Barbie

I found the articles for this week interesting, but found the one about Barbie to be especially interesting.  When I was younger I absolutely loved playing with Barbies and always thought of them as harmless toys.  However, I never thought how much of an influence they have on children.  I always thought that Barbie was a positive toy for young girls showing that you can obtain any career you want.  But, now I realize that some of these portrayals Barbie offers are unobtainable for any person.  For instance, no one could achieve as many careers or be as much of a superwoman as Barbie.  Also, Barbie always has a perfect figure and perfect features.  This body image is really unattainable for any woman.  Another aspect of Barbie I never thought about was race.  When I was younger I never really noticed that the average Barbie is always white.  Now that I am old enough to acknowledge that the perfect Barbie is always portrayed as white I realize that Barbie could mean something else to a child of a different race.  Barbies of different ethnicities and cultures are often portrayed as “different” from the typical white, thin, blonde Barbie.  Therefore, these impressions that Barbie gives are mostly unobtainable and even oppressive.