Barbie and the Culture of Aversion

Barbie. She's the icon of body image issues and the primary destroyer of self-esteem worldwide. Since 1959, Barbie has been spreading her agenda of unreasonable bodily proportions like a contagion to every innocent child that dares to own one. She's the problem, right?

Well, not exactly. Let me preface this article by saying that Hannah and I are still learning and growing with every passing year. We are constantly re-evaluating our own positions on cultural issues because we want to take nothing for granted. We feel like becoming entrenched in your own dogmatic opinions is bad for logical, sound, and healthy thinking. We used to be the kind of parents who poured out all of our parental angst on Barbie, neglecting to see the bigger picture of what's going on in society. We've had a change of heart, and here's why.

The war on Barbie is a bit of a strawman argument. That is, many parents channel their fury about cultural self-image problems through this little plastic figurine, neglecting everything else in TV, magazines, and even within their own family. Barbie is a scapegoat, an easy target for all of the ailments in our society regarding how women look. If we focus our efforts on advancing healthy body image into destroying the sales of one little doll, we're missing the forest for the trees.

Christians, in general, seem to enjoy hating stuff. You know this, because we see it everyday. We like to funnel our concerns into pet causes and campaigns instead of looking at the larger scope of the problem. Instead of hating the spirit of materialism, we refuse to participate in Christmas. Instead of discouraging irresponsible behavior, we rail against Halloween. We would rather superficially hate a cultural norm than take the time and effort to uproot the true problem beneath it. That's the Christian culture of aversion. That's lazy.

Instead of looking at the world as a minefield of things to avoid, perhaps we can use sound thinking and dialogue to embrace every moment as a teaching opportunity for our children.  If Hannah and I don't like the way a Barbie is dressed, we explain to Eisley that modesty is important and a more appropriate article of clothing would be a wiser choice. We approach the topic with a scalpel, not a hatchet. We want to use our best efforts to instruct our children on how to use discernment when dealing with cultural topics, because they're going to spend their lives facing issues in our society that require Godly wisdom.

We also want to teach our girls to think critically instead of approaching society with a sense of fear. By using a blanket argument to ban all Barbies, or anything else we don't like, we would lose out on many vital conversations with our children.  Talk to your children -- you can influence them in a much greater way than by merely avoiding certain toys.

Women's body image problems are a systemic issue in our society, and it starts in your own living room. The conversations that a wife has with her husband about her body (e.g. "I feel so fat!") having a much more profound impact than the curves of a Barbie. If we outsource our parental responsibilities into a diluted checklist that includes "Don't buy Barbies", we are doing a grave injustice to our own role as the formative force of our children's lives. I can do much more to shape my children than to simply avoid buying so-called evil toys.

I know what you're thinking. "Barbies have such unreasonable body types!" Well, the last time I looked through my four-year-old daughter's pile of toys, I didn't see a single anatomically correct design in them. Disney princesses have exaggerated eyes, Lalaloopsy dolls are sewn together and magically brought to life, and Veggie Tales characters are talking vegetables. That's witchcraft. But seriously, if our concern is scientific accuracy, let's be faithful to that concern. The real problem is how Barbie is different than other women, but I'd rather not sexualize my little girl's toy choices for her.  She has a lifetime of navigating through these issues ahead of her... I want to spare her for now.

When she holds a Barbie, she sees a plastic figurine that she can accessorize, dress up, and make believe with.  Children can discern the difference between make believe and reality, so Hannah and I choose to pour our efforts into a deeper and more substantial dialogue about body image issues. Our efforts don't revolve around Barbie, and that's why we're okay with them in our home.