thoughts of a weird teenager 2021

Part 17 : UNWANTED Barbie fever speech

a very unwelcome but accepted dare from Jack_Firestorm

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Barbie is a good role model for young girls

Don't judge a book by it's cover. We all know that quote and yet it's all we seem to do when Barbie comes to mind.Good morning Ma'am and class.  In 1945 Ruthand Elliot Handler founded the toy company Mattel Inc.

In 1959 they introduced the world to Barbara Millicent Roberts, now known as Barbie. The appearance of Barbie was modeled by a doll named Bild Lilli, inspired by a German comic-strip character. Mattel bought the rights to Lilli and Handler created her own version.

On 9 March 1959 Barbie was officially introduced as a childrens toy. Over the years there have been many Barbie dolls created and sold globaly. Mattel produced a bald Barbie doll, named the Chemo-Barbie : Ella.

The toy was created for young girls with cancer and the limited amount of dolls were directly destributed to hospitals. In 2016 Barbie Fashionistas were released, these dolls had 4 body types, 7 skin tones, 22 eye colours and 24 hairstyles.

Mattel used these to address the longtime criticism that the dolls didn't accurately reflect diversity of modern woman. In 2019 Mattel released a new body type with a smaller bust, less defined waist and more defined arms.

In the online magazine, The Insider, Susan Shapiro wrote : "Barbie and her creator were always feminists who supported self-acceptance and reinvention. She taught me I didn't have to be a concervative wife and mom caring for other people. She offered important life lessons like independence.

Unlike chatty cathy and betsy wetsy baby dolls you had to nurture back then, Barbie was a hip teen with her own apartment, job and car."  Barbie has been around for 62 years and yet many people still only talk about the negatives.

they never even consider anypossibility of barbie having good qualities. There are more then 37 barbie movies and in each one young girls hear positive, motivational and inspiring quotes from barbie, such as :" you can be anything. see it then be it. what makes you different makes you special.

the most beautifull thing you can be is yourself. true courage is pursuing your dreams when everyone says its impossible. magic happens when you believe in yourself. you never know what you can do unless you try."

barbie teaches young girls that they can do whatever they put their minds to and promotes creativity. throughout barbie's excistance she has had over 150 careers. her careers have been in education, medicine, military, politics, public service, science and engenering, transportation, arts , business and sport.

ruth handler once said, :" barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices." i think it's true seeing as barbie had worked as an arts, dance yoga and music teacher, a coach for football, tennis, sign language and swimming. her other jobs also include :

dentist, pramedic, us airforce pilot, us president, firefighter, police officer, lifeguard, astronaut, chef, ballerina, singer, waitress, gymnast and many more. barbie inspires young girls to take charge of their own lives, telling everyone out there that she isn't a plastic, supperficial medium for young girls to channel the selves they truely wish to become.

rather a role model to inspire the greatest desire to venture beyond their "assigned" roles and break free of the occupations and images society sets out for them as appropriate and ideal.

a student in the UK , kathy zheng, wrote in an essay :" a role model shouldn't be someone we imitate. instead they should be someone who opens up posibilities and choices of who we can be, someone whos qualities and characteristics should serve as the underpinning of our own future selves."

so ask yourselves today : is barbie really such a bad influence on young girls or is she actually a role model?

because when a girl plays with barbie she imagines all she can become.