April 2012
108 posts
March 2012
212 posts
Blame Barbie?
We had to line up in order of size, with both height and weight taken in to consideration. Madame was frustrated with me, because, thought I was one of the shortest in the class, I weighed the most. She never said it explicitly, but it was made very clear that ballerinas were not supposed to be fat. Therefore, despite my perfect plies and stunning arabesques, I was not supposed to be a ballerina….
Even if these [body positive Barbie] dolls are released, how soon will that happen? Barbie debuted in 1959 [source], but a black Barbie wasn’t introduced until 1980 and the first Indian (Native) doll wasn’t introduced until 1993 [source]!
At this rate, it will be decades until we see a fat Barbie— and by the time that comes, kids will have other influences (like pro-ana websites, Strong4Life, the American government’s “war on obesity”, the tiny selection of sizes in most clothing stores, shadeism within cultures) to destroy their self-esteem, so it won’t make much impact, anyway.
