Fooling around with a box of dolls in the Women’s Center, I became curious to know how owning a Barbie or Ken doll as a child affects the physique and attitudes we have today. So I approach different women and I posed the following questions:
• As a child, how significant was the Barbie doll?
• Did you ever want to be like or possess physical traits like Barbie?
Most women said that the Barbie doll was a significant toy in their youth. Some elaborated on the optional accessories that Matel released for Barbie, such as the Barbie Dream House, Car, Van, even the My Size Barbie. The second question resulted in mixed responses. When asked did they want to be like Barbie as a youth, many agreed by mentioning her professional success. She has had over 90 occupations and the number continues to increase! Others commented on her fashion; from the shoes, outfits and sunglasses, Barbie is truly the best dressed and most successful inanimate object ever!
When asked if Barbie’s physical traits had an impact on the way the women see themselves today, the women referred to her body type, hair and makeup. Those who discussed Barbie’s body type agreed that they once desired a body like hers, but the desires faded as they aged. Barbie has always had great hairstyles and practically all the dolls I owned had straight silky hair. I know from experience that growing up with coarse hair, it was a struggle to understand why my hair could not be like hers. The solution to my issue and I am pretty sure most women who had a similar struggle was to either straighten the hair with chemicals or wear a weave.
This is not a decision that one makes spontaneously. The neighborhood pharmacies and supermarkets have a complete isle dedicated to hair care. Ninety to about ninety five percent of the products are user friendly for those with silky straight hair, while the rest is the natural/ethnic hair care section. Ironically, the ethnic products are very minimal in amount and next to those products are relaxers; the not- so- natural chemicals necessary for straightening one’s hair.
Then I held up the Ken doll… and here’s where the interesting stuff happened
I asked:
• Did you own the Ken doll as well? If so, have you looked for a man with the same physical traits and materialistic possessions as Ken, i.e. his body and hot car?
For those who did own the Ken doll, the results were shocking but at the same time reasonable. If you owned the “hottest doll on the planet,” in my opinion, it would be only right to have her hot companion in your collection as well. When asked if they have looked for a man with a body like Ken, it is pretty expected for most women to say yes, JUST LOOK AT THE DOLL!! Though it would be nice to have a male companion with a six pack of abs a hot car and unemployed, I found that it is quite easy to find a man with one of the three stated traits, but difficult to find one who has them all.
Aside from learning that women looked for a man that looks like Ken physically, one woman confessed that she wanted a guy with a nice car like Ken's. When I asked her have any of the men she dated own a luxury car, she responded, “No.”
Intriguing enough, most women desire to look a certain way and have a partner that is nonexistent. Neither Barbie nor Ken has aged since! Barbie is over 50 years old with a body of a 21 year old. Most of us kick those desires after some time. Why is that? Well for one, we realize that we owned these dolls when we were uncertain of our own identity,(sometime between the post- toddler,adolescence era.); the time in our lives when we were most impressionable and naïve. Through the years, some women take heed to and acknowledge that not all women can look like Barbie or have the luck of finding a man that looks like Ken. While sadly other women risk their lives, undergoing plastic surgery and other procedures to alter their physical appearance to be doll- like.
No comments:
Post a Comment