Blog #4, Option #3: A Normal, Realistic Barbie

            For decades, Barbie dolls have constantly been a hot topic in debate of whether they are a positive or negative influence on young girls. Sharon Raynor discusses the positive impact of having a black Barbie doll had on her while growing up in her 2009 essay, “My First Black Barbie: Transforming the Image.” Growing up, Raynor had red hair and brown eyes with greenish-grays flecks. This left her with only brown skin in common with the rest of her family and the feeling of being an “ugly duckling” in comparison to her sisters, “I was never called pretty or beautiful because, according to the Black standard of beauty, I did not meet the criteria” (Raynor 179). Her first black Barbie, given to her for Christmas in the mid-1980s, played a crucial role in youth; as Raynor explains it “blurred the lines between race, class, and gender because it became a symbol of acceptance, identity, and power. It allowed me, as a young girl, to identify with something that somewhat resembled me and to challenge the perception of others” (Raynor 181). She believes that black Barbie dolls are a positive influence and stresses the important of their creation, “it has taken several years for doll makers to realize that little Black girls needed dolls who reminded them that they are also beautiful and worth the time to emulate” (Raynor 180). Playing with dolls can have a positive impact on young girls, as seen through Raynor’s childhood and who credits that “playing with this doll allowed me to be creative, imaginative, and innovative” (Raynor 181), but that’s the key here—a doll, not specifically Barbie. Raynor even warns that “giving a child a doll that does not emulate her own image has the power to reinforce the negative perception that her appearance in not acceptable” (Raynor 184). So yes, offering dolls in a wide variety of races is important, but the proportions of Barbie’s body and her extremely made-up face are a problem in my opinion.

            A solution to this problem is seen through by Rheana Murray’s 2014 article in New York Daily News, “After ‘Real Barbie’ project, doll line with ‘average is beautiful’ motto to be produced.” This solution originates with twenty-five-year-old Nickolay Lamm and his line of “Lammily” dolls that “have realistic proportions, minimal makeup and promote positive body image.” This “shorter, thicker and more realistic version of the Mattel icon” began when Lamm created a photoshopped Barbie doll with the proportions of a real 19-year-old girl (the measurements taken from the website for the Center of Disease Control and Prevention). He also explains that the Lammily doll is not an “anti-Barbie,” but instead an alternative that is important because “there are a lot of studies that suggest fashion dolls on the market can lead to decreased body image, even anorexia. If there’s even a small chance of that happening, why not create an alternative?” Connecting back to Raynor’s point that the doll must actually resemble the young girl to positively shape her self-identity, when Lamm tested prototypes of the dolls on his younger cousins, he reports that “They like it. They think she looks more like them.” Hopefully this line of dolls grows in popularity and production in order to spread its motto “average is beautiful.” I think the Lammily doll is fantastic because, as its website describes, she is fun, promotes a healthy lifestyle, and has style through her articulated wrists, knees, elbows, and feet, fit and strong physique, minimal makeup, and stylish, but simple wardrobe.

P.S. Something none of the articles I read about the Lammily doll discussed, that I think is worth noting, is that this doll has brown hair, brown eyes, and a medium skin tone. I feel like these features make the doll even more relatable and accessible to young girls, reaching out to more than just the fair-skinned, blue-eyed, and blonde.

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/realistic-barbie-dolls-hit-market-article-1.1713001

https://www.lammily.com/average-is-beautiful