Blown Out of Proportion: Barbie’s Human Body

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December 3, 2009 • Kayleigh Loeffler  
Filed under Top Stories, View from the Crew

          Today, two of the biggest problems that teens face are self-esteem and body image.  Girls in particular are often subject to judgment and criticism based on the way they look.  The constant struggle to look good is fueled by the enormous level of icons and images that girls are presented day in and day out.  Magazines, posters, ads, and even toys are constantly shoving the image of “ideal beauty” into the minds of girls and women alike.  Perhaps one of the most popular and well-known of these icons is Barbie.

          Barbie, since her debut in March of 1959, has been the symbol of the ideal woman and is viewed as a role model to thousands of little girls worldwide.  She represents everything that girls hope to achieve, from her extensive array of jobs, long-time boyfriend, and, of course, her super-model-like body.  She continues to be the number one selling doll in the market, with Mattel claiming that a Barbie is sold every three seconds.  However, despite her massive appeal to much of the female population, Barbie has been a source of criticism and controversy over the past several years.  Critics argue that Barbie’s body is unrealistic and unattainable, giving girls the wrong idea of what they should look like and what the “ideal body” is.

          So what would a real-life Barbie look like?  When measured, Barbie was found to have a 4.6 inch bust, waist of 3.5 inches, and hips of 5 inches.  BCC used a model known as Libby to figure out what she would look like given Barbie’s proportions.  They concluded that Libby’s measurements, when scaled to match those of Barbie’s and keeping her height of 5’6, would be a 20-inch waist, a bust of 27 inches, and hips of 29 inches.  If they gave her Barbie’s actual proportional height, Libby would shoot to an abnormally tall 7’6…just a few inches shorter than the world’s tallest woman, Yao Defen.  According to Finland’s University Central Hospital in Helsinki, Barbie would lack the 17-22% Body Mass Index (BMI) that would be needed to menstruate, an obviously unhealthy weight. 

          These measurements are of course shocking, and they spark the question as to whether or not Barbie dolls can be considered one of the sources for body image and self-esteem issues amongst girls and women.  As one of the most popular icons of the 20^th and 21^st century, Barbie certainly becomes an example to those that are familiar with her, and the desire to “be like Barbie” is not a far-reaching idea.  But is Barbie’s body really attainable?  A waist size of 20 inches, though certainly rare, is not unheard of. Brigitte Bardot, a famous model from the 1950’s, is reported to have had a waist of just that size.   The University of Australia claims that the likelihood of a woman to have Barbie’s body is 1 in 100,000.  So, Barbie’s body may not be impossible but it’s certainly not likely.

          The pressure for girls to have a “perfect” body is obvious in society.  When compared to Ken, Barbie’s on-and-off boyfriend whose body type is likely to appear in 1 out of 50 men, Barbie demonstrates the intense pressure for girls to look a certain way.  While the proportions may have been designed for other purposes, like to simply fit clothing more easily on the doll, it sends a message to those that play with her, one that can be damaging in the minds of girls and women everywhere.