Is Barbie a good role model for young girls?

[Jjpayne]

She can be...

Maybe not her figure, but that is changing. They are making different barbie figures now.

But the overall thing is she is a model of womanhood.

Back in the day it was gender stereo types.

Now it's barbie the scientist or zoo keeper.

That's the barbie, Im glad my daughter can play with.

She looks up at me and goes "daddy, can I be a scientist someday?"

That warms my heart.

I think it depends on the barbies you buy for sure.

But I still believe they can be positive role models for girls

[MannMitAntworten]

In her Barbie World...

[loveisbeautiful]

This is what I don't get about the world, people expect this plastic doll made by Mattel that was intended for the purposes of fun to be this role model to girls but she's a doll. That's a heck of a lot to expect from a toy, it's like expecting cabbage patch dolls to bring hope to children who are in foster care system that maybe one day they'll get adopted too. That would be a lot of pressure to put on a doll, don't you think?

I had tons of Barbie's growing up, almost every kind you could think of and I didn't look to them as role models, I looked at them as something fun to play with. I liked the clothes, the accessories, the different types of Barbies and I liked that some came with cool stuff but that's it. I just liked them for fun, as they are intended to be.

So, no Barbie is not a role model but then again she's not suppose to be. Just like Disney's Princesses aren't suppose to be a woman's guide to love but yet they use them for that purpose anyway. If a girl has to look to a doll as a role model then clearly there's a bigger a problem here that if Barbie is one or not, wouldn't you say?

[Reaperbot666]

• Barbie has her pros and cons for being a role model to young girls.
• Pros teaches young girls they can do any career choice.
• Cons unrealistic beauty standards teaches girls to be insecure about their looks.
• kind of why I say most young girls grow up in a beauty pageant world.
• while main stream media, social media, porn, the internet, etc. all inflating beauty standards with more fake then natural options.
• every girl has the natural ability to be truly beautiful. if she learns how to embrace and harness her own natural beauty and natural feminine side.
• it's not just only about wearing trendy makeup, trendy jewelry or trendy clothing. more about finding a style she likes and highlights her own natural beauty.
• because a woman can still look sexy and attractive in a figure flattering outfit. without having to revel to everyone around her. what happens to be underneath her clothes in her more private locations.
• that privilege should be reserved for solely for her lover to see and enjoy.
• while having self love, being secure with how she looks and enjoying how she looks in a mirror. all of which can help her to find someone who also enjoys how she looks.
• however does help if she tries to maintain herself best she can. by eating heathier options and working out when able. don't have to be super fit to be attractive however.
• for long term relationships personality, attitude and character matter the most. no point in dating a attractive person. if they act like a stuck up prude more often.
• also tend to need other traits to be a good long term partner like. caring, supportive, honest, loyal, encouraging, loving, smart, sweet, respectful, kind, trustworthily, funny, compassion, understanding, etc.

[ObscuredBeyond]

A doll is only as competent or decent as its makers and its wielders - and the intentions of both. Good parenting is also critical here, if children are involved.

Bad parenting - or bad peers from the neighborhood - will lead to the doll becoming a means for the child to try to cope via fantasy with whatever life goal or issue of theirs is left unfulfilled.

If a corrupting influence or tragedy influences a child to the idea of sex in a very bad way, torturing the dolls becomes a means of trying to cope with sexual insecurity. And that can really mess someone up.

If the girl views the doll as a symbol of what she must look like to have value, and there is not sufficient good parenting to steer her otherwise; this can lead to a very screwed-up young woman.

If the girls views the doll as a symbol for acting out the fantasy of holding a profession, then the profession must be done justice.

If the child is an aspiring filmmaker, the dolls become actors. But learning the art of good drama writing is still key. The dolls may tell a story; but that story is only as good as how competent the writer is.

Dolls are tools. Period. They are accessories to manifesting visions; but are not a good substitute for self-discipline, knowledge, or experience. And they can make for very terrible self-therapy. Kids need to understand this.

[AlienParasite]

Yes? No? I see Barbie dolls (or any doll) more as a puppet to play than a role model. At least when I played as a kid, it was like I was the director of a movie, and dolls were my actresses. I don't give toys that much power, I see more interesting how kids play with toys and what kind of scenes do they recreate when playing , because that speaks of how they might be perceiving life and, therefore, about how actual roles models from family, school or TV are influencing the kid.

So, based on that, Barbie has both the potential to be a good role model and a bad one. What kind of rol model the doll is it's simply a reflection of the role models the child is looking up to.

[andreasderjuengere]

I do hate Barbie and all the 'ideals' (and life style) the figure stands for.
Once my daughter had been old enough to feel pressured by her girly friends to also own a 'Barbie' we had long and fierce discussions.
In the end she got her doll - and that year we went camping and hiking a lot during the weekends: I made sure that Barbie had to suffer in 'the wild' in her heels; and my daughter also was very busy with discovering the real, the natural world - there was little time for Barbie.
Now, 25 years later I can state that the f****ing Mattell doll could be prevented from doing character harm to my kid.
I was lucky: my other child is a boy ( we had discussions about toy soldier/killers, though )

[cute_short_nerd]

“You can be anything.” I think she’s a good role model for motives and mind set, however if the dolls had a bit more realistic proportions and more body diversity then they could teach more young people to love themselves, also a more variety of boy dolls would be awesome, to teach girls that they should respect all bodies and not be biased to the standards of the 6pack and ken doll. Barbie as a “person “ that I grew up with was a lot of “you can be anything “ and less of a “you have to be perfect. “ I was a only daughter in the family so I only ever had boy clothes as hand-me-downs so I always asked my mom if she could make cool clothes for my Barbies so they would be more like me, which is what inspired her to pick up the hobby of sewing that she eventually turned into a business. So I mean Barbie is good in my books.

