Barbie dolls and self esteem of young girls

How do Barbie dolls impact young girls?

Every one of us has heard or played with Barbie dolls, haven’t we? Let me go back a little and give a brief history of Barbie Dolls. These plastic dolls were manufactured on 9^th March 1959 by Mattel Inc. and took inspiration from Bild Lilli, a German fashion doll.

As I recall, my childhood friends would cling to their Barbie as it fascinated them. Irrespective of what they did, you would always find them roaming with their dolls. With time, I realized how deeply it had affected each one of us and millions of children.

Let me explain to you in simple words. Humans tend to observe, learn, and imitate behaviors and actions of those around them, and this is known as observational learning. For example, we see how others dress up and wear clothes accordingly to get accepted and fit in the society. We tend to compare ourselves with each other even if it makes us sad because we like to self-reflect and evaluate ourselves. This explains why we compare our bodies and looks with people who are hyped in the society.

Likewise, we compare our bodies with plastic dolls. These dolls have created an illusion of an unrealistic beauty standard- a belief that its figure is normal, and anything beyond that is unusual. This has deeply impacted young girls. From an early age, they learn that having a curvy body is appreciated in society. As a result, they start doubting themselves and their body which leads to psycho-physiological impacts. They become self-conscious about their appearance, have an inferiority complex, and start hating themselves. They might withdraw or avoid social gatherings and stay excluded. In the future, they can be impacted to an extent where they can have body dysmorphia, eating disorders, become emotionally dependent on their friends or significant others or even be diagnosed with depression and anxiety!

To illustrate the above, an experiment was conducted. A sample of 162 girls aged between 5-8 years old was included in a study focusing on the impact of playing with Barbie dolls. There were two groups- dolls and no dolls. The children in the ‘dolls group’ reported lower self-esteem and wished their body looked like Barbie, whereas the group with ‘no dolls’ had no negative impacts. To conclude, exposure to dolls will increase self-doubt and generate negative views about bodies.

To reduce this, parents or elders should make sure that children are often reassured about how they look. Self-esteem is established at the age of 5 so make sure they are not exposed to these dolls during that time. Children need to understand that beauty is not getting validated by society but being confident in their skin. Make sure you learn to accept your flaws as children observe and learn from their parents the most.

Finally, remember, beauty is defined by how you perceive and accept yourself. Beauty is not measurable. Beauty is uniqueness. Learn to appreciate what your body does for you. 

Glossary

observational learning- learning that occurs through observing the behavior of others. It is a form of social learning which takes various forms, based on various processes.

inferiority complex- a term used to describe people with intense feelings of inadequacy, often resulting in the belief that one is in some way deficient, or inferior, to virtually all others.

body dysmorphia- mental health disorder in which you can't stop thinking about one or more perceived defects or flaws in your appearance — a flaw that appears minor or can't be seen by others.

emotionally dependent- state of mind where a person is incapable of taking full responsibility for their feelings. They do have emotions like sorrow, grief, heartbreak, anxiety, and depression but they cannot embrace, accept, or nurture these feelings.

Kritika Chhetri and Ishita Sharma