Final Word: Barbie impossible to measure up to because she’s not real
Feb 13, 2014, 9:02 PM | Updated: Feb 14, 2014, 12:12 am
This may be my favorite story of the day but not because it’s about Barbie.
I was never much of a doll girl, and with Barbie’s collection of fantastic clothing, beautiful friends and sports cars galore, I have to admit, I was a little jealous.
But, word is out, and the cover photo has been leaked.
Barbie has won the coveted Sports Illustrated swim edition cover spot.
Yep, there she is in all of her perfectly tanned, hinged- hip, no-nipple glory in a black and white bikini.
And, yep, the social media world is talking about it, with the hashtag #unapologetic.
Of course, the criticism is obvious.
Putting a Barbie doll on the cover of SI’s swimsuit edition is a grab for attention.
Barbie’s proportions, in case you haven’t read this kind of story before, are (gasp) unreal. If Barbs were a real girl, she would be 6 feet tall, weigh 100 pounds and wear a size 4. Her measurements would be 39-18-33.
There was actually a study done at Yale AND at Duke to come up with those figures.
It’s funny that we feel need to study that, isn’t it?
I can take one look at Barbie and tell you she’s not representative of a real woman.
I have friends who have acted professionally and modeled around the world. None of them looks like Barbie. And I think, when talking about the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, THAT should be the point.
Look, the criticism of magazines and depictions of women in general is that they depict unreal pictures. Because they do. They often airbrush EVEN the likes of Kate Upton, Jessica Biel and Gisele Bundchen, and they are as close to humanly perfect as is possible.
So, I think it’s pretty funny that they put Barbie up there. Because she’s NOT real. Do we need anything more than that?
Your daughters will compare themselves and there’s only so much you can do about it. You hope they realize they are beautiful no matter what size their thighs are and whether or not their hair is just right.
It might be an easier argument to make when the girl on the cover is literally made of plastic.
