I also had Barbies as a child and went on to double major in women's studies and march with the Feminist Majority and NOW. The truth is, I did not take my cues about how women should look and how they should dress and behave from my dolls; I took those cues from my feminist mother. This is not to say that the dolls, or the media in general, had NO impact; just that the actual flesh and blood women in my life had MORE impact. I'm willing to be the same will be true for your daughter.

And, great article!

Hey Christa -
Great piece! I had a ton of Barbies when I was younger, all blonde, all blue-eyed and obviously quite different than how my family or I looked with our dark hair and skin. I remember how excited I was when I was in 4th or 5th grade and they decided to come out with an international Barbie doll collection— one being from India in a sari and more like the women in my family. I'm glad now that they have Barbies from all over the world with a variety of hair colors, eye colors and professions. However, she has remained quite skinny over the years. Hopefully they'll have Barbies soon that reflect women more realistically.

I'm SO bemused by the symbolism people read into every little thing nowadays. We're talking about a doll, for goodness sakes. If that doll has more influence on a child than the parents do, that's a BIG set of problems that can't be blamed on Barbie. I am so glad I came up in the 50's, when kids could play with dolls, cars, trucks, stuffed animals, etc.,they could pretend, and no one got all bent out of shape about how it would affect their adult lives. Poor kids can't just be kids anymore.

My daughter is the same age. As a feminist dad I wouldn't have encouraged Barbies but I haven't discouraged it either.

Our favorite doll of hers might be the surfer/mermaid Barbie. It seems to me somewhat positive since it's vaguely athletic. But it's so much fun that my son, her little brother, likes to play with it too.

As a mom to a son only (now an adult), I can truly empathize with your feelings. When my son was a young I was adamant about no guns or any other type of violent toys. I very quickly learned that little boys can make a gun out of darn near anything if they want to and the less attention I gave it the better. When he would go to the many yardsales in OG with my mother he would often come home with a bag of Barbie type dolls. Playing with those dolls taught him nurturing skills. When he was about 4 years old he wanted a "kitchen", so I bought him one. He loved fixing dinner for me with all his fake food. And to this day he loves to cook, only with real food now. He was never one for Tonka trucks, etc.

Of course there are limits we set as parents, but, I for one am happy for the great life skills these "girlie" type toys taught him and I wouldn't change a thing if I had it to do over.

I have to agree with Jenni's point that it is more about parents influence then anything else.

Being a guy I can only speak on the guy things I grew up with. grew up in a home where hunting was a near weekly hobby. I saw plenty of violence on TV. I played with GI Joes, Star Wars and Rambo. I had more toy guns then you could shake a stick at (the Star Wars blasters were the best). The only time I played with Barbies was when I was dimebering them, which I did for the pleasure of irritating my sister. It did not mold me into a serial killer or even a violent person.

Sorry, but I still maintain it is just a doll; yes, there might be a few girls who will see this doll and feel that they MUST imitate her because she is "the ideal;" but how many other millions and millions of children over the years have played with this doll and NOT had problems with body image, etc? It's like saying a child who plays video games is going to go out and shoot his neighbors. However, that seems to be the attitude in our society anymore, "if my kid turns out bad, it's the fault of everybody else, certainly nothing I did wrong as a parent." Very, very sad.

I'd forgotten about good old Betty Boop!! Actually, if people are going to place blame for young girls having distorted ideas about their body image, I would say that current female celebrities are probably more of an influence than dolls. As i said earlier, I came up back in the 50's and females in movies and on tv shows were, on the whole, NOT as thin as so many famous women nowadays. But I really feel sad when I see SO many actresses, TV stars, etc., whose ribs and collarbones are sticking out, and think that girls edging into puberty think that's the way THEY should be. Here again, parents need to step up and be PARENTS to their children and try to instill a sense of self-worth and make their kids feel proud of who THEY are.