This article appeared in the Albany Times-Union on March 22, 1996. The photo was not part of the article.
Barbie's body may be perfect, but critics remind us
it's plastic
By Angela Cain
Knight-Ridder
Barbie: With curves in all the right places and a figure that's looked flattering since in fashions since 1959, the plastic doll that doesn't appear a day older than when baby boomers first pulled her out of the box.
For generations she's been the doll that little girls have aspired to be - a party girl, career woman and bathing beauty all wrapped into one. But her critics contend that the Mattel creation is one of many reasons why women are unhappy with their less-than-perfect bodies.
Barbie's unrealistic body type - busty with a tiny waist, thin thighs and long legs - is reflective of our culture's feminine ideal. Yet less than two percent of American women can ever hope to achieve such dreamy measurements.
Still, this image of thinness and beauty dominates the movie screens and fashion magazines. Unattainable or not, it's what most women think their bodies should be.
"We've let images like Barbie and slender figures on magazine covers tell us what we should look like, and since most of us don't look like supermodels, we end up feeling bad about our bodies," say Linda Brogdon, a licensed psychologist and eating-disorder specilaist.
In extreme cases, this can lead to eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia. But for most women, it's simply a feeling of inadequacy because their bodies don't measure up to an unrealistic ideal.
Kristen Overman, a licensed mental-health counselor and marriage and family therapist, agrees.
"Women are groomed to compare themselves in their 5-foot-4, 142-pound frames with models who are five inches taller and 20 pounds lighter than the average American woman," she says.
"The visual media plays a big role in how women see their bodies. When you look at the cover of some fashion magazine, those models are airbrushed. Nobody looks that perfect. But the magazine makes you think they do."
Whether it's breasts that sag, thighs that jiggle or a stomach that bulges, most women can point to at least one area of their bodies they dislike. In fact, studies show that more than 60 percent of women don't like what they see in the mirror.
"We always want what we don't have - straight hair if it's curly, a large chest if we have a small one," says Deby King, manager of Victoria's Secret, a lingerie shop at Governor's Square Mall in Tallahassee, Fla.
"I don't think there is any woman who is completely happy with the way she looks. If a woman said she thought she looked perfect, we would all laugh and say, 'Yeah, right.'"
What's frustrating for most women, Overman says, is that they're generally stuck with the body type they have.
"We're told that if we diet and excersise we'll get rid of the things we don't like about our bodies, that we'll actually be able to change the shape of our bodies," she says. "But that's not always true. Most women are not going to look like Suzanne Sommers if they use Thigh Master."
Overman speaks from experience. The therapist, who stands 6 feet 4 1/2 inches tall, would have given anything to have been shorter in high school.
With a frame that towered over even th etallest boy in her class, she was teased constantly.
"I was nicknamed the Jolly Green Giant," she recalls. "And I couldn't watch those commercials on television for years without feeling tremendous pain."
Body-image issues often surface during the adolescent and teen years whe a sense of belonging becomes a priority for young girls. Like Overman, many girls struggle to look like and be like every other girl at school.
Studies show that children are dieting in as early as the fourth grade. And our parents play a vital role in shaping our perceptions of our bodies.
"Moms and dads almost always have an idea of what they want us to look like, and they sometimes try to project that image onto us," Brogdon says. "Then, that can turn into what you believe your body shoudl be."
The way parents feel about their own bodies also impacts their children. Overman says her mother, who also stood over six feet tall, also felt bad about her body.
Similarly, licensed clinical social worker Katheryn Lord says her mother often made er feel badly because she didn't have an hourglass figure.
"My mom always said, 'I hope you don't get bigger than a size 13,'" she says. " And at ballet class, she'd say, 'Look at all those pretty girls with nice waists.'"
But when Lord turned 40, she fnally learned to accept the body she was given.
"It was an enormous relief for me when I turned 40," says the therapist, now 47. "I accepted that I was never going to be tall, thin or blond, and I stopped weighing myself."
Studies have shown that black women are more comfortable with their bodies - regardless of their weight - than white women, according to a joint research project by Florida State University and Florida A&M University.
Black women, who tend to weight ten pounds more than their white counterparts, were less likely to be influenced by images of thinness in fashion magazines. Instead, they placed more importance on acceptance from their family, friends and culture.
Studies also indicate that across the board, men are generally happier with their appearance than women.
A University of Pennsylvania study showed that most men thought their body type matched the ideal body type they believed women found attractive.
But the study revealed that most women overestimated their body size.
Lord attributes this to the way women are trained to compare their bodies.
"It would be very rare to find a woman who thinks she's smaller than she really is,"she says. "We live in a very competitive world. We're constantly forced to compare ourselves to other things and other people.
"Children are encouraged to measure their looks against things like Barbie, and adults compare themselves to the supermodels."
But some say this is starting to change. To some extent, models are looking healthier, and women are beginning to recognize that they'll never fit intoa size three.
"I think most people today are realistic,"says Cherie Bronsky, owner of Wellness Works, a Tallahassee fitness center. "That's very different from when I started in the business 13 years ago. The fitness craze of the '80s began because of body image. It used to be that there were demands for thiness and sculpted bodies. Now people just say, 'Get me to the point where I can walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded.'
"I hear a lot of women saying, 'I don't want to look like Cindy Crawford or Barbie.' In fact, a woman just told me the other day that she knows she'll probably always be a size 13. She just wants to carry her weight well."
I was channel surfing during a commercial, and my daughter was sitting on the couch with me. Another network was showing the Marilyn Monroe film "The Prince and the Showgirl" with Lawrence Olivier. My daughter knows of my facination with Miss Monroe. In one scene, Marilyn is wearing one of her typical evening gowns - it looks like they spray painted it on her. We're talking tight. I asked my daughter if she recognized the actress. She didn't at first, but then realized who it was. Her comment on the legendary screen diva: "That's Marilyn Monroe? She kind of fat."
