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Topic: Barbie and the West Bad influence?
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Debra
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 117
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posted 08 March 2002 10:58 AM
Story quote: Iran hopes two dolls dressed in traditional Iranian clothing will see off plastic princess Barbie in Tehran's latest offensive against what it calls a Western cultural invasion.The 23-year-old Islamic Republic has fought a running battle to purge pervasive Western culture from the country, enforcing Islamic dress codes, banning Western music and foreign satellite television.
From: The only difference between graffiti & philosophy is the word fuck... | Registered: Apr 2001
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Thandiwe
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1013
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posted 08 March 2002 01:23 PM
Of course Barbie is a bad influence. Everyone knows that. When I was four, my mother gave up on trying to explain to me the feminist theory behind her decision to not buy me any Barbies, and just told me they were too expensive. That, I understood. I'm actually beginning to think that there's some kind of mystical thing with Barbies. Some kind of spell or something, because logically, they're really freaky looking and even scary. And yet, girls love them. I loved them. If you put a Barbie and some clothes in front of me right now, I'd play with it, because that is the Magnetism of the Barbie.It crosses cultures, times, and places. It remains an inevitable fact of life in the early 21st century, and I don't think that's going to change. Here, or in Iran. I think it's funny (understandable, but funny) that the clothes on the Iranian dolls are not removeable. I feel kinda bad for "Sara" and "Dara," damned to an eternal state of clothedness. And because no one will play with them.
From: Winnipeg | Registered: Jul 2001
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Trinitty
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 826
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posted 08 March 2002 03:47 PM
I loved Barbie. I played with Barbie. I will buy my daughters Barbies if they want them.If you teach your daughter that it's what's between her ears and under her sternum that counts, and portray that with your everyday actions, no amount of play time with a large breasted, versatile, long legged, multi-ethnic plastic doll is going to change that. I am a feminist, my mother is a feminist, dammnit, my grandmother is a feminist! I think this is silly. If you taught your child that women can only get what they want if they sexually manipulate men, and they'd better be thin with great tits and gobs of makeup everyday and then portrayed that to her/him throughout their development, it wouldn't matter if she played with GI joe, or Happy to be Me dolls. They are TOYS.
From: Europa | Registered: Jun 2001
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Debra
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 117
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posted 08 March 2002 03:51 PM
I'd say that's pretty accurate.My eldest never had a Barbie and she is very make up and fashion oriented. My youngest daughter loves Barbie and yet is also loves mucking about and doing "boy" things. My problem in this instance is that the little girls are seeing a western "ideal" as something they should aspire to adn thereby missing out on the beauty that is their own.
From: The only difference between graffiti & philosophy is the word fuck... | Registered: Apr 2001
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Timebandit
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1448
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posted 08 March 2002 04:02 PM
Regardless, they had been making "bride" dolls, "nurse" dolls, etc. for decades. Dolls have been made in a variety of shapes and "ages" for millenia. Barbie was hardly the first. And might I point out that just because you read it on the 'net doesn't make it accurate? As to the argument for the creation of Barbie: quote: She realized that as her daughter grew older and began to imitate adult conversations and the world around her, she needed a three-dimensional representation of it as well.
That might have been fine at the time -- you know, when they marketed them at the 10 and up crowd... However, it's 4 and 5 yr olds now. Why does a 5 yr old need a 3D representation of womanhood? I don't know if Barbie is harmful -- likely, she isn't. But I don't like what she stands for, and I discourage them in my house. Fortunately so far, my 4 yr old is much happier with her babies and animals (particularly the ponies) and it hasn't become an issue yet.
From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001
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Victor Von Mediaboy
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 554
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posted 08 March 2002 04:44 PM
Both my sisters had a Barbie. One went on to be a successful marine biologist, the other one a feminist and teacher.I think the key is that they each had ONE Barbie. Mom didn't get sucked into buying them every accessory, outfit, dollhouse, etc, etc. As such, Barbie didn't seem to have much of an impact on them. She was just a toy, not an obsession. This is just an off-the-cuff theory on my part, of course. I don't think Barbie, in and of herself, is all that harmful. It's the endless barrage of Barbie marketing and advertising that creeps me out. The doll itself seems pretty benign by comparison. [ March 08, 2002: Message edited by: Victor Von MediaBoy ]
From: A thread has merit only if I post to it. So sayeth VVMB! | Registered: May 2001
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vaudree
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1331
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posted 08 March 2002 06:34 PM
Talking about Barbie, did any one catch JUDES's latest article?Makes you want to put away that Barbie doll and get a Gordon Campbell doll to stick needles into - except that sharing needles is considered a bad thing. And what is wrong with Barbie anyway? Everyone needs a standard that they can't live up to. Isn't that what healthy competition is all about - or so Fronteer keeps telling us. [ March 08, 2002: Message edited by: vaudree ]
From: Just outside St. Boniface | Registered: Sep 2001
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vaudree
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1331
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posted 08 March 2002 11:05 PM
Have you ever heard of the lego/anti-lego concept of ideational relevance. Everytime you take apart two entities in one dimention, you join them in another dimention. And everytime you deem to entities as being the same, by the same process you also make them opposites.Entity is defined as anything that can be grasped. Barbie and Sarah are both the same since they are the both the embodiment of their societies belief systems, but opposite in the fact that these embodiments are contradictory. [ March 08, 2002: Message edited by: vaudree ]
From: Just outside St. Boniface | Registered: Sep 2001
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