Barbies?!

Barbies and other toys for children are definitely one of the causes for unattainable beauty standards in girls, but are they really the biggest factor?

This week, our class talked about the article "Our Barbies, Ourselves" and discussed the ways in which such objects resulted in the impossible standards set for women. I definitely agreed with the arguments Prager made in her article; I mean, if Barbie didn't set any standards, then why does there exist a women that looks like this?

"Now that I look just like Barbie, I'm beautiful!"

But is it only Barbie (and other toys) that set this impossibly high bar for women? It's really tempting to just place all the blame on the people that create these horrible toys--Prager calls Barbies a "weapon (Prager 354) "designed by a man" (Prager 353)--but that'd be wrong. The sad truth is that the blame is to be placed on society as a whole. For example, this video shows the demoralizing effect our words can have on girls over time: 

See, Barbies aren't really the cause of the unattainable standards; they're a byproduct of it. They exist to encourage and facilitate the raising of this metaphorical bar, but they're not the actual reason that it exists. Stopping the creation of Barbies, or making them more lifelike, won't change anything; the only thing that can be done is to alter society's attitude. Until we adjust society's mentality, there will be no progress on the issue of women's beauty; instead, it'll be just like Prager described it: "As if we're all trapped in Barbie's world and can never escape" (Prager 355).