Preview

Barbie Stereotypes

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
580 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Barbie Stereotypes
Who is this mini plastic devil that has crawled out from the bowels of hell with the sole purpose of poisoning the minds of our young and impressionable? Her name is Barbie and that is exactly the impression of her that young, new, millennial parents would have you believe. They would have you believe that an inanimate object is to blame for the poor self image the girls of today have. It is not as if the media has already taken everything they deem desirable about a women’s body and have objectified it in all manners possible for a profit. It is not as if the film industry stereotyped what “beautiful” was long before Barbie was even hitting shelves in 1959; insert Marilyn Monroe here. No, they want to make an 11 inch doll the scapegoat to one of the biggest problems this generation has, the negative female body image. What about boy’s toys? Are they not as influential on boys as dolls are on girls?
Young boys and girls are influenced by their respectable toys in a manner of ways. While girl’s toys promote an unrealistic version of …show more content…
The most important thing developing at that age is their imagination. Barbie acts as a gateway to new stories and adventures for young girls. The new clothes, shoes and gadgets provide a change of pace for them. And what little girl did not think of herself as a mother when she was dressing and feeding their Barbie doll; but I mean God forbid 5 year old girls view themselves as anything other than the “modern woman”. Parents are so quick to put their children in a box these days in order to ensure that in the future they are well adjusted to those boxes. And then when the box does not quite fit their children in the way they had hoped they panic and take to their blogs and invent the new parental craze like blaming a toy that their children does not even play with anymore to explain their poor adjusted
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gender Neutral Toys Dbq
    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Gender Neutral Toys Dbq

    Source 1 (scholar article): Auster and Mansbach cite a study done by Blakemore and Centers in 2005 that many adult, including college students have not change their attitude about toys. They still judge and see children’s toys in a gender stereotyped way. The logos, packaging, color and function of toys are used by adults as “gender markers.”…

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Barbie's Negative Influence On Young Girls
    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Barbie's Negative Influence On Young Girls

    Since March 9th, 1959 the United States has had a very influential piece of plastic, called the Barbie. Barbie was created by Ruth Handler, of Mattel Inc. after discovering a doll in Germany named Bild Lilli. The Barbie doll was named after Ruth Handler’s daughter, Barbara. The Barbie was introduced to the United Sates at a time when the word “teenager” was becoming a popular trend on television and in movies. A teenager is the time between childhood and adult life. Mattel took the opportunity to release Barbie at this ideal time. It was released as a teenage fashion model. Although the Barbie was pricey, many girls loved the idea and the Barbie doll became a very popular toy. With becoming popular Barbie had a huge impact. Barbie has negatively influenced body image, stereotypical female rolls, and enforced commercialism. Although, it has modernized…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Dollhouses Weren T Intended For Play
    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Dollhouses Weren T Intended For Play

    Barbies are one of the dolls in today’s world that can be seen as both a positive learning tool and a negative way of how girls see themselves. To children, especially young girls Barbies are seen as role model, the Barbie is something that children can look up to. Barbies have a wide range of jobs; including: astronaut, nurse, veterinarian, police officer, chef, surfer, princess, fashion designer, rock star, olympian, and many more. Instead of Barbies only teaching the idea of running a household, the doll has opened up a whole new field of different things that a young girl can aspire…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Persuasive Essay On Boy's Toys
    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Persuasive Essay On Boy's Toys

    Unfortunately, in the present days, in the contemporary era, toys have a great influence in gender roles. This influence creates a lot of pressure in the little ones who are forced to buy ‘’girl’s’’ toys and ‘’boy’s ‘’ toys. However, if a boy buys a toy that are labeled and directed for girls, such as Barbie dolls, pink bicycles and Polly’s, they are very likely to suffer bully from their colleagues at school. That can lead into severe mental problems such as: depression, high levels of insecurity and anxiety.…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Barbie: a Positive or Negative Influence on Children
    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Barbie: a Positive or Negative Influence on Children

