Growing up, I was a typical girly girl mixed with a typical tomboy. I loved to rip and run outside with my older brother and his friends and I was proud to hold the MVP tree climber title in the neighborhood. However, pink was still my favorite color and my mother always dressed me in the best and pinkest outfits known to girl-kind. Along with all of this came the typical obsession over Barbie dolls. I just loved to change their outfits and play with their hair. I would also make up stories starring Barbie and my brother's WWE action figures. Barbie was "perfect." She was tall, as indicated by her long legs. She was skinny, as indicated by her flat tummy. She had long, straight hair. And she was almost always white.
As a six-year-old, my mind didn't comprehend the implications that a seemingly harmless doll could have on my entire being. I remember my mother always wanted to find Barbie dolls with brown skin and I didn't think much of it. Now that I am older and I know more about how society works and the way that people think, I can definitely understand. What makes it different (and slightly worse) than when I was little is that today, instead of little girls only seeing these ideas of "perfection" in Barbie dolls they are seeing them on TV and online. Little brown girls with kinky hair are having to search far and wide to find pictures that even slightly resemble what they look like. And when they do, those brown girls that are loved by society have loose curls, green eyes, and light brown skin. So they honestly don't look like that much like that little brown girl with kinky hair at all.
But today is a new day. The Barbie brand is releasing more diverse dolls for little girls. They are calling it the "Evolution of Barbie." It's a celebration of the many differences in women. I'm excited for this because standards of beauty are being formed by these girls at a very young age. Now, when they get older, maybe they won't pick on the girl who is just a little heavier than them or darker than they are. The definition of beauty is being transformed and deepened and I couldn't be more elated that other little black girls won't feel like they have to be white with blond hair and blue eyes to be considered attractive like I did.
I have a love/hate relationship with today's society. Images are perpetuated everywhere we go but those images are constantly being challenged. Without the challenge, there would be no change. Without hearing stories about black girls and Asian girls and Hispanic girls and plus sized girls, the Barbie image would not be reinventing itself. Barbies would still be white with blonde hair and people like me would have to teach their daughters that even though everyone popular looks different than them, they are still beautiful and worthy to be loved. So thank you Barbie for finally seeing and embracing all little girls. I'm sure my future daughter will appreciate it.
