Today in the Apocalypse: Barbie Got Even Skinnier

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Today in the Apocalypse: Barbie Got Even Skinnier

Posted by Colleen Kane

The oft-maligned grotesquely-proportioned Barbie depicted above seems positively healthy compared to one Mattel cranked out recently, which got the Worst Toy of 2008 award from The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Barbie had a double whammy working against it, said Joe Kelly, one of the committee members. "When you combine two classic symbols of gendered stereotypes – the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader and Barbie – you get one terrible toy."

Right, there's that, but did you get a load of her legs, or lack thereof? The only one with pins like that walking the planet now is Lindsay Lohan. Maybe the LiLo Barbie can win this award next year.

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Via A.V. Club

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Posted Feb 17 2009, 02:50 PM

Comments

redraven said:

First, that Barbie would be considered a collectors item and not a toy.

Second, I'm getting kind of sick of people blaming Barbie for girls and women not liking their bodies. Barbie is a toy, a fantasy, she's plastic. My Barbies always had careers, their own houses and cars and they never relied on Ken.

The reason I have body image problems? The media: tv, movies, magazines. Real women who displayed an unreal ideal. Even Playboy had a more realistic body image than the media because at the time I was being influenced by Playboy, the women had full hips and pubic hair.

February 17, 2009 6:33 PM

Apollo said:

Girls who grow up with Barbies are taught that Barbies are beautiful. How the hell does that not create image problems for them?

February 18, 2009 11:04 AM

neo143nyc said:

I have to agree with Apollo. While Barbie was only partly to blame for my body issues, I distinctly remember having her bathroom set when I was a kid and her scale was permanently being set on 115 and it was TINY compared to her. So she seemed to be about 6'1 and 115. The day I went over 115 (maybe 12) I remember feeling like I was now officially going away from "the norm".

February 19, 2009 12:18 AM

About Colleen Kane

Colleen has been an editor at BUST and Playgirl magazines and has written for the endangered species of dead-tree magazines like SPIN and Plenty, as well as Radar Online and other websites. She lives in exile in Baton Rouge with her fiance, two dogs, and her former cat. Read her personal blogs at ColleenKane.com.