Does America Need a Plus-Size Barbie?

LokiOfAsgard

I don't see anything wrong with a larger sized Barbie doll. No, it;s not going to make young girls want to be fat, but it will help young girl that are fat, not feel so horrible about themselves. I mean, did you hear here? The average age a young girl starts to DIET, no worry about dieting, ACTUALLY DIET is just 8 years old!
Not even a decade into life and they're already pressured into looking as thin as possible, and worried about being to big.
Positive representation of larger/over weight, and yes, obese people in media can be a very good thing for they way people see themselves.

Ignoring larger body types is not going to make larger body types go away, it's just going to make larger body types feel like crap about themselves.

ETA: There is nothing wrong with being fat. It IS okay. You don't need to feel guilty for taking up a little more room than a 'normal sized' person

BinaryPulsar

How about a Barbie based on a normal healthy weight woman. That is where we should be going. Either the current Barbie or the plus sized Barbie teaches lessons we don't want to teach our kids. I saw pictures of a Barbie created using healthy BMI statistics and she was slim and attractive without being unrealistic. Now that is what I am talking about.

But why? It's just a doll.

Maybe this is where males/females differ. When I was little, I certainly wouldn't want to play with an average GI Joe. I'd want the guy to be ripped, tough looking, and have lots of guns. I'd want my GI Joe to be tougher than my friend Hercules figurine. I didn't care that his extremely low body-fat percentage was unhealthy.

So, then maybe they could make the Barbies stronger also. Instead of unable to walk, stand, or hold her own head up, and not enough room for all her internal organs.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

Have y'all seen the Monster High dolls? My Little Pony Equistria Girls? They are both even more narrow than Barbie (narrow shoulders, hips, tiny limbs and necks, HUGE heads).

Eh, I don't really care. I don't think I'm scarred having played with Barbies, nor do I think my daughters will be.

drgmac

Does she come with a super sized McDonald's meal and two airplane seats? Somewhere between this and the ridiculousness of the unattainable dimensions of the traditional Barbie, is a happy medium.

BinaryPulsar

Have y'all seen the Monster High dolls? My Little Pony Equistria Girls? They are both even more narrow than Barbie (narrow shoulders, hips, tiny limbs and necks, HUGE heads).

Eh, I don't really care. I don't think I'm scarred having played with Barbies, nor do I think my daughters will be.

I know, we have those dolls. I just see them as being like fantastical tiny ponies, fairies, and other mythical creatures, and not actual humans.

salembambi

There is nothing wrong with being fat
There is nothing wrong with existing in a larger body

The attitude that "being fat is not okay or is wrong" is what causes so much self hate so much sickness and mental health issues

stop it , if you want to change your body do it but never EVER shame someone else for theirs

Oh & having a bigger barbie is not going to make kids fat all the sudden so do not even play that silly **** :laugh:

dmpizza

How about a GI Joe retreating in defeat?

Just_Scott

Haven't we already determined that the traditional Barbie has an impossible body type?

I believe this is true. She fits in a shoe box, and I think Guinness BOWR has the shortest woman recorded at just over 3 feet. Come on people....

MaryJane_8810002

I don't think it would be healthy but the current Barbie could use a burger or two

SailorKnightWing

When I was a kid, I never lamented that my body didn't look like Barbie's. I knew it was a toy, an abstraction of real life.

I'd be more concerned with the extreme manipulations of living people we see on magazine covers and such, which are presented as being accurate.

MyChocolateDiet

Sure why not. Other suggestions:

Chubby Chaser Ken
Barbies Private Jet with two seats per person
Barbie's convertible with supersized cupholders
Barbies Lane Bryant wardrobe
Childhood Obesity Skipper with plenty of 100% juice and chocolate milk toys
Barbie's little dog with no leash b/c she never takes him for walks

BinaryPulsar

Isn't it strange the people that get plastic surgery to look like Barbie? :laugh: :huh:

LokiOfAsgard

Sure why not. Other suggestions:

Chubby Chaser Ken
Barbies Private Jet with two seats per person
Barbie's convertible with supersized cupholders
Barbies Lane Bryant wardrobe
Childhood Obesity Skipper with plenty of 100% juice and chocolate milk toys
Barbie's little dog with no leash b/c she never takes him for walks

You realize this is exactly why body positivity is important, right?

"Oh, she's fat. She never exercises, not even to take her dog for a walk, and she always eat fast food! The only guy that'll ever love her is a guy that fetishes fat people"

Because that doesn't make a larger person feel like they should hate themselves...

MyChocolateDiet

Isn't it strange the people that get plastic surgery to look like Barbie? :laugh: :huh:

It really really is.

And it highlights the fact that children CAN be influenced by their toys. Enough that it affects them in their grown up years.

One trip through Orange County CA and you will see what I mean. Or you can just watch the housewives show.

Mia_RagazzaTosta

It's OK to admit you still play with your Barbies, OP.

We won't judge.

I can't let this go unnoticed.

DMZ_1

It's OK to admit you still play with your Barbies, OP.

We won't judge.

The condescending tone was not appreciated. One might surmise that you didn't play with Barbies enough as a child to develop a happy-go-lucky, carefree attitude.

I do not play with Barbies.

There are multiple angles one could take in evaluating this topic. I'm going to hit one such angle in a second, the business implications.

BinaryPulsar

Isn't it strange the people that get plastic surgery to look like Barbie? :laugh: :huh:

It really really is.

And it highlights the fact that children CAN be influenced by their toys. Enough that it affects them in their grown up years.

One trip through Orange County CA and you will see what I mean. Or you can just watch the housewives show.

I know most people say it's the parents that influence and not the toys, but not everyone has an ideal world, with good influential parents. And evolutionarily it is true that while parents are the ones that provide a solid, stable base from which a child can use discernment in the world, they are more influenced by peers.

Ang108

Great video!

http://video.foxnews.com/v/2993417342001/does-america-need-a-plus-size-barbie/?playlist_id=2114913880001

It is no secret that United States residents are getting fatter. According to the CDC, in 1990, no state's obesity rate was over 14%. In 2010, no state's obesity rate was below 20%.

Should Barbie dolls represent our growing corpulence?

I say no. Barbie dolls should represent a slender or athletic & toned body type. The traditional Barbie doll has a slender body type and I like that. A Barbie doll having an athletic, fit & feminine body type like tennis player Maria Sharapova is great too.

I also do not think Barbie dolls should be viewed as the be-all, end-all in defining body types.

I read that if a real live woman had the same proportions as the " slender athletic & toned " Barbie, she could not even walk straight or run, because her proportions would be extremely exaggerated. I would not call this an " athletic " body. Apart from that I don't care about Barbie at all.....

dpwellman

Nope. These Concern Troll "adults" need to get a damn life and let the kids just effing play.

XjXannX

Adults are the only people who compare Barbie to real people. Barbie is no more a representation of actual humans than my son's Hulk toy. Should Barbie be overweight? No. Why should she be?