    Barbie has always been a controversial argument of being a positive or negative influence on children. Her oh so ever perfect body, isn’t so perfect, her dream house and various jobs, shows her independence. Some may argue that Barbie has caused girls to acquire an eating disorder to try to look like her, but the fact is that if Barbie were a real woman, she would not be proportional. In my opinion, Barbie is a good influence on children, and encourages them to become strong, independent women that don’t need a man in their life to survive and live out their dream.…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sociology
    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Sociology

    My paper titled toys and gender, is based on the toys of today and how they relate to gender socialization. I decided to go to the local Wal-Mart in Cookeville, Tn. I chose this store because it is a worldwide known large retail store. I concluded that it would be a good store to analyze because it is thought of as a family store where many families go to shop. Therefore, I knew that there would be a wide variety of toys to analyze and collect data. I went to Wal-Mart December the 3rd. I analyzed the toy sections of Wal-Mart and how the toys are associated with gender, color sound, types of play they encourage, types of interactions they cause, and what they prepare children for. With the exception of preschool toys that were sometimes offered in gender-neutral packaging, kids’ toys were largely segregated into different aisles according to gender. And within those aisles, the markings of gender were clear. The “girls’” section resembled the aftermath of an explosion of Pepto-Bismol. In the “boys’” section, there seemed to be a profusion of aggressive, hyper-muscled, weapon-wielding action figures. And in both realms, the majority of toys seemed to be explicitly tied to movies and television…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Deirdre
    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Deirdre

    Barbie is not just a doll, she is a lifestyle. Barbie has changed her appearance over the last 50 years to appeal to young girls and to show them that Barbie can be sexy and sporty and smart. Barbie has been one of the few toys to stand the test of time because Mattel has adapted to suit what society thinks is important, but as a society do we really want a doll that is sexy at first glance, then maybe a toy. All the clothes and a perfectly proportioned body suggest that appearance is the most important attribute for young girls to pay attention to. However, sexy hasn’t quite worked out the way Mattel would have wanted it to, thus Barbie has been revised many times to appeal to parents as well as children in a more positive and marketable manner. No matter how many revision’s Barbie goes through, it is clear to see that the plastic doll still has sex appeal.…

    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Why Barbie Is a Good Influence
    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Why Barbie Is a Good Influence

    Parents see themselves as a protector for their child in particular their daughters. The guardians of the child are over thinking the idea that Barbie is some kind of sex symbol. A parent who allows their child to watch television is more in danger of a bad influence, than a toy named Barbie. Motz exclaims “a girl playing with a Barbie doll can envision herself with a mature body.” And later in the same paragraph “focusing on bodily changes of the female body associated with puberty, of course to the and of puberty girl do not know.” (Motz paragraph 5 pg 17) Girls in this group understand Barbie is a character and is fictional. Real danger of influence runs deep in music artist and television characters. Groups, artists, and television characters such as Hannah Montana currently known as Miley Cyrus, Spice Girls who wore scantly clad clothing in the 1990’s, along with some famous artist like Brittney Spears, and the list of negative influences could go on and on. These are real threats to a developing females mental state. Their real and they are everywhere.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    American Identity Stereotypes
    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages

    American Identity Stereotypes

    "Does Barbie Make Girls Want to Be Thin? The Effect of Experimental Exposure to Images of Dolls on the Body Image of 5- to 8-year-old Girls." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Mar. 2006. Web. 06 Oct. 2013.…

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Genders and Toys
    • 6524 Words
    • 27 Pages

    Genders and Toys

    The way society is today, children cannot help but to have social and emotional problem from toys. To be honest, it is not he kids with the problem, it is the adults. For the most part children can play with toys no matter which ones and be happy, but because we live in a gendered role society each toy is made for specific gender. Barbie’s for girls and trucks for boys. Parents forget that toys are there to help our children develop social skills not mold them; that is their job. Society as well as the media has affected the way children are raised and toys are just one of the many tools. Children’s toys are so highly genderized, yet we often accept these standards that society placed on them. These days, it is basically a cultural habit, a rite of passage sort of speak, to hand your son a toy car and buy your daughter dolls to play with, maintaining the gender stereotypes that society deems as "normal" for girls and boys. It is up to the parents to break this cycle of gender stereotype.…

