Throwback Post: "It's Ok To Be Plastic?"

I decided to start a new series of blog posts under a new category, "Throwback Posts." Basically this series will feature blog posts from the past that I have blogged either here or on my personal blog "I Am a Daughter of the King" that I have owned since 2009. 

Tonights post features a blog post from January 27th, 2009 on I Am a Daughter of the King, titled "It's Ok to Be Plastic?"   Comments welcome!

Enjoy!!

Yesterday in Wal-Mart, I went down the Barbie and baby doll isle in the toy section. A slogan on some Barbie items caught my attention, it read something to the effect of “When you look this good, who cares if your plastic.” I read it again to see if I read it right. It disgusts me to think that slogan is on a popular toy for little girls. What kind of message does that tell young girls? It says, “It’s alright to be fake, just as long as you look good.” That goes against the Word of God. The Bible says favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised. (Proverbs 31:30)

I grew up playing with Barbie dolls. I had a lot of them, and spent hours playing with them. Mainly I played Church, house, or store, most times a combination of all three. I will admit I probably thought when I grow up I’m going to look like Barbie (haha…big laugh!) But, thanks to my Parents I knew that Barbie was just a toy…not the real deal. But what about young girls today? Are Parents telling them that Barbie is just a toy, not to be a role model. Or are Parents giving the girls dolls and leaving them to come up with their own ideas, their own thoughts, their own views of Barbie?

It makes me mad to think that young girls are playing with dolls whose slogan says as long as you look good, you can be fake. Isn’t that what Hollywood screams? “Look at me, I have so many plastic surgeries I’m as fake as can be, my skin looks like leather, I don’t look real, but hey…at least I’ll look good.” That’s a joke, most of the time they don’t look good after having so many surgeries. I’m not totally against plastic surgery, I understand some people have accidents and such and they want to correct the physical damage, but when you have sixteen year olds wanting to get their bust size enlarged through plastic surgery, that’s just stupid. They are sixteen, you haven’t fully developed at that age. Is Barbie to blame for girls with eating disorders, plastic surgery, and fake looks? It makes me wonder. We can blame Seventeen, Cosmo Girl, and Teen Vogue Magazines. We can blame, Hollywood and all the chick flick movies. We can blame Nick TV for Teens, we can blame MTV, VHS. We can blame pop stars, and actresses. We can blame Barbie and Bratz dolls. We can blame whomever we choose to point our finger at. But the truth is, when it comes right down to it. It’s the Parents fault for the way girls see themselves. It’s true, what you spend your time on, will influence you most. If Parents spent more time training up their children in the way they should go, instead of being selfish and inconsiderate of their children’s needs and wants. Society would be different, because girls would know they are loved for who they are on the inside, not what they look like on the outside.

Is Barbie wrong for girls to play with? I don’t know. I’ve heard that argument before, and wasn’t sure I agreed. Now after pondering that slogan, maybe it is wrong for girls to play with Barbie….UNLESS the Parents will take responsibility to show that Barbie isn’t real. On the other hand, why would you want to play with an American icon for the “perfect body” who is really underweight, never ages, etc..? The message portrayed, is look gorgeous, you’ll have lot’s of friends. I kind of like the saying “If Barbie is so popular why do you have to buy her friends?” Good question. Think about it though, that’s what the world says, spend lot’s of money, you’ll have lot’s of friends. Wrong. I’d rather have one good friend who loves me for me, than a dozen friends who don’t love me at all, they’re just in love with my money and my fake looks. I’m not saying Barbie dolls are all together wrong to play with, I honestly haven’t decided that. I thought they were ok, mainly because I played with them. But our cultural views have changed a lot since I was a little girl playing with Barbie’s, and after reading that slogan today, it makes me wonder, when I get married and have children, do I really want my little girls playing with Barbie dolls? Thinking about it more, why would I want my girls playing with Barbie dolls who come half dressed? I wouldn’t, because they would think its okay to dress like Barbie and be half naked. I wouldn’t mind them playing with dolls with decent clothing. Like one of my Aunts, when I was little she crocheted me a lot of Barbie doll clothes, but they were decent and sweet. I spent hours playing with those, they were my favorite clothing for my Barbie dolls. There are some Barbie’s who are decent, and I can see where they are lot of fun to play with. But I am not sure what my views on the traditional Barbie is now, especially after reading that slogan.

This blog really doesn’t have a definite conclusion, other than it's never ok to be plastic. Just some thoughts I have been wondering. What do you think?