What's Happened to Barbie?

What has happened to Barbie? While I'm off traveling through Europe and going through my own transitional period, Barbie, too, has gone through a transition. And NOT for the better. I'd heard talk of plans to reinvent Barbie. Give her a new more "realistic" shape they said.

First of all Barbie is a toy. A doll. Just how realistic does a kid want a doll she is going to make up stories about anyway? Is any pretend character realistic? We've got talking mice who wear clothes (Mickey, Mini, Stuart Little). We've got super heroes who do any number of insane and unrealistic things. Is anyone suggesting we take away superman's flying abilities because that is too unrealistic? Of course not. But Barbie's boobs. Yeah, way too unrealistic. It's unnerving. They must be reduced to a 'normal' size. Well, the 'normal' size in American breasts has increased from a 34B to a 36C.

I am certain some group of out of shape mothers with low self esteem and bad body image are the ones who lobbied for this Barbie shape change. They just couldn't fathom a doll having a better figure than theirs. They said they were worried the doll was promoting poor body image. Well, from the size of some of the guts I've witnessed on fairly young girls, I don't think eating disorders are a problem as a result of Barbie.

Besides what about Wonder Woman running around saving the world in her sexy getup? Or Ariel swimming around with all her curves. What gives? Why all the attention on Barbie's fake figure. Who cares? We DO realize it's fake. Even as a child her hourglass figure never occurred to me. My own mother was overweight. She spent a good deal of her life trying new fad diets to no avail. I never even compared the two women. One was a DOLL. I knew this all along. No mystery in my little six year old mind.

I've been a Barbie fan as long as I can remember. My mother made me wait until my sixth birthday before I could have my first Barbie. She wanted to be sure I was mature enough to play with such a fancy doll. Once I received her, I coveted her and took care of her better than any of my other dolls. She was special. Her ponytails always stayed in the tiny rubber bands she came with. Her clothes were gorgeous and I never left her lying around naked. She did not take baths with me nor did she go outside to play in the sandbox. She was always kept pristine, as did all the subsequent Barbies I received thereafter. My life with Barbie was magical and lasted many many years. In fact, I still have a small collection which I occasionally add to now and then.

While living in Prague, CZ, I visited the toy museum specifically to visit the Barbie exhibition. Oh what an afternoon I had. Barbie history right there before my eyes. The Barbies from her earliest days to present. The fashions, the accessories. Yes, it was a treat for this Barbie lover.

Recently, during my visit to NYC, I stopped into the huge Toys R Us in Manhattan. It's a huge store and I knew they'd have a magnificent Barbie collection. I wanted to see what was new on the Barbie scene, so I popped in for a peek. I was aghast at what I saw. My mouth dropped open. No sound came out. I was speechless. A small breasted doll with shapeless stick legs, big flat feet and a head too big for her body was staring back at me. Talk about unrealistic. This head they've put on her looks like it was taken from a completely different doll and stuck on this faux Barbie as an after thought. I kept checking different boxes looking for the 'real' Barbie. These impostors were alarming to see. I was in a panic, turning corners, lifting boxes only to see more of the flat footed monster dolls.

Finally, I spot the special display case. There she was. Barbie. The real deal. Several of them even. Her small petite face with the large cat eyes and high cheek bones, legs shaped like a dancers, standing on tip toe in her stylish pumps, wearing the glamorous outfits she was meant to adorn. That's my girl! After pressing my nose up against the glass for as long as I could before security started pacing suspiciously, I quickly fled the store looking away from those awful 'non-Barbies' they are trying to peddle. I'm all for making advancements in the world of technology, but Barbie should never have been tampered with.