Our Barbies, Ouselves

“Our Barbies, Ourselves”
Emily Prager “reveals the damaging effect of a doll that establishes such an impossible standard of physical perfection for little girls- and for little boys who grow up expecting their girlfriends to look like Barbie” in the essay “Our Barbies, Ourselves.” At first she introduces the fact that Barbie was designed by a man named Jack Ryan, and then shares personal comments about how now “things made sense” that she had “wondered about for years.” The writer then goes on to talk about the effects that Barbie has had on women and girls everywhere; how it effects their self esteem, self conception, an idea of their place in society. She talks about how Barbie is an unrealistic view of a woman for little girls and it has help to develop our country into the “Barbie world” we live in now. The author also allows us to see the other side of Barbie that isn’t as obvious as the pretty girls, the feminist side of Barbie. She states ho...