I’m not a Barbie girl in a Barbie world. To be honest I was never that into Barbie growing up. I loved Jem who I thought was way cooler than Barbie. I did like Barbie and the Rockers. (Apparently I was into musical dolls as a girl as I thought they were pretty ass in a band.)
I will say that Barbie has come a very long way. I love the You Can Be Anything Barbie line featuring all kinds of occupations from athletes to astronauts to scientists and veterinarians. I even got my girls a lifeguard one when I was running the pool because well it seemed fitting.
Barbie has also changed a great deal physically. She is no longer super thin with a large chest (aka big boobs) but is more normal proportions. In addition to having Barbie in different skin tones there are even ones with skin disease (vitiligo), Down syndrome and in wheelchairs.
And that’s where the Barbie movie comes in. Aren’t we going back to the old Barbie and Ken? Ken with his washboard abs, which trust me is making me want to see the movie because I’ll admit I have a big crush on Ryan Gosling. But blonde, big boobs and thin Barbie is back.
And maybe that’s why I never liked Barbie growing up. I got into sports at an early age. I was never girly girl. I never had big boobs (which as an athlete and runner was not a bad thing). And I never was very thin until I developed an eating disorder in college but that was extremely unhealthy and I got so thin it was not attractive. And I was a brunette so I was jealous of the whole blonde thing.
Now I write this knowing nothing about the movie. I saw a preview of it when I took my kids to see the Super Mario movie and didn’t think it looked very good expect for Ryan Gosling. Sorry there I go again!
But my point is that we don’t live in a cookie cutter world. Women (and men too) come in all shapes and sizes and that’s what makes life so interesting. We aren’t all the same.
I think that’s why I like Barbie dolls more now than I did as a child. They are more unique now. They have different jobs and wear different clothes and are different body types (albeit still on the smaller/thinner side). But the chests are not obnoxious like they used to be and the waists are not rail thin and we have improved the image of Barbie dolls to be more realistic. And that’s a good thing because we all can’t look that perfect and good.
I never looked like Barbie and that’s ok. That’s what makes each of us unique. Imagination, life is our creation.
So come on Barbie let’s go party! Even if my waist is big, my hair is brown and I’m flat chested!
#Barbie #Barbiegirl #differences #ryangosling #youcanbeanything #jem #barbieandtherockers