“ Seen Through Rose-Tinted Glasses”: The Barbie Doll in American Society Wether we realize it or not the toys our kids play with everyday have an immense impact on their behavior and development. Motz essay describes the perfect example of what these toys do to our society. In her essay, Marilyn Ferris Motz describes how Barbie portrays an image of a woman that lives based on her appearance, her popularity and her status. When playing with this dolls, girls take on the role of a teenager or an adult woman, letting them imitate adult female behaviors they see on other people and on the media. Girls take on the role of the doll enabling them to participate in dating and other social activities.
In this article Prager questions how Barbie had an effect on her life as a child growing up and how she viewed Barbie as well. Also questioning how young girls today are feeling the pressure to measure them to the iconic Barbie doll. The intended pathos for this piece has a wide range including young girls and middle aged women. Prager’s claim in this article is to educate and provide some relief for girls that have experienced the effects that the media and dolls like Barbie have had on them. The rhetorical stance that Prager conveys is that Barbie is one of the many reason that young adolescent girls today have body image issues.
In the poem, the speaker states the girlchild has “wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy” (4), showing that she already wants to alter her appearance. As children grow into young adults, they become aware of outside judgments; as the girlchild was made aware in the poem. “Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:/ You have a great big nose and fat legs” (5-6). Girls are pressured into looking the way media portrays beauty. Unfortunately, outward appearances take on a more important role than other characteristics to teenage girls.
Not only is it to inform adult women but it is also young girls too. She states, “If even the heroine in a Disney ‘girls’ movie’ does not enjoy being a girl, how must the girls watching her feel about it?” (Ross 553). She also reiterates that she is aiming to analyze and inform girls later in the text. “… I am concerned about what girls may learn about this potentially explosive aspect of their characters that could so easily burst the bounds of traditional feminity” (Ross 555). These two quotes present that the audience is in fact female.
Amanda Ravens George Powell Eng. 102 28 February 2014 Is Being Sexualized Really A Problem? Stephanie Hane’s article, “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect,” explains why she thinks young girls are being sexualized at a very young age and how others can help girls see the problem. To make her argument more effective, she talks about a woman named Mary Finucane and her person experience with her daughter.
It starts at a young age with girls wearing pink and playing with dolls, and boys wear blue and play with cars, trucks, and toy guns. Women are being discriminated upon present day, and hopefully the issues continue to improve with the thought of everyone in the world truly being treated
Therefore the girls have just hit puberty and are discovering themselves in a whole new way. They are very critical of themselves from this point on. “One was complaining to the other that she thought her butt was more heart than bubble and that she wanted bubble. And her friend [Cathy] said she thought heart was the best.” (178). Later in the story, when Tina is kissing the cute boy from the poster store, she continues to judge herself while thinking “how it [the skirt] had held in her butt and if she had been wearing that plastic skirt now, and he held her butt, it would remind him of a bubble, not a heart.
Kahlil M. Barrett English 1102 Susan Laplant 24 April 2013 Pimping My Child When a person thinks of a little girl and everything that she is supposed to represent, the first thing that comes to mind is a joyful little child wearing pink overalls. Perhaps she even has a little tea set with stuffed animals and Barbie dolls. They can see her hair in pigtails or little braids with hair bows on the end. That’s a pretty cute and vivid picture right? Now what if little girls who are barely 5 years old could now wear high heels, cake on pounds of make-up, plaster on fake eyelashes, and wear the brightest shade of red lipstick as possible?
Girls, conversely, are encouraged to play with dolls and to be clean. This helps to prepare them for the possibility of motherhood. Often times, nurturing and sensitivity are seen as a feminine quality. The next way children are socialized is usually at school. School serves as a formal socialization for most children.
Playing with the toy it helped me explore my creativity and imagination more. Some people may think that a perfect looking toy known as the Barbie may have a negative effect on some girls’ self esteem. As a young girl growing up Barbie had no impact on my self esteem. I believe that Barbie has a huge impact on my creativity and imagination. With many different styles of clothes and accessories to choose from, it gave me a chance to explore my creativity.