[ragequeen]

Why would I look up to a doll? Lol when I was young I didn't even know what objectification was, and I wouldn't be able to understand it either. People who say that are messed up. Literally those girls are just kids. I never cared about how skinny she was or whatever. I dressed her, made up stories about her and that's it. It was fun. Why does everyone have something to pick at nowadays? Let kids be kids. You're giving Barbie that negative attention you don't want it to have.

Besides, kids' role models are often real people who play important parts in their life. People who contribute to their lives in a positive way. A plastic piece of toy actually has no power at all.

[MysteriousDarkness]

@reaperbot666
Since you do not allow replies on your opinion then this is my reply. You said a "pros teaches young girls they can do any career choice." If you mean every girl will be able to do anything then you are wrong. That would imply they have the understanding and capability to do everything. That would mean every girl if they wanted to would have the understanding and capability to be a neurosurgeon, cardiothoracic surgeon or do quantum mechanics for example.

Personally barbie tries to come across that a woman can do anything. Individually no one can understand everything to be able to do everything. People need to be tought they will have a limit of understanding of things and a limited capabilities

[Belgie]

They have tried hard to make her one. I don't think young girls give a crap that her body proportions are all fucked up. They just like the whole pretend thing. And they can pretend she's a doctor, a lawyer, an astronaut, a mother, whatever. They do teach the message that she can be what ever she wants, and disabilities and skin colour and even alopecia/cancer don't have to change that.

The only ones I see complaining about the body dimensions are fat women, and women who used to suffer from anorexia and would love to blame something else for their sickness.

You never see men complaining that He-Man or GI Joe or Action Man or whatever super hero they are playing with this month, gave them unrealistic body image issues.

Let the kids play with whatever dolls they want - stop projecting your issues onto their innocence.

[Kaneki05]

Are toys supposed to be role models? I don't think so... So this question is kinda pointless unless your someone who is weird who thinks kids should see role models in there toys other than they just like them. I know i never saw my Lego and went ohh good role model is the cop lego man lmao or thinking a tank is a good role model really wasn't thinking as a kid i want to be a tank and most of all i really wasn't thinking i want to be a Transformer know as Tidal wave personal fav. I was just thinking I like this, this is cool.

[Bluemax]

You know it's fascinating to me that this is a question that has been raging since the 70s.

And yet virtually NO ONE asks any such questions about action figures being good role models for boys.

In general I want kids to play with toys freely. Never mind what adults think about if toys make children into what we think we want them to be.

[closetweirdo]

is action man a good role model for boys?
a piece of fuckin plastic is a role model to no one, i didn't glorify action man and wanna be jus like him, not once in my life have i thought about getting muscles wearing camoflauge and joining the army, its jus a toy, jus some plastic, anyone who role models a toy and tries to immitate it is retarded, including girls with barbie

would u idiolize stretch armstrong n try to get stretchy limbs? any kid with half a brain knows the difference between fantasy and reality

[WhiteGlaze]

Better than most influences sure. I would try and steer my daughter towards other sources of entertainment though, like reading, writing, art and such. They're all gonna inspire in much better ways than a doll would. And I think building things with your kids is the absolute best teaching for love and learning. Its something I really think would've helped my family while I was growing up in so many ways and I wish they'd put more effort in those things than redbox movie nights and an occasion buffet outing. there's so much to life. If they want toys like thats fine, but lets build something first, whether its a song or a painting or even making a movie.

[honestGUY45]

Barbie is just another tool to manipulate little girls into thinking everyone is acceptable. Their execution is flawed because although they think they have all bases covered, there are plenty of versions they still haven't included in their collection. Where's Trailer Trash Barbie, or Strip Club Barbie, or Alcoholic Chain-smoking Pill-popping Barbie? If they ever come out with Narcissistic Lying Cheating Broke Ass But Acts Successful Social Media Whore That Gets Ignored By Her Own Kids Barbie, I think my daughters (20 and 15) might start collecting them. What's the latest on Ken, anyway? Do they have him cross dressing yet?

[RingOfFire]

We teach young children that you should not strive to be your best, that the quest for excellence is evil, that anything goes, that lessons learned from millions of years of evolution and procreation are patriarchal and outdated, that there are no moral or physical boundaries, imperatives or ideals, that reality is whatever you want it to be.

And then we wonder why society is going to hell in a handbasket.

[Snowman666]

I have no idea what goes on in any girls head. Certainly not my daughters. All i know is she likes brushing her dolls hair and i think she is crazy. I also have laser gun fights with her. She loves cuddles and teddy bears. I think we overthink everything.

[Pete671]

Good role model for boys as well, the dolls might teach them to respect women more, if we learn how women think, ok that's impossible but might make us more empathic,,,

Eg, my BFF spends like two hours on make-up each day, I don't even notice if she's "got her face on" or not,,,

[purplepoppy]

The problem I have is she's always in a high flying top flight job like doctor or lawyer. It's branding women in lower roles as failures and losers. We tell kids they can be whatever they want but how do you explain to them why mother is lowly waitress and not a brain surgeon like Barbie. Then of course their own fantasy of being an astronaut like Barbie comes crashing down and they turn into lesbian feminists blaming men for holding them back from the barbie dream they were fed as kids.

[art_hoe]

i dont think so, it makes them feel like they should (excuse my language) have big tits, tiny waists, and normal butts and perfect blue eyes symmetric faces and blonde hair. at least it was my experience. maybe it changed I don't know, educate me pls

[1Anon]

No, Barbie never has been based upon today’s expectations. However, she was considered to be a role model back in the 50’s and 60’s though because it’s what women were expected to be and how they should look. It was very archaic.