Once upon a time there was a beautiful teenage doll called Barbie. She was popular, she had style and lots of wonderful clothes and accessories. Over time she could pretty much do anything, even suntan! My older sister had a Barbie and I would have killed for one. In fact, I believe I “killed” my Cindy doll in the hope she would be replaced, come the next birthday or Christmas, with a Barbie. But …(sigh)…didn’t happen.

Barbie became an icon, the most popular doll on the market, and little girls the world over spent many wonderful years playing with their Barbie dolls. When I could manage to get a hold of her, I really enjoyed playing with my sister’s! As dolls went, she was a standout.

Now all of this should have a happy ending, right? Well no, unfortunately Barbie became the target of a minority of experts (and I use the term very loosely) who have vilified the Barbie doll, claiming she is a very bad influence on little girls and the result has been the destruction of this glamorous icon to pacify them. It’s an outrage really, because Barbie was in a class of her own, there was no comparison and consecutive teenage dolls never really came up to scratch. They just lacked that It factor.

The negative press began back in the 90s when the first of the minority “experts” decided Barbie’s glamour-puss looks were detrimental to every little girls’ personal development; leading them to such nasties as bulimia, anorexia and body issues in general as they strived to look like their Barbie dolls and would then clock up hours on the analyst’s couch when they didn’t! Really? The generations of little girls who played with Barbie, grew up and didn’t fall into these categories counted for nothing? Apparently not, and that’s an awful lot to dump on a doll, I think. Fortunately no one was really listening back then and Barbie continued to flourish. And then, in 2017, Mattel caved to the minority and Barbie has been remodelled to better represent “real” women. Ken’s had a makeover too, I think. But why???

A documentary I watched not too long ago, which focused on the perceived influence of the Barbie doll, had the narrator trying very hard to get a handful of little girls to express what she wanted to hear. When it didn’t happen she eventually asked outright if they wanted to look just like Barbie when they grew up?  Th little girls looked at her askance and then one piped up with “But she’s a doll!” and that summed the whole debate up for me. The generations of healthy women who played with Barbie as children also support my belief that the “experts” need to just shut up and go away!

Anyway, Barbie now comes in all shapes and sizes so you would think her detractors would be happy, wouldn’t you? They’re not though, if the antics of the woman checking a series of graphs and making comparisons in ominous tones is anything to go by. According to her, even podgy Barbie is “in fact” below the realistic standard weight ratio, whatever that is. You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s a doll! Personally, I think the new “real shape/weight/look” Barbies are hideous!

The whole concept of the doll has been lost and it’s tragic.

But seriously… It’s A Doll!