After reading Steinburg's Barbie article, the thought of Barbie influencing children (more specifically young girls) was a prevalent thought in my mind. This article really pushes the facts and questions what Barbie does to influence younger girls. Barbie is a toy, and a good one at that. She draws in millions of dollars for businesses around the world annually and has been proven to boost children's imagination and happiness. Being able to create their own world is glamorous and exciting, always keeping the child entertained and happy.Barbie is just a doll, but such a little piece of plastic has received a lot of criticism aimed at at her and seemingly has a lot to answer for. Barbie has been put under question for influencing people's daughters into being thin, giving a false view of perfection and over exaggerating the idea "you can be whatever you want to be". Having Barbie jump back and forth between drastic career changes; some adults feel it is teaching children the wrong idea about being grown up. Also some historical figure Barbie's have been released that told stories replacing Barbie as a major historical figure, giving false perspective and knowledge about American history.
But is all of this a big deal? I remember playing with action figures when I was a kid, but never continued thinking I could be a super hero or a mutant. Why are people worrying about this doll making our children into unintelligent women that only want to do what Barbie does? A barbie doll is the same as owning a teddy bear, or another toy as a child. The influence of a doll, doesn't regularly continue into adulthood, so why is Barbie any different?
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