Every mans dream. Yes, we are talking about the most beloved doll of all time, the beautiful and perfect, Barbie. This children’s toy was first debut in 1959, and she was the ideal role model for all girls, or so it seemed. She was perfectly skinny, had a perfect boyfriend and family, perfect hair, perfect house, perfectly… perfect. Yet how was this perfect doll impacting the millions of young girls who were playing with her?
The texts tell us fashionable women what the mascara does to eyelashes. The mascara is displayed in bottom right of page in a green tub. Covergirl is mostly taking Taylor Swift beauty to brighten up the page. Females will like this because they can see what they are getting and how it looks in the outside light. On the contrary, the Maybelline mascara advertisement lacks creative use of colors.
Child Beauty Pageants Should Be Banned When you were younger, you probably played dress up, for fun and games. Well, some irresponsible mothers in the United States are taking the concept of dressing up and turning it up several levels, and transforming their children into replicas Barbie dolls. The young pageant model is adorned with fake tans, hair extensions, 50 layers of make-up and fake teeth. After being put in extravagant, often inappropriate costumes, being fed health derogatory substances such as sugar packets and mixtures of high-energy drinks that even children twice their ages don’t even drink and performing tantrums of her reluctance to do her pageant, the juvenile Prima Donna is ready to go. Plastering on an over-exercised smile, the six year old walks on stage, cheered on by the joyful screams of her most-likely overweight mother.
How popular she is and perfect she is, and so naturally these girls are beginning to want to be just like Barbie, happy and perfect all of the time. There is always so much to look, act and dress. And young girls worldwide feel the need to fit in and the only way to do that is to look and act a certain way. Barbie has always been there to set the trends. Feminist say that Barbie is the cause of worldwide eating disorders, low self-esteem and false perception of beauty.
The main question is why? Barbie is just a doll; to be more specific, a piece of plastic dressed to perfection. Barbie lives in a world where women are superior and uses her boyfriend Ken as a mere accessory. She was made ideal; from the perfectly designed curves to every flawless detail on her face. In retrospect, Barbie was created as an image icon for all to love and admire.
Good Deeds of Barbie Barbie dolls, the most popular doll in the world (Gerber, 2010), where invented in 1950’s when a lady called Ruth Handler watched her daughter playing with paper dolls and giving them adult roles (Briana, 2009). According to Papantoniou (2012) Barbie dolls are being sold in over than 150 countries worldwide with only one motto which is “we girls can do anything” (Delgado, 2014). Since the beginning the objective of Barbie dolls was to make young girls imagine their adulthood. Barbie dolls have over 100 careers that make them a perfect roll model for young girls in order motivating them and teaching them how to be hardworking ladies in future. Some might say that the unrealistic shape of Barbie will hurt young girls’ perception, but as one of the designers of Barbie company say “girls’ perceptions are so different than grown ups’ perceptions about what real is and what real isn’t…..
Dr Carr-Gregg, a respected Australian adolescent psychologist, stated that these pageants are “bordering on child abuse.” (Carr-Gregg cited in Gearin, 2011) Others have called for legislation of age restrictions for beauty pageants, and a code of conduct for all forms of child performance. (Gearin, 2011) Painted Babies clearly demonstrates “the complete package” requires children to be pampered and preened to resemble performing dolls. This objectification includes excessive hair, make-up, fake-tan even dental treatment in the pursuit of physical perfection. The children develop song and dance routines to display their talents. These often have an adult, sexy over-tone some argue is ‘creepy’ causing a ‘general discomfort’ in the viewing public.
These statistics show that child beauty pagents are harming children, but why else should they be banned? Child Beauty Pagents affect a childs development. Most children who compete in these pageants think that looks is everything and are taught that if you are pretty then that's all that matters. This also causes children to have unrealistic expectations for when they grow older. When the children grow older they start to have self esteem issues which can lead to depression and other mental health problems.
TLC’s hit show “Toddlers & Tiaras” has captured the drama and exploitation in the world of child beauty pageants. Young girls are paraded around in expensive costumes, some in overly adult costumes complete with padded breasts. “….viewers and pageant skeptics have been expressing horror at an industry
For most parents and their little girls it is just good fun. They do not take the beauty pageants seriously. For a few parents the beauty pageants become an obsession. This is when beauty pageants for children can suddenly become very harmful. “Critics of the industry warn that the stresses of competition, coupled with an extreme focus on physical appearance, can have a negative effect long before these girls will be eligible for Miss America.” (Triggs, West and Aradillas 160-168) The loss of self-esteem, the inability to show a full range of emotions, the fear of failure, the extreme focus on physical image, and the discord with or fear of parents are a few of the symptoms those little girls will suffer from.