Early adolescents' experiences with, and views of, Barbie

Adolescence, Spring, 2004 by Tara L. Kuther, Erin McDonald

In these examples, the girls turned their anger from individuals to their Barbie dolls. Anger-related play was surprisingly common, suggesting that girls may feel comfortable expressing hostile feelings through play.

Girls' Views of Barbie

Given the controversy in the literature over the influence of Barbie dolls on girls, we asked the participants what they thought of Barbie. The general consensus was that Barbie's body is unrealistic.

   They should make a fat one.

   They are all so skinny and that's mean to fat people.

   They are all perfect. They never do anything real in all the books
   [about Barbie dolls]. I think she does too much. Yeah, they are all
   perfect [and] it's just too much.

   I always thought Barbie was so cool; [as] I got older, I learned
   that it's impossible to be Barbie. She's been everywhere, [even]
   in outer space. She's the perfect blonde. She has the perfect blue
   eyes. She's like everything! If she was a real person she wouldn't
   be able to walk.

Perfection was the major theme that emerged from each of the focus groups. The girls viewed Barbie as the image of perfection, and perhaps too perfect, yet she defines physical beauty.

Discussion

Study 1 examined girls' views of Barbie dolls through focus groups with twenty early adolescent girls. Most notably, Barbie dolls were pervasive in the girls' experiences. All of the girls reported having at least two Barbie dolls, and often many more. Although the girls reported no longer playing with Barbie dolls, when the dolls were introduced into the focus group session, all expressed interest in holding and playing with them. The pervasiveness of Barbie dolls that we observed in this study concurs with prior findings suggesting that Barbie is a favorite toy of eight- to twelve-year-old females (Sutton-Smith, 1986).

All of the girls reported playing imaginatively with Barbie dolls during childhood. Imaginative play included acting out scripts of family life, fashion shows, dating, prom night, and weddings. Play is the imitation of life, a way for children to study and learn about life (Koste, 1995). During play, children begin to internalize societal values and construct a personal identity, or view of the self (Koste, 1995). Play with Barbie dolls may influence gender role development, as most of the girls reported play scripts entailing decidedly feminine and sexualized roles. Perhaps girls explore the feminine gender role through play.

Particularly surprising was the frequency of torture-related play reported by the girls. Torture-related play occurred during late childhood and early adolescence. Given the feminine stereotype that the doll embodies, torture-related play may reflect girls' ambivalence about their female status and the societal notions of femininity and beauty. During late childhood and early adolescence, girls often feel pressured to comply with societal notions of physical beauty (Freedman, 1986). The present sample of girls explained that Barbie dolls represent perfection; many noted a simultaneous striving for, and dislike of, perfection. Torture play, entailing the damaging of toys, is a common way of expressing hostility and aggressive feelings during childhood (Turkel, 1998), and for these girls, may be a way of expressing their ambivalence about becoming women and adopting a feminine gender role.