“ 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.
The rhetorical stance that Prager conveys is that Barbie is one of the many reason that young adolescent girls today have body image issues. The intended pathos for “Our Barbies, Ourselves” is directed to those who can relate to Prager’s feelings towards Barbie. Young and middle aged girls can understand Prager’s reasoning for her mixed feelings. Prager gives examples of how she played with Barbie when she was younger and how she felt knowing that Barbie and Ken could never become romantic. Those who have played with Barbie dolls at some length can grasp what Prager was talking about.
Piercy analyzes the girl from birth and uses a detached, expecting tone to portray her normality. In lines two through five Piercy creates a bitter tone when talking about the toys her parents presented her as a child. Piercy's tone can also seem as if she is disgusted because she talks about the “dolls that did pee pee” and uses a sarcastic alliteration when she said “lipsticks the color of cherry candy” (2-4). At this point it is clear the child is a toddler or in adolescence since she plays with these toys that little girls are expected to pay with at that age. The first stanza abruptly ends with “You have a great big nose and fat legs.” (6).
Eva is very happy while wearing this lips gloss. The emotion of Eva’s happiness can make us think if we buy this new lip gloss we will enjoy it. Is this lip gloss really worth buying? Just because cover girl says that it’s all these nice things don’t really mean it’s true. Ads tend to persuade us using many different things most of the time just so we can buy.
I began to walk down the aisle and looked very closely at the dolls. I mean it is very obvious that dolls are made for girls. I noticed that the aisle was stacked on plain steel with pink pegboard behind it(very attracting I thought). I then walked down further more and the whole aisle was dedicated to Barbie and her friends and also their equipments. I mean, kitchen set, dining set, clothing set...You name it Barbie had it.
Barbie has been said to touch every girl's life’ (Rogers, 1999). She is everywhere and with this has become more than a toy - she is a cultural icon. So it is little surprise that the controversy and cultural issues Barbie has raised are extensive. She is a commodity that is loaded with ideology; feminists, parents and critics have all raised questions and others hailed issues raised by Barbie as a role model a representation of femininity, sexuality, racialisation and consumerism. It is often implied that Barbie represents white middle class emphatic femininity but in this essay I will to attempt critically demonstrate that this is not actually the case and will explore issues that help prove otherwise.
If a parent was expecting a baby and maybe the other child wasn’t happy about it, we as a setting we could do role play with the dolls making references to when you have a baby brother or sister you could help mummy, you can cuddle the baby etc. This helps support the childs needs by making them feel safe and help them to understand what to expect | Psychoanalytic – Sigmund Freud | Main points of theoryTheories of personality are interesting; Sigmund Freud is particularly famous for his psychosexual theory of development which is often used to explain unconscious thoughts and actions. However this theory has not been scientifically agreed with but has helped those working with children to understand that there is a link between our mind and our unconscious actions
Rae Public Image of a Nurse This is a nurse costume sold by Lure Love, it is marketed for adult dress up or costume parties. They also market it “to play out their fantasies” (Lure Love). This costume obviously portrays that all nurses are sexy and wear tiny costumes that pop their breasts out of the dress. The nurse in the picture above is dressed in a small, tight dress with her breasts popping out and barely covered by the dress. The nurse has a kissing face and is trying to look seductive.
This is supported and was shown by McConachy’s study of gender stability where they asked young children to identify the sex of a doll. They found that children aged 3.5 to 4 used hair length to decide on the sex of the doll. The third and final stage is gender constancy or consistency. At around 6-7, children realise that gender is permanent; if a woman has her head shaven, she is still female. Gender understanding is only complete when a child appreciates that gender is permanent over time and different situations.
Mothers are often stern with their daughters and easy on their sons. Fathers, on the other hand, are tough with their sons and more times than not baby their daughters (hence mama’s boys and daddy’s girls). Boys are also encouraged to be involved in sports. This is because to be male is to essentially be masculine. Girls, conversely, are encouraged to play with dolls and to be clean.