"Have you heard the news? Barbie is launching a new generation of dolls, with so much diversity in them that now everyone won't have to feel like they need to measure up to one idealized standard of beauty. I wish we had this when we were kids." I excitedly told her as I searched for the article on the Internet to show her.
"Oh wow, that's really neat." She sat up and peered over my shoulder to read the article. "The one thing that I don't realize...is how as a child, I never thought of myself as Barbie. I never compared myself to her. I just saw her as a doll, like all the other dolls. I get magazines because those target real bodies, but dolls...I don't know. I just never wanted my head to be as big as a Bratz doll so I really don't get the hype over people placing such high symbolism on Barbie." She shrugged and went back to work knitting a scarf.
"Well, sure, our morals and perceptions are taught to us by our parents and our upbringing but there are moments where you look at yourself in the mirror and then see how there is only one type of Barbie. For kids who are interested in playing with dolls, when they start connecting the two together, they might wonder, why isn't there a Barbie that looks like me? Or my friends? Why only that Barbie? Does it mean that that Barbie is the only Barbie? The best Barbie? Plus, isn't it cool to have a doll that looks like you? Something made especially for your culture and your features, to be inclusive and cherishing. It's beautiful to know that your beauty is real."
YOU ARE READING
therapy
Short Story"they told us that we needed therapy, as if medication and tainted words could fix broken toys."
