Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
The Barbie movie is supposed to be satirical and tackle some of the issues the thin doll did help create in the 90's, by focusing on one body type as ideal.
It’s tough to miss the conversation and hype around Barbie if you are a Social Media native like me. I haven’t watched it yet, but the movie promises to be inclusive, fun and from a feminist POV.
The infinite reels, memes and influencer fashion around Barbie core reminded me of when I was 8 years old in the 90’s and saw a Barbie doll in a shop. I showed the doll to my father who showed me the price of the doll and furthermore the various accessories like shoes, hand bag etc which came at additional cost. He asked me to ascertain if I thought that it was a fair price to pay for small pieces of plastic.
At 8 years old I understood what he was saying but the commercials had brain washed me, so I dragged my mother to the aisle and showed her the doll. She casually remarked that the doll was overhyped and was thin like me so why would I want this doll and that I had a different doll at home already?
I used to be a thin child growing up. So the lessons I retained about Barbie was a mixture of all this. I am in retrospect glad that my middle class parents didn’t buy this ridiculously expensive doll albeit with some light body shaming.
However in 2023 thin for a grown woman is ‘good’ but for a child is still not good as per Indian society. Recently I made fun of my 10 year old and called him bony, he turned back to me and rightly called me out on it. He told me that I shouldn’t be body shaming him and schooled me on it. I as a mother was very happy to see him grow up in a time where he has the vocabulary and the confidence to understand right from wrong and not internalize it.
The 2023 Barbie movie is supposed to be satirical and tackle some of these issues which I do think the thin doll did help create in the 90’s by focusing on one body type and putting one certain body type as ideal. The doll did later diversify into various body types but the initial model and body type of Barbie is the most recognizable and sought after.
For its time the doll however was intentioned to showcase women in settings other than as home makers or caregivers and having different interests and occupations. The creator of the Barbie doll Ruth Handler famously is said to have invented the fashion doll category with a three-dimensional doll that girls could use to imagine their future selves.
Through the generations the benchmarks for the ideal body type has changed and parenting also has undergone many changes especially in certain strata of society. This is not to say that the current generation are better parents, I am sure there are loads of things which we as society or as parents emphasize or idealise on today that tomorrow’s generation will question us on!
A traveler at heart and a writer by chance a vital part of a vibrant team called Women's Web. I Head Marketing at Women's Web.in and am always evolving new ways in read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
Please enter your email address