Want to look like Barbie, you say? Well, the price of beauty may be more than you’re willing to pay.
Although she’s long been considered the universal ideal for a woman’s figure, an analysis of her doll-size shape in proportion to a fully grown woman shows Barbie is anatomically impossible and would be reduced to walking on all fours and incapable of lifting anything.
The shocking experiment by Rehabs.com is aimed at those with eating disorders who are “dying to be Barbie.”
A world-renowned little girls’ plaything, Barbie is supposed to be 5 feet, 9 inches tall and 110 pounds, so underweight that she could not menstruate, the website reports. One of the first editions of the doll, Slumber Party Barbie, even came with a doll-size “How to lose weight” book with only “Don’t eat!” written inside and a scale permanently stuck at 110 pounds. The average American woman is 5 feet, 4 inches tall and 166 pounds.
Barbie’s head, the chart shows, would be 2 inches larger than the average American woman’s and 6 inches bigger than her own waist. With a 16-inch waist, “Barbie only has room for half a liver and a few inches of intestine,” the chart illustrates.
Big-headed, busty Barbie would have only size three feet and tiny ankles, which means she’d have to walk on all fours. Her arms, too, would be practically useless, with 3.5-inch wrists. Her long, skinny neck wouldn’t be able to hold up her head, either.
She’s so skinny that the odds of finding even one of her incredible dimensions among a random group of women is generally one in thousands — even billions if you consider her waist, neck or wrist size.
The incredible chart is meant to show how ridiculous Barbie is as a role model and the catastrophic effects idealizing the impossible can have.
“Anorexia nervosa is the single deadliest mental health condition,” the website reports. About “5% to 20% of people diagnosed with anorexia will ultimately die from its ravaging effects on the body and mind: cardiac complications, organ failure, and even suicide.”
sgoldstein@nydailynews.com or follow on Twitter
