In West Virginia, the Democratic Delegate has proposed legislation that would ban Barbie :
I just hate the image that we give to our kids that if you're beautiful, you're beautiful and you don't have to be smart," said the second-term state lawmaker, who has been an educator and social worker.
Sure, Barbie's got her ups and downs. (And at 50, maybe some of those now include hot flashes and irritability?) She's certainly no physical role model for young girls fitting any degree normalcy, and when she speaks, she tends to issue forth asinine utterances like, "Math is hard!"
However, let's give the old gal some credit. She's also been an astronaut, a business executive, a doctor, and even a presidential candidate , back when Hillary was still cow towing to Bill's agenda.
Should Barbie be banned? I tend to err on the side that banning things is never really the answer to resolving societal conflict. (See: War on Drugs, Prop 8, et al). Besides, issuing a sweeping ban over something that's divisive shuts off the public debate about the subject in question, and cuts off room for reasonable discourse on said subject.
Speaking debate, thoughts on Barbie's potential ban?
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I don't think it's right for anyone to go around banning things they disagree with.
For all the debate about whether Barbie is terrible for self-esteem or just a fun doll, I don't think I've ever seen any kind of scientific study. Speculation is not evidence.
There is so much institutionalised sexism in the U.S., they are focusing on the trees and missing the forest. I played with Barbie and now I'm a feminist. Why? Proper education.
I tend to think that Barbie has served as a career role model, especially early on in times when women really weren't supposed to have carers. There are problematic elements with appearance and body image, but I tend to think that, at least in my own life, environmental factors contributed to my self esteem more so than my love of Barbie dolls.
So no, banning is not the answer to anything.
Banning Barbie is completely wrong and illegal, whether you like her or not.
I don't agree with it. I always been somewhat skeptical of the claim that Barbie creates poor self-image. Of all the women I know that played with Barbies (including me. Barbie was pretty much all I played with as a child) none of them are striving to look like Barbie. In fact, the things I have done to change my appearence is a step away from Barbie, for example dying my blonde hair red.