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A Controversial Issue: The Barbie Doll
McKenzie Allred
English 1010
April1, 2012
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Who knew a doll could cause so much controversy? This doll I am referring to is very
common in American households; in fact, it has been found that the average American girl owns
eight of these contentious dolls. The doll I am talking about is Barbie, but what is this
controversy I am referring to? For centuries feminists have fought for equality of women in
society. They feel that women are given the back seat in a world where men are privileged
simply because of their gender. This fight still continues today, even continuing on to a current
hot topic; the Barbie Doll and the influence she has on women. Could it be that this toy is to
blame for the distorted body image that women all over the world face in today's society?
In her essay "Our Bodies, Ourselves," Emily Prager discusses the image of Barbie and
her effect on women. She talks about how she recently discovered that the image of Barbie was
created by a man, which comes as no surprise to her after taking Barbie's bodily proportions into
consideration. Prager claims that Barbie sets an unrealistic ideal for women today. She believes
that many women feel that they need to fit into this mold in order to be loved by society and
because of Barbie and these standards, women are resorting to plastic surgery. She then goes on
to describe how Barbie took the innocent doll industry to a sexual, superficial ideal for girls.
Prager also expresses that she thinks that it’s strange and quite sexist that Barbie can flaunt huge
breasts, whereas Ken's genitals are nonexistent. In the article "Idolatry" Kate Chamberlain also
discusses the influence and pressures Barbie puts on women today. In the article, Chamberlain
blames Barbie for women’s preoccupation with their image. She also says that feminists' blame
Barbie for playing into the belittling and objectifying of women. She goes on to discuss the
declining body image of girls today as the occurrence of bulimia, anorexia, and cosmetic surgery
increases. She relates her own life experiences of feeling the pressure to conform to society's
ideals at times, as well as some stories about other women’s opinions and life experiences with
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the doll.
Although both Prager and Chamberlain discuss the negative impact of Barbie on
women’s self-image in today's society, Prager focuses more on her own opinions of the doll,
whereas Chamberlain is able to incorporate many other women’s opinions and life examples.
Both articles got me to take notice of their arguments that in a superficial society, Barbie is
impacting the perception of women in a harmful way; however, Chamberlain's article better
persuaded me to understand the impact of Barbie.
Prager concentrates her work on her own opinion and emotions on the topic more than
anything else. In opening, she focuses her essay on the ethics when she discusses her initial
reaction when she first figures out Jack Ryan, a man, had created the image of Barbie. Prager
says "I used to look at Barbie and wonder, what’s wrong with this picture? What kind of a
woman designed this doll?” (Prager, 1997, p.615) Here she plays on the values and beliefs of the
audience by showing how unfair she feels it is that the doll creates an impossible standard for
women. Prager then goes on to appeal to the readers through logos when she asks, "Did Mr.
Ryan design Barbie as a weapon? Because it is odd that Barbie appeared about the same time in
my consciousness as the feminist movement.” (Prager, 1997, p.616) Her question here becomes
stimulating to readers' logic on the topic. Finally, Prager plays on the pathos of her readers as she
discusses the betrayal she felt that Barbie's large breasts were objectified through the doll,
however, Ken's genitals were nonexistent. Prager says, "Why, I wondered, was Barbie designed
with such obvious sexual equipment and Ken not?” (Prager, 1997, p.618) She then continues to
play on the emotions of her readers as she describes the loneliness Barbie is faced to endure
because "no matter how much sexuality Barbie possessed, she would never turn Ken on.”
(Prager, 1997, p.617)
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Chamberlain is able to incorporate other women’s opinions and real life examples all
throughout her work using ethos, pathos, and logos as well. She first connects to the readers with
pathos, relating her story of growing up through her adolescence and comparing herself to the
perfect ideal of Barbie. She says "I was not a contender for these roles, nevertheless, the intense
pressure I felt to conform to the impossible added greatly to normal adolescent glooms.”
(Chamberlain, 1995, p.57) Here, Chamberlain communicates to her readers her emotions of her
negative self-image as a teenager when comparing herself with the doll. Chamberlain also
connects to the readers ethos of the topic as she says, "[Barbie] reinforces the American
epidemic of unnecessary face lifts, tummy tucks, breast reduction surgery, breast augmentation
surgery, as well as anorexia, bulimia, and diet fanaticism.” (Chamberlain, 1995, p.58) In her
work, Chamberlain is able to draw on the readers' ethics about the doll's negative impact on
women. Towards the end of her article Chamberlain incorporates logos as she is describing a
fifth grader girl's reaction to a discussion to Barbie dolls. She quotes the little girl saying, "Now I
think she's disgusting, because she has an impossible structure. She causes people to want to
have breast surgery, things like that.” (Chamberlain, 1995, p.60) Through the example of the
fifth grader, Chamberlain communicates the logic, or rather the lack thereof, of people who
obsess to become like her.
When evaluating her essay, Prager was not very effective in providing me with enough
evidence or examples to accept her argument. Her main focus in the essay was strictly her own
opinion and the way she saw the doll, thus causing her to lose credibility. There were very little
practical criteria throughout her piece as well. In contrast, Chamberlain incorporated many
different examples from both her life and the lives of other women. She discussed her own
friends' view of the doll, the fifth graders impression of the doll and college students’ feelings
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about the impact the doll has on women. With the more examples she provided, the more clearly
I was able to see her argument develop. She was able to establish credibility with the multiple
sources she utilized.
Throughout her essay, Prager seemed to remain a little bit biased to her own opinion from
beginning to end. She never provides the reader with the other side of the argument or the
positive impact Barbie may have on women. Instead, she focuses all of her energy on tearing
down the doll and all of the negatives Barbie holds. In contrast, Chamberlain, sheds a little bit of
light on the opposite side of her own argument. She notes in her essay that Mona was able to
grow up playing with Barbie without viewing her as a constricting image. She goes on to say that
even though Mona often played with Barbie as a little girl, "she [Mona] feels relatively secure
emotionally and socially, and isn't that what protects women from feeling oppressed by society's
ideals of attractiveness?"
Finally, Prager's style of the text wasn't as visually appealing as Chamberlain's. Upon
first glance, Prager's essay looks intimidating and too wordy. There are not a lot of breaks in the
text which made it less appealing to read. Chamberlain, however, did a good job of getting more
said in less text. She was able to write her article effectively, while still managing to get her
argument through. Her article provides a lot more breaks for the reader and seems less
intimidating to readers visually.
In conclusion, “Idolatry” was a lot more persuasive for me because Chamberlain related
multiple views on the topic rather than the biased opinion seen in Prager’s work “Our Barbies,
Ourselves.” The focus Prager put on her own opinion on the topic made her essay less credible to
me as a reader and brought me to question whether she ever stopped to consider the other side of
the argument. Although I had never considered it before, Chamberlain’s article was successfully
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able to consider the message she was trying to get through, could Barbie dolls be the primary
culprit behind women’s distorted body image today.
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References
Prager, E. (1997). Our Barbies ourselves. In S. Maasik & J. Solomon (Eds.), Signs of life in the
USA (615-618). Boston: Bedford Books.
Chamberlain, K.”Idollatry.” Tikkun. March 1995: 57-60. SIRS Issues Researcher Web. 13 March
2012
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