W Va. Legislature to try to ban Barbie dolls

[SeerSGB]

Del. Jeff Eldridge on March 3 introduced H.B. 2918 which would “ban the sale of Barbie dolls and other dolls that influence girls to be beautiful.” The proposal would amend a section of the state code making the sale of glamorous dolls “unlawful” which “promote or influence girls to place an undue importance on physical beauty to the detriment of their intellectual and emotional development.”

“Barbie” has long stood as an unnatural body image that few women achieve. Still, the fashion industry and show business tends to promote the slim, busty beautiful appearance. Some countries have expressed concern that models in designer shows are encouraged to be too thin. The same criticism has been expressed about stars of stage and screen. The diminished ratings of the Miss America pageant may be a backlash to an inverse form of political correctness that has placed more than one scar on the status of the women who compete for scholarships in gowns, bathing suits with high heels, and talent.

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Seems to pretty stupid. I'll agree that there is to much pressure put on women to conform to a stereotype of what beauty is, but banning a toy isn't going to solve that issue. The toy is just a expression of a largely cultural dynamic of what defines beauty. Granted, this will probably go no where, but the message of what it implies is just as bad as the message they say the Barbia doll pushes. It's saying that there is something wrong with the way someone looks or wants to look.

What's next, banning health clubs and diets? Shouldn't the real issue be that the individual needs to be healthy and happy with themselves regardless of what pop-culture says they should look and act like?

 

[Hermiod]

Should we ban all toys that encourage boys to be muscular as well ?

 

[Deckerd]

Presumably that would extend to those ghastly Bratz things too then? It's not the doll per se anyway, it's the clothes and accessories that are the big pull. Now I think he's introducing this legislation so that girls don't become interested in buying clothes and shoes. It's a conspiracy.

 

[Mr. B]

Things must be pretty good up there if they have time for this crap.

 

[Searider Falcon]

Ya know, I never once looked at any of my Barbie dolls with any kind of expectation that I might look like one when I grew up. It never crossed my mind. At worst, I may have wished to have some of my dolls' clothes in my own size because I thought they were pretty. I was too busy dreaming up crazy soap opera-esque story lines to reenact with my dolls to wonder if that's what I was supposed to look like (actually, I distinctly remember sometimes feeling irritated that Barbie's legs were a little too long and not proportinate to an actual human).

 

[SeerSGB]

Should we ban all toys that encourage boys to be muscular as well ?

We pretty ban GI-Joe, cause it encourages boys to go out and join the army. Better get read of Thomas The Tank Engine, might led kids into growing up and thinking talking sentient trains are real.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Ya know, I never once looked at any of my Barbie dolls with any kind of expectation that I might look like one when I grew up. It never crossed my mind. At worst, I may have wished to have some of my dolls' clothes in my own size because I thought they were pretty. I was too busy dreaming up crazy soap opera-esque story lines to reenact with my dolls to wonder if that's what I was supposed to look like (actually, I distinctly remember sometimes feeling irritated that Barbie's legs were a little too long and not proportinate to an actual human).

I agree.

And I will add - as a child I never considered my dolls to be people. They were dolls. I never thought of comparing my body to theirs.

 

[Aragorn]

Should we ban all toys that encourage boys to be muscular as well ?

I thought male dolls taught boys to become eunuchs.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

^LOL!!!