Pros and Cons about Barbie Dolls for children. What are they?

Question

I am doing a persuasive essay for my English honors class about...Barbie dolls...I need to find out the Pros and Cons about them, what they are good for or bad. Have they made a good impact on children? Or have they not made a good impact? I think they have made a good impact on most children..but I need to find counter arguements about Barbies...Help me please!

Thanks,
Sara

Answer 1

Some girls have a problem with Barbie as a fashion icon, and there is much talk of Barbie being too slim to be an appropriate role model for children. But I think the problem is in the interactions with mother and grandmother or other adult that are needed in order to give Barbies to young girls; I mean young enough to carry them around by their hair and so on. They need to be old enough to understand respecting the doll so as not to ruin it. How to change the clothes without damaging either the clothes or the doll, which dolls are just for pretty, and not to change, and some assistance with whatever fantasy stories one makes up about the dolls to avoid either injury to child or doll and to have some feedback on the imaginary world. It's all very well for girls to "imagine" all sorts of things with dolls, but older sister or mother or auntie or someone needs to be around to ask questions as they occur regarding what happens in real life.

I would not give a Barbie out of the box to a girl younger than about eight years old, unless she has shown the maturity to appreciate the symbolic value of the adult doll, and not treat it as an object to abuse. Younger than that, there are second-hand Barbies at the thrift store, and mother and child can have great fun devising costumes for them out of scraps of fabric or even tissue paper, and turning them into art work.

Barbies fall into two distinct categories: play dolls and collector's dolls. Don't buy a collector doll for a girl too young to appreciate that it must be handled very gently, if at all. If she's going to want to open the box and play with the doll, change her clothes and handle her a lot, buy the collector doll without even telling her and put it away as her legacy. When she's old enough, she will have a treasure worth more for the putting away in pristine condition.

Answer 2

Pro: Creativity. A little child can mix and match outfits.
Imagination. They can have adventures with Barbie and her friends exploring their imagination.

Con: Negative body image. Because of Barbie's "perfect' body girls can get confused and think if they want to be pretty they have to have the Barbie look. Short skirts, tight shirts, blonde hair, impossible waist size.

Answer 3

Not until twelve did I know Barbie even existed. My goals in life were to be a boyfriend, husband, and father like my dad. Only having male dolls, I could not pretend those roles through my GI Joes. There had been something missing. On an elementary school bus, a porn photo from a magazine had been shown to me which made my hormones go wild. It had felt to me that my parents would not listen. Trying to tell our preacher seemed shameful. Telling a school guidance person would get me laughed at by my peers if they found out. Because of a traumatic event in my mom's life as a young girl, she never let me play with friends or neighbors outside of school. While in a store I saw Barbie. That toy was exactly what I needed for my GI Joe. First, Barbie taught me to set a goal. I decided to buy it. Barbie taught me to save. I saved my lunch money for three weeks. Barbie taught me the satisfaction of accomplishment. I secretly bought her. I learned that she like all females had not a perfect body. Love means commitment, sacrifice, and determination. My dad never ever listened to my reason for getting it when it had been discovered or since that time. The response to me by him had been verbal humiliation and its destruction. Barbie caused me to learn to never give up no matter what my come my way. The reason for not allowing me to have it was founded on tradition and fear. At that age, I determined that not Barbie or any reasonable goal would be denied me without just cause. For every one they destroyed, it only made me buy more. This caused me to become an avid collector. This did not come easy. They tried punishment or criticism to break me. I never gave in. Our relationship was not close as could have been or hoped. His unwillingness to listen only hardened my feeling of resentment and isolation. Was it all worth it in the end. Yes. Conviction can withstand conflict. Even the most beautiful Barbie has flaws. They never realized that I never thought of the doll as nothing more than a toy. There was no gender confusion nor change in my masculinity because of Barbie. It allowed me to express masculine feelings which my dad also exhibited. This toy taught me to judge females on more than appearance alone. Never had I known of a living or dead Barbie sized female in history or to this day. Therefore the idea of using Barbie to judge a real female makes absolutely no sense. Having no female siblings gave me the ability to analyze my life and environment without preconceived ideas. An unlimited amount of data concerning this doll has been produced since it was created in 1959. If it were like any other doll, this toy would not have maintained its popularity over so many years. What other doll has been so loved and hated before or since it was made? What we do with it determines its pros and cons.

Answer 4

Any dolls (or action figure, if you're a boy playing) helps to promote creative thinking, role-playing, and social interactivity. It can be wonderful for a child to escape into a fantasy world, and parents can learn a LOT about their child by watching, listening and playing with their child. A parent may learn more about what a child did at school by watching him/her play than when that child comes home and just says, "nothing happened..."

Answer 5

Cons - since you need that.

barbie dolls present an unrealistic and unattainable buy type. One of the reasons fo eating disorders is girls trying to emulate the skinny, teeny, tiny waist that barbie dolls have.

Also, these dolls tend to teach girls to judge people by clothing and appearance, but very superficial categories.

Answer 6

sorry but i dont know