It seems like we’ve come a long way from the days of skinny, blonde, blue-eyed Barbies. Barbie released some new additions to their doll collection this week. Among them are dolls with prosthetic limbs, vitiligo (an autoimmune condition that results in patches of skin losing color), and bald heads. These new additions are only part of a wave of diverse releases with a range of skin colors, hairstyles, and body types.
After years of criticism about inflating unrealistic beauty standards, I think it’s really admirable that Barbie is taking strides to be more inclusive and that there are going to be kids playing with dolls that reflect both themselves and the world as a whole. As a kid, it probably would have meant the world to be able to see someone who looked like me represented in mainstream media, and not just diluted into one-dimensional, token Asian nerd.
How do you think that these new additions will be received by children? Would you have liked these kinds of toys growing up?
2 comments:
I think that these new additions are super cool; children growing up right now and in the future will have toys to play with that physically represent different people. As a kid, I didn't think much of Barbie being white and thin and fitting "beauty standards" (partly because I'm white so I probably didn't care), but I actually started to notice this growing up and rewatched the movies. I think that the inclusivity might help children grow up without looking at themselves and feeling like something might be wrong with them. I'm excited to see where they go with this; they may start adding this diverse look to the Ken dolls as well, maybe start incorporating non-gendered dolls? It will be really interesting.
I agree with Olivia. I actually saw a video on this a few years back and it took its lens to the stores and interviewed people passing by barbie shelves. When adults who had previously only seen the stereotypical blue eyed, blond haired barbie looked at the shelf of only such dolls, they had seemed content. However, when these same people were asked to look at a shelf with dolls with different skin tones, hair and eye color, the adults became wary and had a feeling as if something was not quite right. I think that when, from the moment people are born, they are influenced from what they see as children, this view becomes ingrained and viewed as right and comfortable. However, when they see something that breaks from this norm, the feeling becomes unpleasant. I am glad that doll companies are attempting to reverse this trend and try to have kids grow up with a norm that includes all people. (Side note: the kids in the video actually had no problem picking out the different colored and oriented barbies; it was primarily only the adults that experienced moderate revulsion...hmmmmmmmm)
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