    • 6524 Words
    • 27 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Gender Toys
    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Gender Toys

    I cannot say that the toys that I played with when I was five, in any way made a difference in what I am doing with my life now. Just because the soccer balls are located in with the boy’s toys, does not mean that young girls cannot play soccer. The same goes for basketball and softball. Similarly, with boys toys, just because cooking sets and tea parties are not things that they play with at young ages, does not mean that they cannot be a chef when they get older and get jobsIn conclusion, a solid argument can be made that gender-specific toys affect the marketing tactics of major toy companies. In today’s society, there are two parent families and single parent families, in which both cases, many parents work at least part-time. Do parents even have time to think about these kinds of things? In talking with several parents for this project, many of them said that they do not think about the stereotypical messages that toys send to children. Many said that their children tell them what toys they would like to have, when they see them on television, in weekly newspaper ads or specialty holiday catalogs. When shopping, they select other toys based on the children’s preference, responsiveness to commercials and advertisements, as well as additional interests, such as sports, music, and media. In my opinion, parents, friend and…

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Barbie
    • 2219 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Barbie

    Mattel’s Barbie doll has enjoyed a long and profitable history. Invented by Ruth Handler, the first Barbie was marketed in 1959. This simple Barbie, named after Ruth’s daughter, wore only a black and white swimsuit and sold only for three dollars (“The Pros and Cons”). Today, Barbie is the best selling fashion doll around the world. Currently she is sold in 140 countries with annual sales of approximately $1.5 billion. Somewhere in the world, a Barbie is sold every half-second (Dittmar, Halliwell, and Ive). Barbie makes up more than 80 percent of Mattel’s profits (Lawton). In the United States among girls between the ages three and six own an average of twelve Barbies. Ninety percent of girls aged nine to ten own at least one Barbie (“The Pros and Cons”). Barbie has not only been a profitable toy but a culture icon for the past 50 years. Although a powerful socioculture agent, the Barbie doll, is good for fantasy play, she promotes stereotypical gender roles and unhealthy body images in young girls.…

    • 2219 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Gender Toys
    • 995 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Essay On Gender Toys

    Professor Blakemore of NAEYC did a survey. She asked people to check whether the toys she presented to them were very feminine, somewhat feminine, gender neutral, somewhat masculine, or very masculine. She found that toys that are very gendered are usually not conveying educational or positive messages - very feminine toys are focused on physical beauty, while very masculine toys focus on aggression and fighting. On the other hand, somewhat gendered toys help teach children skills for adulthood - somewhat feminine toys teach about cleaning, cooking and taking care of children, while somewhat masculine toys teach about building. No matter a child’s gender, they need somewhat gendered toys for both genders to teach them important skills for the…

    • 995 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Gender Toys Essay
    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Gender Toys Essay

    Bruno Bettelheim, a child psychologist, children’s play pattern is not innate; it is not dependent on their sex but, peer pressure and media advertisements may have drastic impact on kids. “The toy industry markets boy toys and girl toys, and girls have fewer options.Almost everything for girls has hair and a comb and brush, as if girls have nothing else to do” said Ms. Oppenheim who is a writer, researching toy industry for nine years.She urges parents to become cautious about their children’s toy preferences in order to draw the attention to manufactures who are releasing such gender stereotyped…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Barbie Dolls And Gender Stereotypes
    • 114 Words
    • 1 Page

    Barbie Dolls And Gender Stereotypes

    In addition, the commercial is advertising for parents and girls; parent can make their child have an creative imagination by providing their child a particular gender toy. Children can feel pressured by parent preference on gender toy. The commercial is advertising for only girls and parents. Girls are the consumer of the Barbie dolls because the commercial is encouraging the girls to enter other profession, by making the Barbies look all dressed up. This proves the thesis because children imagination is restricted by gender toys that are marketed to them ; the reason is because in the commercial it only had girls acting different professions, and only girls playing with the Barbie dolls…

    • 114 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More

Related Topics