Female students admit that they played with Barbie Dolls. Barbie Dolls have changed a lot over the years in terms of body structure, race, and ethnicity.
Arriving in 1959, the Barbie doll first sold for three dollars. She was created by an American woman by the name of Ruth Handler. The company, Mattel, produced many styles of Barbie dolls. Mattel was a booming business, breaking toy-selling records with the popular craze of Barbie dolls. Handler, the co-founder of Mattel, named the doll after her daughter, Barbara. (According to about.com)
Most people imagine Barbie as the blonde hair, big boobs, and tippy-toed heel wearing, plastic doll. Actually, the way Barbie is built would be too top heavy and she would fall over and have to walk on all fours. (According to about.com) Barbie's measurements would be 36-18-38.
Many things changed over the years for Barbie dolls; mainly they are becoming more culturally creative. Therefore, Mattel has produced a number of different ethnically sound changes to the Barbie doll, especially adding friends to the collection of different orientations and races.
The most common representation of Barbie is the Blonde original Caucasian doll from 1959 and most girls on campus admit to playing with it when they were younger.
"Yes, when I was young I would just play with Barbie dolls of my ethnicity," Blonde, Caucasian, Green River student, Rachel Yourglich said.
Some of the races of Barbie dolls include: Caucasian, African, and Asian. The company is still making new ones.
"I played with mostly the blonde ones but I also had some African [Black] ones too," Caucasian GRCC student, Jessica Pflughoft said.
Controversially speaking, Barbie is becoming more racist to some and equal to others. Some of the Barbie figures out in the world today are infamous for the color of their skin. For example, there is an Orthodox Jewish Barbie; she is holding her Passover scroll. In addition there is a Muslim Barbie in the garb covering everything except the face.
"I don't think it is racist to have a Jewish Barbie doll. I don't see why not I would probably consider buying it for a sibling," Blonde, Caucasian, Green River student, Christina Lattanzio said. Although the idea of a Jewish Barbie seems culturally controversial to some, Lattanzio didn't think so because she played with all sorts of Barbie dolls as a young girl.
Although some girls wouldn't mind what color skin their Barbie doll has or what her ethnicity is some still want to stick to the original blonde Barbie.
"No, I would not buy a Jewish Barbie because I prefer blonde Barbie dolls because they are prettier," Latina Green River student, Lena Fakhri said.
Barbie dolls have been a fabulous phenomenon for young girls to collect and play with and also to learn about different cultures.
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