Body Image – Barbie
AIM
The media influences body image and self-esteem of both genders, this session is aimed at using
with girls groups to explore different influences which can affect us regarding body image.
PREPERATION / MATERIALS NEEDED
Access to computers or better still a computer you can project onto the wall.
Use the Get Real Barbie Fact Sheet.
ACTIVITY / METHOD
Ask the group who they think influences young people’s ideas about how they should look, behave,
feel etc? Write them down on a flipchart. Answers are likely to include: parents, siblings, peers,
magazine, pop and sports idols, internet, celebrities, boyfriends/girlfriends, television, advertisement,
etc. Then ask which in their opinion will have the most influence?
Explain that you are going to look a bit closer at the Barbie Doll and the messages it portrays to
young children/people. Ask the group if they have any thoughts on this? Use the link and watch the
video clip on Body Image – Barbie (in resources)
Discussion points / questions include:

What did you think of the video clip and what was the point of it?

Did you know about Barbie’s proportions and what that would mean to her health if she was a real
woman? Use the Get Real Barbie Fact Sheet (in resources)

Has it made you think about anything?

Have you learnt anything new?

How do you feel after watching this?
Ask the group what they think is beautiful for a woman/man? Note it down on flipchart. Discuss the
concept of beauty with the group and that the reality is them and who is around them and not what is
edited on the internet, in magazines etc.
You could continue onto Media, body image and self esteem - Mixed Gender and/or media, body
image and self esteem – Girls resources in Are You Ready 2014 toolbox, Strategy 4 – Gender Issues
RESOURCES - on following pages
Are You Ready? 2014
Body Image - Barbie
http://www.drrobynsilverman.com/body-image/the-truth-about-barbie-galia-slayens-life-size-barbieon-the-today-show/
Are You Ready? 2014
Get Real Barbie Fact Sheet
The “Get Real Barbie” was created by the South Shore Eating Disorders Collaborative (SSEDC) to
raise awareness during National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. This week (usually the last
week in February) is sponsored each year by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), and
considers body image, the media and the unrealistic beauty ideals set by pop culture. By sharing this
“Get Real Barbie” with the public, a dialogue can begin about the unrealistic media images that often
lead young people to diet and exercise in dangerous and unhealthy ways. Those who diet are eight
times more likely to develop eating disorders and eating disorders can be fatal. Women come in all
different shapes and sizes and the SSEDC and NEDA wants to help young women throughout
Boston “get real” information, “get real” expectations and “get real” help.

There are two Barbie dolls sold every second in the world. The target market for Barbie doll sales
is young girls aged 3 – 12 years.

A girl usually has her first Barbie by age 3, and collects a total of seven dolls during her childhood.

Over a billion dollars worth of Barbie dolls and accessories were sold in 1993, making this doll big
business and one of the top 10 toys sold.

If Barbie were an actual woman, she would be 5’9” tall, have a 39” bust, an 18” waist, 33” hips
and a size 3 shoe!

Barbie calls this a “full figure” and likes her weight at 110 lbs. At 5’9” tall and weighing 110 lbs,
Barbie would have a BMI of 16.24 and fit the weight criteria for anorexia. She most likely would
not menstruate.

If Barbie was a real woman, she’d have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.
Slumber Party Barbie was introduced in 1965 and came with a bathroom scale permanently set at
110 lbs with a book entitled “How to Lose Weight” with directions inside stating simply “Don’t eat.”
For more information visit the National Eating Disorders Association at:
www.nationaleatingdisorders.org.
* Source: Body Wars, Margo Maine, Ph.D., Gurze Books, 2000.
Are You Ready? 2014