Reality Check: Barbie Body

April 13, 2011 5:00 pm     Posted in Reality  Kassandra - SUNY Geneseo g+ page

I’m pretty sure all of us have had at least one Barbie doll in our lives. In fact, I’m pretty sure some of us had an entire Barbie army. She was just too gorgeous with that luxurious blonde hair, that elaborate wardrobe that fit her body to a tee, those feet that fit perfectly into even the highest of high heels.


By Kassandra

But in real life, Barbie isn’t so cute. Actually, Barbie is pretty scary.

At 5’9″, with a 39″ bust, 18″ waist, 33″ hips, and a size 3 shoe, this is what Barbie would look like as an actual person. And the best words to describe real life Barbie would be effing scary severely disproportionate.

Galia Slayen, the creator of the life-size Barbie, manufactured the doll as part of the National Eating Disorder Awareness Week (NEDAW) at her high school. Frustrated with the societal pressures to look a certain way, Slayen decided this was the perfect way to shed light on the eating disorders many girls struggle with because of an unattainable body image propagated by a little girl’s toy, Barbie.

But NEDAW or not, this is down right horrifying. I mean, I knew Barbie’s boobs looked a little large and in charge, but my god!

For more information, frightening statistics and to get Galia’s full story, click here.

19 Comments on "Reality Check: Barbie Body"

  1. Rachael says:
    Wed, 13th Apr 20118:54 pm 

    I love how there is an ad for a barbie in this article.

  2. Kenni says:
    Wed, 13th Apr 20119:45 pm 

    This actually isn't accurate. If it had been done properly, it should look like a Barbie which this doesn't at all.

  3. anju says:
    Wed, 13th Apr 201110:41 pm 

    yeah i knw barbie is disproportionate, but in this life size model the disproportion is exaggerated.

  4. Izzy J. says:
    Thu, 14th Apr 201112:23 am 

    I really don't get all the fuss about a doll, seriously, when I was little I could care less about what color Barbie's hair was or how small her waist was and how big her hips were….I could dress her up and throw her in the bath tub so she could "swim" that was that. Barbie, the doll doesn't make anyone have a distorted body image, the person already has to have some sort of psychological issue or internal mental problems if they even think that a child's toy is supposed to be the pinnacle of what an adult woman should look like. No-one grows up thinking I want to look like barbie, they think, I like playing with barbie. Seriously this is such a joke, when your evaluating a child's toy it means that YOU have the problem. I just think that picking on a child's toy does little to promote healthy body images..especially when you have so many different body shapes out there. I happen to know a few girls who would put "barbie" to shame and some others who have no waist at all. The problem is that we should all stop saying that this or that is the ideal body and figure because there is no such thing. The original creator or barbie said that the little girls liked playing with barbie more than playing with the baby doll-little kids have no perception of what make a person pretty or the perfect figure….its all fed to them by ignorant and shallow adults and media. Barbies cinched waist and curvy figure was simply the sign of the times..ppl now-a-days, honestly put too much into it.

  5. Ntn says:
    Thu, 14th Apr 20112:39 pm 

    I agree with Kenni. If this were proportionate, it would look EXACTLY like the Barbie doll does – it would just be like 7 feet tall.

  6. Ashley says:
    Thu, 14th Apr 20113:30 pm 

    But the thing is, Izzy, is that this is the toy that little girls are given when they're very young. This is held up as an example of what they should want to be. Mattel states that they WANT Barbie to be a role model, that's why they give her so many varying occupations like vet, nurse, doctor, etc. Combined with societal pressure to be thin from the media, it can sometimes be overwhelming for young girls to not live up to the hype.

  7. Mandy Wilcox says:
    Thu, 14th Apr 20116:56 pm 

    I feel the same way as Izzy, i didn't give a care about what Barbie looked like, she was just a doll. . .Children take things too seriously sometimes so I can understand how some kids would want to look like her, but come on. That's why there are parents to help teach their kids and talk to them. Like talk about Barbie's miscellaneous jobs. Personally I took people's achievements as examples, rarely ever looks because I liked exactly who I was and did not want to change it. I wonder if any of the parents tell their kids to 'just be themselves' nowadays without leaving it all up to them and either blaming something else or giving it a medical term.

