When I was younger and played with my Barbie Dream House, I’ll admit I wish I looked like Barbie. I wanted her long blonde hair and super long tan legs. I also wanted to be as skinny as her. Most girls have to agree with me here, we all wanted to look like Barbies. Now, in the year of 2016,  looking at these Barbies puts a huge smile on my face.

Growing up, almost every girl has played with Barbies. The famed dolls became popular in America in 1959 based off of a German doll called “Bild Lilli.” Ruth Handler used the “Bild Lilli” as a model to replace her daughter’s dolls when she realized that her daughter liked giving her paper dolls adult roles, because most dolls created at that time were only babies. When Barbie was created, she was a “blonde bombshell” who was the representative of working women.  A girl could Barbie to do anything. She could be an astronaut, a teacher, a flight attendant, a teacher, or anything using her imagination.

Many young girls wanted to look like those Barbies. There are actually women who get plastic surgery to look like “human Barbie dolls.” Shows like My Strange Addiction and Botched show us the extreme lengths these women go through to look like a Barbie Doll. The amount of plastic surgery these women get and how tiny they get their waists to be is unbelievable.

Yet Barbie’s have unrealistic body standards. Extremely tiny waists, long legs, busty chests, perfect makeup, and long luscious hair, things that most girls aren’t blessed with/can’t accomplish. The average height for a woman aged 18-20 is about 5’4 and the average weight is 125-130 pounds. Versus a normal woman’s body type, Barbies seem very unrealistic. Barbies have a 16” waist compared to a 35 inch waists, 29 inch hips compared to 40 inches, a 9 inch neck compared to 15 inches, and 16 inch thighs compared to 25 inches of a regular girl.

Mattel has turned the tables to answer all the comments of angst among young girls. The “new and improved” barbies have different heights, body shapes, skin color, and hair color to match all of the diversities in the 21st century. The new line called “Fashionistas©” have a wide range of characteristics, four body types, (including the original and petite, tall, and curvy), seven skin tones, 22 eye colors, 30 hair colors, 24 hairstyles, 14 face sculpts, and a countless number of different fashion trends and accessories. Parents all across America should be  proud to buy Barbies because they are more realistic.

The new Barbie’s include: a curvy blue-haired doll, dolls with two-colored hair,  a shorter doll (both black and white) with curves, a taller than normal doll (in both skin colors), dolls with shorter hair, dolls with curly hair, dolls with glasses, dolls with wider noses, dolls with skinnier noses, dolls with wider eyes, dolls with smaller eyes, dolls with long and short necks, dolls with smaller and larger breasts, dolls with bangs, and dolls in all different styles of outfits.
The new Barbies make young girls feel like they are “just like them.” Now girls shouldn’t have to feel pressure to be Barbie doll perfect. We now live in a new generation where Barbies’ beauty standards are now more realistic.