Ever since Lindsay Lohan brought her doll to life in Disney’s “Life-Size,” I’ve always wondered how a single doll’s shape could represent the entire population of pre-pubescent girls.
Of all the body shapes in the world, the doll turned into Tyra Banks, a real-life supermodel.
This got me thinking — does today’s culture expect all women to be top model material?
There isn’t a plus-size department for Barbie. There also isn’t a Barbie in a wheelchair. Barbie never attends funerals.
Barbie is perfect. She can be a lawyer, a teacher or an astronaut and she doesn’t even need a LinkedIn.
Mattel, Inc. started selling the Barbie doll in 1959. Since then, young women across the globe have idealized a skinny body shape and a flawless lifestyle.
Earlier this year, Pittsburg-based designer Nickolay Lamm created “Lammily,” a doll that has a body with realistic proportions.
Lammily is modeled off of a figure of an average 19-year-old. She has an average height, waist size, feet size and natural features like no makeup and actual toes.
This doll is a breath of fresh air. Even though dolls are plastic toys, they serve as the foundations of many young girls ideas concerning body image.
As columnist Lexia Banks described in her column a few weeks ago, “new body anthems” are on the rise.
Songs like Meghan Trainer’s “All About That Bass,” Beyonce’s “Flawless” and Lana del Ray’s “Young and Beautiful” empower the female image and detest age and beauty standards.
Pop culture shapes how we think of ourselves as well as others around us, and we are immersed in pop culture at a very young age.
Life doesn’t involve making an ideal population on the Sims 3. We’re all unique individuals and our differences should be celebrated, not denounced.
Although Barbie dolls have been around for years, people might argue that it’s time that a more realistic figure be valued and modeled.
Maybe we should adapt newer toys for children that allow them to shape their own adaptations of appropriate 21st century body image.
But, at the same time, I don’t think children are naïve enough to believe every girl or boy should strive to look like a Barbie or Ken doll.
Girls are clearly born without makeup, their toes aren’t constantly ready to slip into heels and their hair isn’t perfectly straightened.
Barbies symbolize American culture. They’re a staple in the toy industry. However, I don’t think I would go so far to say that it doesn’t matter what they look like since they’re not real human beings.
A Barbie doll has the likeness of a human, therefore that indirectly influences what children value as “attractive.”
I think that the Lammily doll acts as a solid progression from the Barbie doll. She looks like a real girl with a real size. She comes with acne stickers and stretch marks that are customizable to the consumer.
Barbie is the photo-shopped version of Lammily, just as celebrities are the photo-shopped versions of us.
Lammily acts as a social progression that protects varying body types and unique quirks.
We should stand up for real body image instead of toying around with double zeros and blemish-free faces.
jlkarl@indiana.edu
