New Barbie dolls come in four body types, but are they realistic? (2024)
When Mattel announced on Thursday that it would start offering Barbies with four different body types, mothers and fathers around the world had their fingers crossed that they would finally have a Barbie they could buy their daughters — and their sons — that looked like real women.
The Barbie Fashionistas line will come in four body types — original, curvy, petite and tall — and in seven skin tones, 22 eye colors and 24 hairstyles.
Do they look like real women? Of course not. Curvy, tall and petite are, of course, much closer to real women than the original ever could be. Rehabs.com estimated if the original was a real woman, she would have something like 29-inch hips, a 16-inch waist and 32-inch bust; compare those measurements to a U.S. average of women ages 18-25 of 40-inch hips, a 35-inch waist and 35-inch bust. At 110 pounds and 5-foot-9 inches, Barbie also would be considered more than underweight. She’s even unrealistic when compared with the bodies of women with anorexia.
The new Barbies, which Mattel spent two years developing, offer something that looks a little more realistic. Curvy Barbie gets a bigger waist, thicker hips and thighs, actual calf muscles and meatier arms, but she’s still model-esque and not what most girls are seeing in real life. If original Barbie was more anorexic than someone with anorexia, tall Barbie has even more of a problem. There appears to be very little fat on her — or muscle. And petite Barbie just looks like the old Skipper dolls. She’s shorter than the original with a rounder face, but she’s still too thin.
The new dolls are available for preorder at shop.mattel.com and will ship this month.
The past year has been a year when more people were paying attention to gender and toys. After Rey, the main character from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” was not part of the box set of Hasbro “Star Wars” figures and after she was left out of “Star Wars Monopoly,” people took to social media with the hashtag #WheresRey. Some Hasbro officials tried to explain that they didn’t want to give away key plot points of the new movie. Hasbro’s “Star Wars” website now features Rey action figures front and center and she’s part of a new box set released last month.
If a real person had the body Barbie does, she would have to walk on all fours, according to Medical Daily, because her height, weight, and proportions are too disproportionate to stand.
The Barbie Fashionistas line will come in four body types — original, curvy, petite and tall — and in seven skin tones, 22 eye colors and 24 hairstyles. Do they look like real women? Of course not. Curvy, tall and petite are, of course, much closer to real women than the original ever could be.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. After years of declining sales and waning interest, Mattel on Thursday introduced new body-type variations of the Barbie doll. Barbie now comes in three new body shapes: curvy, petite and tall.
Three new bodies, actually: petite, tall and curvy, in Mattel's exhaustively debated lexicon, and beginning Jan. 28 they will be sold alongside the original busty, thin-waisted form on Barbie.com.
Based on research done by Rehabs.com, a site for locating mental health treatment centers in the U.S, Barbie's body was blown way out of proportions. Misleadingly graceful and delicate, Barbie's slender neck is in fact too fragile to support her head.
In a study published in the journal Developmental Psychology, girls aged 5 to 8 were exposed either to traditional Barbies, to the Emme doll (size 16) or to no dolls (control). Results indicated that these little girls exposed to Barbie had lower self esteem and poorer body image than those in the comparison groups.
✓ If Barbie were an actual women, she would be 5'9” tall, have a 39” bust, an 18” waist, 33” hips and a size 3 shoe! ✓ Barbie calls this a “full figure” and likes her weight at 110 lbs. ✓ At 5'9” tall and weighing 110 lbs, Barbie would have a BMI of 16.24 and fit the weight criteria for anorexia.
Barbie has been a lightning rod for controversy since her debut at the New York Toy Fair in 1959. Mattel has made subtle changes to the doll's body and face over the years, but none as dramatic as the changes they are making now by adding three new body types: tall, petite and curvy.
Say the word "Barbie" and you'll probably picture a thin doll with make-up, a mane of straight blonde hair and garish clothes. Now toymakers Mattel have released three new body shapes. Original Barbie is being joined by Curvy Barbie, Tall Barbie and Petite Barbie.
Mattel has unveiled its first Barbie with Down syndrome. British model Ellie Goldstein says: 'It's beautiful and I love it to pieces. ' When Mattel decided to make a Barbie with the condition, they turned to the NDSS for guidance.
The new Barbie The Movie collection from Mattel launched on June 1, 2023. The signature items in this new collection are, of course, the dolls, which emulate “the Barbiecore and Ken-ergy” of the upcoming movie. Each of the dolls is styled after Barbie, Ken, and other characters of Barbie Land and beyond.
She is "curvy" Barbie, actually. But "curvy" is code for fat, though Mattel is too polite to say so. Mattel has added three new body types to its Barbie Fashionistas line: tall, curvy and petite (code for short!). And yes, the original Barbie is still available, in all her long-legged, tiny-waisted, big-busted glory.
The solution, Mattel decided, was to diversify, a welcome move from body image advocates. In 2016 they released three optional body shapes – petite, tall and curvy – as well as seven different skin tones.
So as you might expect, most Barbies look nothing like average Americans, as fit as they may be. In fact, researchers found that the chance of a woman having traditional Barbie's proportions is less than one in 100,000.
With an estimated BMI of 16.24, a real-life Barbie would fit into the Anorexic category and would have to walk on all fours due to her body proportions, as per the 'Get Real Barbie Campaign' fact sheet.
Her head is made from a vinyl compound, her arms from EVA (ethylene-vinyl acentate), her torso from an engineering thermoplastics polymer called ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) and her legs from polypropylene and PVC - a safer kind from the early models.
The Barbie doll is illustrative of how human beauty has evolved and indicates elements of human form that appear beautiful. The doll emphasizes our derived evolutionary traits and, possibly, that is why the doll is perceived as attractive.
Introduction: My name is Domingo Moore, I am a attractive, gorgeous, funny, jolly, spotless, nice, fantastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
