Klaus Barbie, and other dolls I’d like to see is a very interesting article because it shows how a small little toy can manipulate the minds of so many young and older girls. Everyone wants to look beautiful, be a princess, and a bride just like Barbie! This hype over Barbie causes a lot of misjudging, kids will see a girl and decide whether she is likable or not by the way she looks; the more like Barbie the better. Personalities don’t matter anymore it’s all about looks.
It is sad that kids let themselves be influenced by the Barbie and as a result their self-esteem goes down significantly. Susan Gilman, the author of Klaus Barbie, and other dolls I’d like to see, states, “Somewhere, somehow, a message stepped into our consciousness telling us that we weren’t good enough to be a bride or a model or a queen or anything because we weren’t pretty enough. And this translated into not smart enough or likable enough, either. The thought that kids start feeling bad about themselves at an early age because of a ‘pretty’ doll is quite depressing. The problem is that small girls are vulnerable and when you’re exposed to a society that strives its people to look ‘gorgeous’ it will obviously have a negative affect. Moreover, because all girls want to be like Barbie they are destroying their own personality and following that of a plastic toy. It is the parent’s job to tell their kids that they are beautiful just the way they are and if somebody wants to judge them because they don’t look like Barbie, then they are better off without that person.
Reading this article does show me that boys have a lot less pressure when it comes to this subject. Boys don’t really have a doll that they must look like. Sure, they have toys that everyone thinks are cool like G.I Joe, but we are not judged if we don’t look like him. In fact, people might think it’s weird if we dress like them.
This idea of Barbie and looks taking over the lives of little girls does make me look at The Handmaid’s Tale in a new fashion. In the book all handmaid’s have to wear a red dress; every group of people have their strict dress code and everybody must abide by those dress codes. This method does take away the entire jealousy factor and the tempting need to look like somebody you are not. However, I’m not sure I can say this is system is any better than the Barbie society because as far as I know women LOVE shopping and dressing up. So, by taking that away you might also be taking away a trait that is often found in women. The answer to which system is better can only be answered by a women.
We live in a society that urges its people to look beautiful and be slim, but by doing so they damage the growing up of young girls. Girls become more obsessed with how they look and don’t give themselves time to decide which looks they like, they just follow what Barbie is doing. The other option is to follow the system that is used in The Handmaid’s Tale. In my opinion, that is a horrible system and should never be allowed to see the light of day. We just have to accept that we live in a society that pressurizes kids into looks at an early age. This also becomes a test of personality, which girls will fall into the deep black hole and become just like everybody else and which one’s will be able discover who they are without the influence of Barbie.
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