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I remember when I was a little girl, all my friends and I wanted Barbie dolls. The long blonde hair, the glittery outfits, the perfect smile. I’m not really sure why, but somehow Barbie was more than just a doll. She was THE doll. Maybe I only wanted it because everyone else did? One thing I never wondered about was her slim, tall body. I assumed that this was an actual representation of what the female body is supposed to look like and assumed I’d look like that when I grew up. I never questioned it. But, now, I realise that maybe Barbie isn’t the ideal toy for little girls.
What would Mattel’s Barbie look like in real life?
Rehabs.com, a search engine for rehab centres, put together an infographic from data compiled during a study in 1996, called Ken and Barbie At Life Size. It compares the proportions of Barbie’s body to that of an average woman, an average anorexic woman, and an average model – and the figures are actually quite scary.
Barbie’s body would actually be too small to hold all of her internal organs, her tiny neck wouldn’t be able to fit her gigantic head, and her skinny ankles atop her size 3 feet would mean that she would have to walk on all fours.
We guess plastic isn’t so fantastic after all.
But is Barbie really bad for girls?
A recent study shows that even though the media and pop culture is often blamed (and possibly partly responsible for) poor self-image, it seems that a large factor in the way we look at ourselves is to do with the people we surround ourselves with – our girlfriends.
And I completely understand this. I mean, how many times have you been getting ready to go out with the girls had to rethink your outfit because you’re afraid of what that one friend will say? Or put on make-up to pop round to the shop for bread and milk just in case you see a frenemy and she tells everyone she knows how awful you looked?
A ‘real’ Barbie
An artist named Nickolay Lamm, of MyDeals.com, decided to do a little experiment to see what Barbie would look like if she was modelled after an actual woman. He used CDC measurements of the body of an average 19 year-old female to create a 3D model. He then placed the model next to a standard Barbie and photoshopped the model to match the doll.
The results speak for themselves. Nikolay’s model not only looks more realistic, but probably would have been a much better representation to 5-year-old me as to what I should look like in 15 years.
"If there's even a small chance of Barbie in its present form negatively influencing girls, and if Barbie looks good as an average-sized woman in America, what's stopping Mattel from making one?" says Nikolay in an email to Huffington Post.
And we have to say, we agree. Picture: Nickolay Lamm, MyDeals.com
Do you think a ‘normal’ looking Barbie should be created?
What would Mattel’s Barbie look like in real life?
Rehabs.com, a search engine for rehab centres, put together an infographic from data compiled during a study in 1996, called Ken and Barbie At Life Size. It compares the proportions of Barbie’s body to that of an average woman, an average anorexic woman, and an average model – and the figures are actually quite scary.
Barbie’s body would actually be too small to hold all of her internal organs, her tiny neck wouldn’t be able to fit her gigantic head, and her skinny ankles atop her size 3 feet would mean that she would have to walk on all fours.
We guess plastic isn’t so fantastic after all.
But is Barbie really bad for girls?
A recent study shows that even though the media and pop culture is often blamed (and possibly partly responsible for) poor self-image, it seems that a large factor in the way we look at ourselves is to do with the people we surround ourselves with – our girlfriends.
And I completely understand this. I mean, how many times have you been getting ready to go out with the girls had to rethink your outfit because you’re afraid of what that one friend will say? Or put on make-up to pop round to the shop for bread and milk just in case you see a frenemy and she tells everyone she knows how awful you looked?
A ‘real’ Barbie
An artist named Nickolay Lamm, of MyDeals.com, decided to do a little experiment to see what Barbie would look like if she was modelled after an actual woman. He used CDC measurements of the body of an average 19 year-old female to create a 3D model. He then placed the model next to a standard Barbie and photoshopped the model to match the doll.
The results speak for themselves. Nikolay’s model not only looks more realistic, but probably would have been a much better representation to 5-year-old me as to what I should look like in 15 years.
"If there's even a small chance of Barbie in its present form negatively influencing girls, and if Barbie looks good as an average-sized woman in America, what's stopping Mattel from making one?" says Nikolay in an email to Huffington Post.
And we have to say, we agree. Picture: Nickolay Lamm, MyDeals.com
Do you think a ‘normal’ looking Barbie should be created?
