reflect the roles many modern women play in society.

     

     Another interesting thing the article brought up was Shani who was "essentially brown plastic poured into blond Barbies mold" (Urla, Swedlund). While the doll had more ethnic clothes and her features were claimed to be more realistic of African American women she could still share clothes with Barbie. They were still very similar in body type which just serves as another example of how Barbie tries to fit all body types and races into a certain ideal of what beauty should look like. 

    This article conveys a very successful rhetorical image. It does so through logos. The authors don't simply make claims and show pictures that may or may not be accurate. They rely on data from experiments to back up their claims. 

Source:

Urla, Jacqueline and Alan C. Swedlund "Measuring Up to Barbie: Ideals of the Feminine Body in Popular Culture" Gender and Sexuality. 133-143. Web. 12 April, 2013. 

Barbies influence on girls definition of beauty

   

     In my last blog post I talked about the medias influence on Americas definition of beauty. I'm going to narrow my topic in this blog to one of the earliest influences on young girls perspective of beauty: Barbie. 

  As a young girl I had dozens of Barbie dolls. They all had perfect little clothes, cars, pools and boyfriends. But most of all they were pretty...or perfect. As a young girl I loved playing with Barbies because for those moments in my imagination it was like I was the one with the perfect looks and life.

     Looking back I feel like Barbie was my first introduction into the world of beauty. She was the first (or at least one of the first) things that influenced my definition of beauty: unattainable perfection. 

     I think it's sad that as young girls the most common toy we get only serves to set us up for failure, disappointment and a completely distorted view of beauty. As young girls our favorite toy shows us that our only value as humans is our looks. 

     Below are measurements comparing what Barbie would look like in real life to the average sized woman. I got these measurements from an article by Jacqueline Urla and Alan C. Swedlund called "Measuring Up to Barbie Ideals of the Feminine Body in Popular Culture".

                                             Barbie                                                Average Woman

Height                                   5'10"                                                   5'4"

Chest Circumference             35"                                                      35.7"

Waist Circumference             20"                                                      31"

Hip Circumference                32.50"                                                 38.10"

Hip Breadth                          11.6"                                                   13.49"

Thigh Circumference             19.25"                                                 22.85"

     The fact that Barbies measurements don't even reflect that of a normal person make matters worse. If little girls are going to look up to a beautiful doll as their idea of beauty she should at least have the proportions of a normal human. 

     I don't think we should get rid of Barbie or anything like that. I just think that she should be made a little more realistic so that young girls don't grow up thinking that one day they too should look perfect like Barbie.