I’m not exactly what you would consider a girly girl. I prefer pants to skirts, I don’t fuss over my makeup for hours and my biggest concern isn’t whether or not my underwear matches. Needless to say, I am still a girl. I try to make sure I look decent enough to leave the house, but beyond that, I try not to be too high maintenance.
But I always gravitated towards Barbies as a child. Why?
I used Barbies to escape to episodes of drama – where friends fought over boys, partied and never went to “work” as an actress…. basically an episode of 90210. I’m not quite sure where we got these ideas about how young women lived their lives but let me tell you – we were dead wrong. I’m definitely not living in a mansion with my best friend, I’ll tell you that much.
Today, Barbie is much different than I remember her. She has her very own website dedicated to fun and games, which may be disturbing to some. Instead of having girls bring their Barbies outside to play, they sit on a computer and play something called “Diamond Castle”.… a small upgrade from live-in a mansion with my best friend.
Also, the actual dolls have changed. There are Princess and Fairy Barbies and not to mention the Fashionista Barbies, because knowing how to dress in a leopard print bubble dress is important. However, some things will never change. Barbie will always have a million different careers including both dentist and rockstar. I guess she can do it all.
Barbies have become collector’s items. Granted, I never took good enough care of my dolls to ever make them worthwhile, but there is something about Barbies that are timeless. When my mother was young, Barbies were a commodity. I remember her telling me how excited she was to get her first Barbie doll and how she cherished it. I used to think I was doing my Barbies a favor by giving them haircuts.
Admitting my childhood Barbie addiction is fairly embarrassing to be completely honest. But I wonder why so many other young girls, just like me, are so in love with the Barbie brand. By now, we all know about Barbie’s unrealistic proportions, but for some reason, it still remains the most recognizable girl’s toy today. You just can’t miss one of those familiar smiles in a bright pink Mattel box.
Not that long ago, Barbie reached its 50th birthday. Most brands don’t have that kind of staying power. The “obsession” still lives on and is just as strong as ever. Barbie periodically undergoes changes like when her breasts were enlarged, when she finally dumped Ken in 2004 and when they made Barbies of different ethnicities. There is no denying that the Barbie brand will continue to change and stay in the hearts and minds of young girls everywhere, much often to the disdain of their mothers.
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I wanna be Barbie…..the bitch has everything !!!!
I was totally a barbie girl, until my freshman year of high school! so don't worry about about embarrassment, you are NOT alone <3
I'm in the same boat — used to play with Barbies all the time, definitely not a girly-girl. I had a TON of them. But I think the funniest part is what we used to play when we “played real life” or whatever you want to call it with the dolls. Like you said, it was always totally unrealistic. Even if we wanted Barbie to be a doctor or a lawyer that day, she was still living in a mansion with her best friends, cruising around in a pretty pink convertible. I'm not sure if it's worse that that's what we though life was like, or that that's what we wanted life to be like.
But, to be fair, Barbie's probably better than Bratz dolls now…
Playing “real life” with my Barbies was the best.
Oh I just can't understand those Bratz dolls. They just teach young girls how to be trashy. Not okay at all.
Haha. Thanks Heather!
I loved my Barbies. I have a HUGE bin of Barbie dolls and clothes at home. It's so funny to look through them and find all the 90's fashion catastrophes Barbie had to suffer through back then.
I think what's unique about the Barbie doll is that she's a grown up. She's not a baby doll, so when you're playing with her, she's not your baby – she's *you*. She has boobs, heels, and grown up jobs. She's sophisticated. Most other “girl” toys make a girl pretend to be a mother… Barbie let's a girl pretend to be anything – from a princess to a lawyer and now, apparently, to a computer programmer.
I wish you'd said something actually interesting in this post, because the topic had promise! And I almost choked, laughing at the picture.