A tall, tiny body with long, blonde hair accompanied with light blue eyes and the perfect pink, tinted lips. It’s a standard that’s been in the public eye for almost 60 years: the flawless and irresistible physique of a Barbie doll. But Mattel has recently come out with a game-changer: dolls that are more realistic and that allow people to be more accepting to girls of all different body types.
On top of their typical body shape, Barbie dolls will now come in tall, curvy, and petite, seven different skin tones and more than 20 different hairstyles and eye colors. This gives young girls the possibility to find new dolls that look more like them.
We’ve had this pressure to have a perfect body type from a young age. There’s a bright spotlight on young adults and teenagers today because it’s so easy for us to compare ourselves with models on the cover of magazines. But many overlook that as toddlers and young girls, we spent so much time with these classic dolls that we felt it was necessary to be like them. Studies have shown that young girls’ self-esteems tend to be lowered because the pressure to be like these girls. It drives young girls’ body perceptions to be tainted.
This is a big step towards a more accepting society and higher self-esteems for the young girls who play with these dolls. I believe it’s important that that we live in a world where the dolls strive to be like us, rather than us trying to striving to be like the dolls. It’s a reminder that women should be happy with the bodies they have because they’re finally represented by these dolls. It allows us to be more accepting towards more body types, which is something that everyone needs to strive to.
These dolls are only available for pre-order right now, but will soon be available to customers around the world. Girls will finally be able to have dolls that break the standards of body image so present in our society today.
