Health & Medicine
Barbie Modeled After CDC Measurements to Look Like Average Woman
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Jul 03, 2013 01:43 PM EDT
Sure there's a lot of talk about the obesity epidemic going on in the United States. But what about the other side of things?
Do we ever stop and look at pictures of Keira Knightley, a small pair of Victoria's Secret underwear or even the dimensions of the 00s Barbie doll and wonder, what is society telling women to look like?
Well, it just so turns out that Barbie has shrunk even smaller in size.
Ruth Handler would be rolling over in her grave if she saw what happened to the original beauty, Barbie Millicent Roberts. This gorgeous doll flaunted her exaggerated yet much fuller, and by today's 'Barbie standards,' probably obese figure, to the public for the first time back in the 60s.
Yet artist Nickolay Lamm of MyDeals.com wanted to change how the public views body image through this modern-day version of the classic toy. Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recommendations, Lamm created a 3-D model, which he photographed next to a standard Barbie doll to recreate a mold based on the measurements of a 19-year-old woman.
"If we criticize skinny models, we should at least be open to the possibility that Barbie may negatively influence young girls as well," Lamm said in an email to The Huffington Post. "Furthermore, a realistically proportioned Barbie actually looks pretty good."
Of course, some controversy from the original Barbie arose when scientists put things into perspective. They realized that if this doll was a real person, her measurements would be 36-18-38. (Otherwise known as impossible standards for anyone.)
However, as trends go with the times, today's toys, including Barbies, have shaved off a few pounds to create even more ridiculous standards reflecting society and the ideal. Experts believe this could possibly be due to a climb in plastic surgery seen in the United States and other developed countries.
Whatever the reason, we're glad to see somebody pushing for a product that actually looks like the people buying them.
And of course, Lamm adds a good perspective to the whole idea: "If there's even a small chance of Barbie in its present form negatively influencing girls, and if Barbie looks good as an average-sized woman in America, what's stopping Mattel from making one?"
We'd buy one.
Want to see some of Lamm's work? Check out his website, here.
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First Posted: Jul 03, 2013 01:43 PM EDT
Sure there's a lot of talk about the obesity epidemic going on in the United States. But what about the other side of things?
Do we ever stop and look at pictures of Keira Knightley, a small pair of Victoria's Secret underwear or even the dimensions of the 00s Barbie doll and wonder, what is society telling women to look like?
Well, it just so turns out that Barbie has shrunk even smaller in size.
Ruth Handler would be rolling over in her grave if she saw what happened to the original beauty, Barbie Millicent Roberts. This gorgeous doll flaunted her exaggerated yet much fuller, and by today's 'Barbie standards,' probably obese figure, to the public for the first time back in the 60s.
Yet artist Nickolay Lamm of MyDeals.com wanted to change how the public views body image through this modern-day version of the classic toy. Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recommendations, Lamm created a 3-D model, which he photographed next to a standard Barbie doll to recreate a mold based on the measurements of a 19-year-old woman.
"If we criticize skinny models, we should at least be open to the possibility that Barbie may negatively influence young girls as well," Lamm said in an email to The Huffington Post. "Furthermore, a realistically proportioned Barbie actually looks pretty good."
Of course, some controversy from the original Barbie arose when scientists put things into perspective. They realized that if this doll was a real person, her measurements would be 36-18-38. (Otherwise known as impossible standards for anyone.)
However, as trends go with the times, today's toys, including Barbies, have shaved off a few pounds to create even more ridiculous standards reflecting society and the ideal. Experts believe this could possibly be due to a climb in plastic surgery seen in the United States and other developed countries.
Whatever the reason, we're glad to see somebody pushing for a product that actually looks like the people buying them.
And of course, Lamm adds a good perspective to the whole idea: "If there's even a small chance of Barbie in its present form negatively influencing girls, and if Barbie looks good as an average-sized woman in America, what's stopping Mattel from making one?"
We'd buy one.
Want to see some of Lamm's work? Check out his website, here.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone