Not a Barbie girl

Not+a+Barbie+girl

Barbie vs. Lammily – who will win the manufactured girl fight?

Last summer, digital artist Nickolay Lamm designed images of a doll that reflected proportions of average female bodies. In contrast to the current design of the Barbie doll, Lamm used the measurements of an average 19-year-old woman from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and shaped them to a 3-D model of Barbie, according to an article by the International Business Times UK.

The image Lamm created went viral, and he received countless questions about where buyers could purchase this average-sized doll. In response, the artist began a crowd-funding campaign in order to design a doll with normal body proportions to juxtapose Barbie’s unrealistic body. In less than a day, Lamm exceeded his $95,000 goal to produce a first run of the Lammily doll, according to an article by USA TODAY.

The Lammily doll has minimal makeup, bendable joints and sporty clothes, with a tagline that reads, “Average is beautiful.” Parents are rejoicing the fact that their daughters will now be able to play with a doll that reflects realistic and healthy body proportions.

I, too, marveled at the images Lamm created last summer of the average-sized doll. And while I agreed with the majority of viewers that the doll looked great, I couldn’t help but think to myself: “Why do I care?”

Critics of Barbie claim the doll creates unrealistic expectations concerning body image for young girls, and can contribute to the development of various eating disorders. Opponents of Barbie love to point out that if Barbie was a real woman, she would be forced to walk on all fours, have half a liver and would be physically incapable of lifting her over-sized head, according to an article by TIME.

While Barbie’s unrealistic body proportions are outrageous to the point of being comedic, that is why Barbie is a doll, not a real woman.

The influence of airbrushed media images, social groups and genetics is significant to the development of eating disorders in young girls, not their plastic dolls.

Not only is Lamm’s attack on Barbie’s negative influence bogus, but the message he is conveying with his own line of dolls can be argued as having a detrimental influence as well. Creating a line of realistically proportional dolls sounds like a wholesome idea. However, Lamm is not only selling an average-sized doll, but also the idea that “Average is beautiful.”

According to the Lammily doll, an average girl is white with an athletic build and long, straight brown hair. In addition to the fact the Lammily doll has ignored all other ethnicities thus far, it establishes a strict standard for beauty. What about all of the girls that are above average? Below average? Lamm’s message specifically states that “average is beautiful,” so everyone else that falls on either side of “average” do not meet Lamm’s newly established standard of beauty.

By presenting a doll that was designed to symbolize what is “normal,” everyone else that does not fit that mold is consequently deemed as abnormal.

Instead of continuing to fuel a manufactured cat fight, parents should allow their daughters to play with whichever doll they prefer, Barbie or Lammily, and not place so much importance on plastic toys. Obviously, both dolls present some conflicting ideas about body image, which is why they should not be perceived as symbolizing standards or expectations.

Maybe next time someone designs a new line of dolls in hopes of promoting healthy body image, they should combine it with the tagline, “Everyone is beautiful.” Not average, not impossible proportions, but every single one of us

– Ashley Lynn Fisher is a junior English major from Gig Harbor. She can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.