Teen Talk Barbie

Earlier this year in class we watched a movie called Tough Guise. The movie discussed how male action figures have change since the 1970's and the affects action figures have on male body image. The changes were outstanding. The muscles were bigger and the weapons were more violent. I thought that I would analyze how female dolls have changed since the introduction of Barbies and the affects it might have on females. When reading about how dolls have affected women, one in particular stuck out, "Teen Talk Barbie."

In 1959 the Barbie was introduced wearing a long one piece black and white swimming suit. The doll came with blond hair pulled back into a ponytail and blue eyes or with dark black hair and dark eyes. Then in 1961 the Bubble cut barbie was introduced with Barbie sporting short hair coming in red, blond, black and brunette. This was the first introduction of Barbies with red and brunette hair. Barbie remained wearing modest outfits for several years and in 1967 she appeared wearing a two piece bathing suit.(Risky? not really) Only two years beforehand, In 1965, Barbie suited up as an astronaut. Barbie was also a doctor and a surgical nurse in 1976. Despite her afwly thin apperance, Barbie began to represent a beautiful, intelligent, successful women. Hope of having a doll that reflected real women increased as the years went on. In 1980, Barbie introduced the first African America, Latin American, Asian, Italian and European Barbies.

However, by the the late 1980's consumers began questioning Barbies thin appearance and Barbie witnessed a major backlash in 1994 when Teen Talk Barbie hit the market. Barbie a doll being marketed to little girls everywhere giggled three different messages. The messages were:

"I love shopping."
"Math is hard!"
"Will we ever have enough clothes?"

Who knew the one time astronaut and doctor would find math so hard?

Parents very understandably furious. Barbie was many younger girls favourite toy and many people felt that this Barbie was an unfair portrayal of teenage girls. I personally don't feel, "Teen Talk Barbie," is a fair representation of what female teenagers are like at all. Barbie became a discussion point for women and education, as well as the representation of women in the media. The doll was pulled from the shelves. Since then Barbie has been fairly scandal free and on Barbie's 40th Mattel donated $1.5 million to programs that teach women science,math, business and sports.

I am actually very thankful that, "Teen Talk Barbie," hit the market. As terribly as it may have represented teenage girls, especially blonds (in case you haven't noticed, I'm both) I felt that this doll was very beneficial. It allowed a high profile discussion about stereotypes in woman. Perhaps, it may have even made parents think twice about the images and stereotypes that dolls are portraying to small girls.

read more about the history of Barbies.

side note : millions of Mattel toys made in China have been recently called back due to suspected high levels of lead within the toys. to read more about this click here

What is the strangest thing you can find on ebay?

Slightly inspired by Kyle MacDonalds idea, i want to see the strangest thing each person in the class can find on Ebay. Please post the link in a comment.

-S.

One Red Paperclip

The story itself seems almost unbelievable. Canadian blogger Kyle MacDonald has managed to trade one red paperclip for a house. Inspired by a childhood game called Bigger and Better, the Internet blogger issued a challenge to himself. Using the Internet, he would attempt to trade his red paper clip for an object of equal or greater value and then trade that item for another item more valuable than itself. Kyle would attempt to repeatedly trade these items for those of more value until he was traded a house. Using his blog he posted a brief description of each item and promised that he would come visit you were you live, no matter where it may be if you were willing to make a trade.

Sounds like someone has to much time on their hands ?

Not when you consider that in exactly one year to the day he started his challenge and only 14 trades, Kyle MacDonald received the keys to his new house in Kipling Saskatchewan. Even before all the trades had been achieved people were immediately drawn to this story. After his trade for a Skidoo, Kyle was interviewed by George Stromboulopoulos where Kyle joked that he would go anywhere in the world to make a trade except Yahk, BC. Later that evening, Kyle received a phone call offering him to trade his Skidoo for a skiing trip to Yahk,BC. The Hour would not be the last time his trades would drawn him to the media...

The Trades

One red paperclip was traded for a fish pen
the fish pen was traded for one doorknob
the doorknob was then traded for a Coleman stove
The stove was traded for a red generator
The generator was traded for an "instant party" (keg of beer, a neon Budweiser sign)
The "instant party" was traded for a Skidoo
The Skidoo was traded for a trip to Yahk, BC.
The trip was traded for a cube van
The van was traded for a recording contract with accommodations and a flight to Toronto
The recording contract was traded for a year rent in downtown Phoenix
The year in Phoenix was traded for an afternoon with Alice Cooper
An afternoon with Alice was traded for a KISS snow globe
The KISS Snow globe was traded for a movie role
And Finally...
The movie role was traded for a house

... After the trades were finalized, the story caught wind and Kyle's name could be found in newspaper articles and television shows around the world. I've posted some links below of interviews and articles about Kyle MacDonald.

watch a Youtube video about Kyle.
The Globe and Mail even wrote about him. (link is free .it costs money to read the full article)
One red paperclip even has its own wikipedia page.

The media just couldn't seem to get enough of his story. Kyle is now a published author and DreamWorks studios have planned to make a movie based on his story.

his book is available on amazon books. Check it out.


I though i would include this story on my blog because i thought it represented the "buzz" aspect of the Internet and how there are some stories that large groups of people are easily drawn to. I also thought it was pretty amazing that anyone could trade a paperclip for a house!

to read how the trades came about click here

Eating Disorders are so high fashion

Last year, Fashion week in Madrid, Spain look very different and sparked a well needed debate among the fashion industry. Madrid's fashion turned away underweight models after protests that these underweight models are pushing Spanish girls and women to try to copy the stick-thin appearance. But how did they decide how thin was to thin? They mathematically calculated the BMI (body mass index) in each of the thinnest models by testing their weight vs. height ratio. All models with a body mass of under 18% were banned from modeling a the event. Organizers said that they wanted to promote a positive image of beauty and health as opposed to the "stick thin look." The Madrid government, the sponsors of the show were responsible for the regulations, regulations which 30% of all the models failed. This was a move which came with many mixed emotions. Some individuals panned it as being unfair to models who happened to be naturally thin, others felt it was a major step towards promoting a healthier image in the fashion industry. To put it into perspective, models are hired to be to living coat hangers and make the clothing as profitable as possible, and designers should be allowed to choose the models they feel represents their clothing as beautifully as possible. Whether or not a designer chooses to use size 0 models or size 6 models is their personal choice, because designers put in far too much effort in their clothing lines to have half of their models sent away at a last minute notice. As an avid fan of high fashion I can fully understand both sides of the issue. I truly agree with Madrid's choice to ban too thin models. Although, i believe that their efforts were unfair to the designers. When Madrid chose to ban these models, they did it last minute which left designers stuck without models immediately before their showcase. To be far to both the Madrid Fashion Week organisers and the designers, the orgranisers should have given the designers much more of an oppurtunity to replace the banned models. I also feel that the BMI test is not a fair representation of which models have eating disorders and which are naturally underweight. Organisers should push the ideals of living a healthy active lifestyle despite what the models weight is, and not simple focusing on what a scale says. I think that this type of fixation towards "weight" and "body fat" is what causes so many girls to feel insecure about how they look. There are many other warning signs in eatuing disorders than simply being underweight and many would agree eating disorder victims appear "sickly" not only thin. I believe that if desingers stress that all of their models appear at routine doctor's appointments and meetings with nutritionists to see to it that all models, inspite of their weight are healthy and reciving proper nutrition. Finally, i have to comend Madrid Fashion Week for taking an initive to promote health in the fashion industry, and i believe their initive could be used as a definite stepping stone for change. Most importantly, i feel that the industry should focus less upon weight and more upon overall health in the industry.