# Barbie Caused It! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 27, 2000, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbie-caused-it/15187 "2000-03-27T04:42:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carl\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@Carl\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Berry)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbie-caused-it/15187/1 "2000-03-27T04:42:00Z")
## I watched the “Top 10 Toys” on TV this evening. The Barbie Doll came in 3d(?). Beat out by theYO-YO! Noticing how skinny Barbie is, could she be the cause of Anorexia & Bulimarexia so common among teenage girls? They for years saw Barbie as the ideal teenage immage, and try to be as thin as she. I think that I may have discovered a medical break-through! Get Mattel to put more “weight” on Barbie & teens will not work so hard to be skinny! Dr. Carl Voted SDMB’s 2nd oldest male! ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbie-caused-it/15187/2 "2000-03-27T05:33:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Carl Berry: > **…Get Mattel to put more “weight” on Barbie & teens will not work so hard to be skinny!..** Um, I don’t think that will work. Just a guess here, but I suspect women primarily aspire toward what men (assuming they’re straight women) find attractive. If I’m wrong, I apologize. But if I’m right, I guarantee your project won’t work. A fat barbie won’t change my opinion of what constitutes an attractive female form. The same way I didn’t derive my current opinion based on a plastic doll. * * * ## If you say it, mean it. If you mean it, do it. If you do it, live it. If you live it, say it. Joe Cool ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@Carl\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Berry)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbie-caused-it/15187/3 "2000-03-27T13:54:00Z")
I don’t mean that Barbie should be made “fat”, just have her size & shape conform with the medically recommended norm. I think girls get an unconscious desire to grow up to be like her, a difficulty for many, if not all. ---
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbie-caused-it/15187/4 "2000-03-27T13:58:00Z")
I believe they did make her a little more realistic. Made the legs thicker and the breasts a little smaller. I think the endless barage of skinnier-than-Starvin’-Marvin models and actresses are more to blame. Barbie isn’t a real person getting fame and fortune for being unhealthy, they are. ---
**Author:** ![aschrott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbie-caused-it/15187/5 "2000-03-27T14:41:00Z")
slightly off-topic, but attempts to market the barbie doll in Japan failed quite miserably until Mattel created a version of the doll with more asian proportions. Smaller breasts especially. After they redid the doll’s figure it sold like wildfire. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbie-caused-it/15187/6 "2000-03-27T17:04:00Z")
The reason Barbie is chaped that was is that she has to look of normal proportions when dressed. The tiny clothes have a thickness so that if Barbie looked “normal” when naked, she would look tubby when covered by all those clothes. That having been said, I had Barbie dolls when I was a kid and so did my sister, and we grew up with perfectly good self-images. I think most girls are smart enough to know they’re just dolls.