Recovery from Barbie: Feminist Icon or Self Esteem Destroyer?

In response to the recent Barbie hype and movie coming out, Amanda breaks down the cultural icon that is Barbie and all the mess and nuance of how she has potentially impacted the mental health and body image of women and young girls. This episode has no spoilers as it is mostly based on Barbie as a doll and icon and what she represents rather than the movie.

Amanda shares why she thinks Barbie is a metaphor for womanhood in general and how it is important to critique her but also look at the culture around womanhood and feminism in general. She breaks down up to date research about body image and how Barbie impacts girls' mental health and body image. She also shares limitations she sees in the research.

Amanda shares her beliefs on whether she thinks girls should be able to play with Barbie dolls and how she advises parents to deal with their daughters asking for reassurance that they look pretty. As always on this podcast, there is a huge heap of nuance and plenty of contradictions but we love to explore it all here!

Tune in next week as she breaks down the movie.

Resources listed:

"More Than a Body: Your Body Is an Instrument, Not an Ornament" by Lexie and Lindsay Kite, Hulu documentary "Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie", "Killing Us Softly: Advertising's Image of Women", Research articles discussed: The Effects of Playing with Thin Dolls on Body Image and Food Intake in Young Girls Exposure to Barbie: Effects on thin-ideal internalization, body esteem, and body dissatisfaction among young girls, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144516300730. Fashion versus fitspo: The effect of viewing images of contemporary Barbie® dolls in passive versus active poses on college women’s body image and affect, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144523000359; Does Barbie Make Girls Want to Be Thin? http://girlsschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Does-Barbie-Make-Girls-Want-to-Be-Thin-The-Effect-of-Experimental-Exposure-to-Images-of-Dolls-on-the-Body-Image-of-5-to-8-Year-Old-Girls.pdf; Weight attitudes in 3- to 5-year-old children: Age differences and cross-sectional predictors, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144512000927

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