  8. concepcionimmaculada says:
    Thu, 14th Apr 20118:39 pm 

    If they change anything about Barbie, they should figure out a way to make it possible for kids to change her clothes whenever they want to (which, as it turns out, is REALLY OFTEN) – that way I'm not constantly having a half-dressed barbie doll handed to me along with some impossibly tight new outfit to put on her. It's not only the kids in the family who do this, but little girls standing behind me in line at the store – whose moms are talking on their cell phones, etc. I had no idea just how many little girls run around town with a barbie in tow, and for whatever reason they're always half-dressed barbies with a mountain of extra outfits dragged with them.

  9. Miss M says:
    Thu, 14th Apr 201110:50 pm 

    I know! I'm a nanny and I feel like half the time I'm struggling to get dumb jackets or shoes on barbies I have no idea how they think a 4 year old can manage.

  10. Valerie says:
    Sat, 16th Apr 201112:37 am 

    Twenty years ago, my daughter and I measured her Barbie and multiplied each measurement by the same factor to try to approximate what her measurements would be if she was life size. I can't remember all the exact measurements but do remember the bust was 54" and waist and hips vastly smaller in proportion to the bust. My daughter's comment was, "Mom, she wouldn't even be able to sit or stand up without falling over." Is your life size Barbie standing up by herself Galia, or did you have to fasten her to the wall to keep her from falling over due to being top heavy?

  11. MBD says:
    Mon, 18th Apr 20113:17 am 

    The point isn't to make it look like Barbie! The point is to point out how it shows her as a figure to be "skinny, with big tits"

  12. Kay says:
    Tue, 19th Apr 201111:13 pm 

    Perfectly accurate or not I think this is a great way to bring attention to how distorted ideas of beauty can become. Nice work!

  13. ali says:
    Tue, 19th Apr 201111:21 pm 

    it's called making things to SCALE Keni and nth!

  14. Alli says:
    Wed, 20th Apr 201112:11 am 

    Ummm….I've never tried to look like barbie…I have however eaten massive amounts of lettuce and baked tilapia to try to look like Mila Kunis, who I believe is "life size". Did playing with barbie dolls make me self conscious about my weight? No. Did the guy that called my size 4 booty "too fat to date" make me feel self-conscious? Totally! Also I think the "life size" barbie is a nice idea, but can't possible be a correct large scale version of the doll, the small version looks a little unrealistic, but not like a freak.

  15. Regina says:
    Wed, 20th Apr 20111:21 am 

    Personally, when I was a kid I hated Barbies. Their eyes were always watching me and creeping me out. Plus, the clothing was way to hard to get off and I was always missing those tiny shoes and ended up stepping on them later. I was so glad when I switched to books and my science set, best day ever.

  16. Moony says:
    Tue, 26th Apr 201111:02 pm 

    Seriously folks, this is getting a little ridiculous. As Izzy pointed out, Barbie is A DOLL. She was meant to be a play thing for little girls, not a role model or anything like that. All these negative things about her were projected on her by some seriously screwed-up people, not by the doll herself. A person who is looking for eating disorders and disproportionate measurements is going to find that in Barbie no matter how many times Mattel redesigns her (and Mattel did just that, partly to shut these eating disorder activists up). Likewise, a person who is looking for a beautiful doll to dress up and make look nice will see that. Honestly, if you think Barbie is a bad role model with her huge boobs and dinky little feet, you should take a gander at the Bratz with their huge heads, overabundant hair, and enormous feet (not to mention their revealing clothes). And to be perfectly honest, that life-size thing doesn't look like Barbie at all. I agree with Kenni and Ntn–if you want a proportionate life-size Barbie, make her to scale.

  17. Eric says:
    Mon, 20th Jun 20114:47 pm 

    The same people who sweart barbie would be built like this are the making size tens for tall girls have a 40" waist. Proportions on a barbie at full scale should be just like a real woman. Peoples bodies change in exponential growth not mere proportional multiplication. When they don't you get midgests or elephantiatus issues. Crtics and designers both need to understand that. You can't just go by fractional growth otherwise my short sexy woman and tall sexy women should have same proportions and when they do the tall ones look thick and the short ones look less curvaceous. It's all and optical illusion. Also would you prefer kids are instead told by manufactors that an ugly overweight by 50% is better? Should our kids be aiming for either of those options? No it's the parents job to show us what's the way to go. Get over a doll that's fine for 98% of girls for over 50 years. Take personal responsibility

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