Current Events > Is Barbie a good role-model for girls?

(+) Yeah! (+)

For approaching 60 years Barbie has dominated the world of children's toys as every little girls #1 toy and a virtual household name of the 1st world. At least that's the story Mattel would like you to believe.

However for decades now both different pockets of Liberals and Conservatives as well especially femminists have been very hostile to old doll. Saying she is a bad influence for Children and unhealthy for them.

Arguments for Barbie as a role model:

- She's happy, healthy and independant, promoting a good lifestyle and having fun with friends.
- She's smart and capable, nothing is her limit. She's been an astronaut, horse-rider, lawyer, businsess woman, even a pirate for a little while. There are no limits to what she capable of and she teaches that to children.
- Teaches children to be proud of who they are and not back own to peer pressure, pushing the huge #unapologetic trend

Arugments for Barbie as a poor role model

- She promotes an unrealistic standard of beauty that cements how women are little more than objects who should dedicate themselves to their apperance and being good mates/housewives.
- Her appearance promotes unhealhy lifestyles, disurbingly thin with huge breasts and hips.
- She is utterly obsessed with clothes, money and shallowness.
- She promotes greed and sleazy consumerism.
- It sexualizes little girls.
- It is near universially only promoting white dolls and characters aside from a few token side dolls.



But what does CE think?

Do you think Barbie is a force for good empowering women?
Do you think she is a symbol of captialism at it's worst? Hurting little girls to fill large male CEO's pockets?

Or do you think Barbie is a harmless thing, like finding a piece of flint in your pocket? Utterly irrelevant.
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Yes, she's a good role model, especially today when feminists are trying to produce a generation of landwhales.
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It's so sad that Barbie gets body shamed, she still has many careers despite that. Good for her.
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Manocheese posted...

Yes, she's a good role model, especially today when feminists are trying to produce a generation of landwhales.

Erm
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Barbie could be my Life Coach tbh.

She's been a doctor and a president, but she's attractive and that makes her a bad person.

Or something like that. I don't know.

Manocheese posted...

Yes, she's a good role model, especially today when feminists are trying to produce a generation of landwhales.

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I just don't really understand the push for little girls to play with dolls to begin with. From a young age, they are essentially told that their appearance is tied to their worth.

As a child, I did play with Barbies, but also with action figures, puzzles, video games. My parents pushed math on me heavily. I ended up graduating with an engineering degree. I feel like if we stopped treating boys and girls so differently in their early development years, we would see a larger increase of women in male dominated industries.

I don't think Barbie is a bad role model. If I did have a girl, I wouldn't be opposed to her playing with dolls. But I'd also want to have other toys that also promote cognitive development.

Cleo_II posted...

I just don't really understand the push for little girls to play with dolls to begin with.

Money
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Manocheese posted...

Yes, she's a good role model, especially today when feminists are trying to produce a generation of landwhales.

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No, a doll who is famous for being a doll is not a good role model. I would prefer if women had feminist role models like SE Cupp or Emily Ratajkowski
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Topic title and poll title are two different answers
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Slip-N-Slide posted...

Topic title and poll title are two different answers

I tend to just put random shot in the poll title as no one reafs it. Topic title is what counts
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Someone post the chick who had plastic surgery to look like Barbie.
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