Happy 50th birthday Blonde Bombshell Barbie! now in real life..

(Left is the original barbie)
In my class we've talked about the objectification and sexism against women a lot. Now This year, 2009 its barbies 50th year! I began looking at how the barbie was modeled, and how it relates to 'the standards' we see now we shape and size. The most classic and famous barbie has outrageous measurements(large chest, tiny waist, long legs, and always blonde hair) and itty-bitty hemlines. And looking at the last 50 years you can see famous, sought after women through this whole series based off barbies figure. But you see that barbies are not meant for adult women to play with, little girls almost from birth and thrown into, this is what 'pretty' girls look like and you should too. They may not know it but I would think little girls playing with barbies every day would have this image drilled into their heads, would they not? Another thing, is how a lot of the barbies are dressed! The majority of barbies clothes are skin tight and cut very low and or very short. Does that not tell a girl how she should dress?Some of the barbies have lingerie!..

<(Left here is Victoria's Secret model Alessandra looking very much like a barbie)

(Left, Pamela Anderson with her extreme proportions, blonde hair,and over the top fashion make her a dead ringer for the world's most famous barbie doll)

<(The title of Marilyn Monroe's 1940's, movie "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" might as well be Barbie's motto)

(Left French actress Brigitte Bardot,1950's is also famous for her barbie curves)

<(Actress and 1980s Playboy model Shannon Tweed is a dead ringer for Barbies of that era, right down to the blue-and-purple eyeshadow)

What? Where? Colors? ooo wow!

In the book were reading, Gender, Race and Class in the Media, we've been reading a section on media's effect on kids. I started looking at the shows kids watch and the medias stimulation on them relating to ADHD. I got a lot from the book and a really good article HERE. This statement out of the whole article really stood out to me:

"Over the past thirty years, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has emerged from the obscurity of cognitive psychology re­search laboratories to become the leading psychiatric disorder of child­hood in the United States. A recent study conducted at the Mayo Clinic stated that as many as 7.4 to 16 percent of all children and adolescents suffer from this disorder."

I was really shocked about this and that's when I started looking at kids shows over 30 years ago and kids shows now. Shows back then like Hopalong Cassidy and The Lone Ranger and The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show played in the 50's and 40's are similar to a lot of the 'shoot em' up' and zany characters and absurd plots that pulled Children in today. But there is one big difference I noticed, the colors, and the dialogue dynamics. Now media has shows with popping colors and jumping from scene to scene focusing much less on dialogue and interaction. Just thinking about that could cause reason on the rising levels of ADHD in kids now. They have been conditioned to these jumping color popping shows when stuff in real life is not like that, especially in classrooms. Kids go into 'zones' watching these shows driven to keep the kids attention at all times, which has also made them more susceptible to the media consumerism which follow the dynamics of the shows.

So its no wonder kids are at the highest levels of distraction and are needed special aid to help them. Media conglomerates are so consumed with wanting to sell their products, do they realize the negative effects they are having on the children's education? These kids are the future! they may just be wanting to get them to be buyers now, but they'll be sorry when these ADHD 'bred' kids will be the leaders of our country. I'm not trying to say that kids with ADHD are bad or dumb because I myself struggle with ADHD and they're are medicines that help and are fantastic but its not okay that kids are given this, its no longer a genetic disorder but something that the media society has put on them.

Beauty, beauty; Perfection, perfection

After learning to become more critical of the media, I noticed how a vast majority of it revolves around image. We all know the common them of the 'thin is in' and you have to be 'pretty' to be socially accepted. Seeing and learning about that we know there are very negative side effects on the viewers body image and even effecting us mentally in ways we don't know is happening. Some positive imaging has come about such as the company Dove and their campaign for real beauty, which is truly amazing and more people should really check it out. Heres a link for moms and mentors find tips to help their loved ones have a healthy body image: Esteem Builders.

Other than that, I see all these shows about making yourself better cause your are not naturally. Talk shows like Oprah, Maury, Tyra, The View, Dr. Oz have talked about heath which is good but also send women off for cosmetic surgeries because their not good enough. They are applauded after on how great they look to me that's a scream of "I need to be beautiful for people to like me." All kinds of other shows, reality TV, the girl next door, extreme makeover all show mainly girls and some women either dressing provocatively to get looked at or being sent off to got get surgery to make them look good. So all women around us are seeing these images of 'you need to be sent away to get fixed into someone socially beautiful.. oh and then you can come back.' Is that healthy for women to see, It just hits me on how much that must effect a lot of women's self-esteem and body image especially since theyre pouring out thousands and thousands of dollars to be 'socially accepted.'

Can you believe this?? ->