But Barbie isn’t just a toy you play with every 2 hours of the day. In fact, a lot of girls see their Barbie doll as a role model. We idolize her statuesque figure, her tiny waist and perfect hip-to-waist ratio, and let’s not forget those toned and tanned legs! What we’re really trying to get at is that you could say Barbie is quite possibly a negative influence in the minds of young girls. Yes, Barbie is the reason behind body image issues and the pressure to have ‘the perfect body’.
Artist Nickolay Lamm was first introduced to the world with his viral image of “make-up free” Barbie we covered some time back. Now, he’s back with a more interesting Barbie-bashing concept of art – “normal-sized Barbie”, a Barbie doll that has the realistic proportion of an average woman.
With the help of the Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), he transferred the measurements of an average 19-year-old woman to make the 3D model, then used Photoshop to create a doll similar to Barbie.
“If we criticize skinny models, we should at least be open to the possibility that Barbie may negatively influence young girls as well,” Lamm said.
“If there’s even a small chance of Barbie in its present form negatively influencing girls, and if Barbie looks good as an average-sized women in America, what’s stopping Mattel from making one?”
Our sentiments exactly, Mr Lamm! Now it’s time for us to see “normal-sized Barbie” on the shelves of Toys ‘R Us. [Source]
