Moms, Body Image & Barbie

I'm sitting here eating my buckwheat, flaxseed, chocolate chip pancakes watching the Today Show and listening to the Get Real Barbie Campaign segment.  The general gist of this is that the dimensions of Barbie are not even close to what a real girl could ever, should or would even want to achieve.  But, I am compelled to say that in my Barbie heyday, I owned 32 Barbies, varying brands, but "barbie dolls" nonetheless.  Seriously, every single  day, my sister & I played out all kinds of scenarios; we even had Donny & Marie Osmond dolls!

I have to say though, not one time did I ever think, "Gosh, I wish I looked like Barbie", or "Wow, those boobies would be nice to have", or "What a skinny little waist, I wish I had that".  Barbie has come under fire for years as a figure that causes body image issues in young girls.  Now the folks behind the Get Real Barbie campaign were very careful to say that they are not blaming Barbie for women's body image issues.  I think we could all agree that there are very many issues at work, even perhaps someone's existing brain wiring.

One thing I hardly ever hear anyone talk about, once again, are people's parents, especially the Mom, and what they do or don't talk about with their kids.  I work around women.  I've worked around women for 20 years.  I swear, the vast majority you come in contact with are constantly complaining about the way they look.  "My fat ass", "My double chin", "I gotta get on the treadmill and do something about this fat", "This is gonna end up on my hips" and the list goes on and on and on.  They say these things right in front of their kids - their little girls.  You don't think that has an impact?  Now I'm not saying that Moms who hate their own bodies are the cause of eating disorders, but I have to imagine that it has more of an impact than Barbie?!

The media - t.v. and magazines -  bombard us with images of skinny, well-endowed  girls, beautiful faces and glowing tans.  This is another area where, just like an anti-drug campaign encourages you to talk with your kids...talk with your kids!  Here's a sample, as you see you 7-year-old daughter leafing through the Vogue mag at the doctor's office and you decide to move in for the kill:
"Wow, she's really pretty.  What do you think about her?  You know, I bet she's really pretty in real life, but do you know what happens sometimes?  The magazine actually erases any pimples she might have, makes her tummy a little smaller and gives her a nice tan.  Can you believe that?  Plus, I knew a girl who did this for a living and she had to actually diet a lot to get like that.  She hated it.  She knew it wasn't healthy.  She didn't stay a model for very long; she wanted to enjoy her life.  I bet she got to do some neat things, but she's having so much more fun now.  It's always better to exercise to stay in shape and eat a wide variety of foods.  Crazy stuff".


The goal here is to create a lighthearted dialogue and work in that pretty in a magazine or on t.v. is not real-life pretty and to plant a seed for life-long good choices.  And NEVER walk around talking about how you hate your hips.