Blog 5

A gift that millions of little girls have probably received around the world, perfectly placed in a rectangular box with fashionable clothes, a bright smile, and a so called perfect body, a Barbie doll. According to the author many view this doll to be bad, others good, and then adding another side to the list with those who have a moderate view of the doll. (97) Those on the “bad” side argue that “Barbie's proportions create impossible images of beauty that girls will strive for.” (96) Basically their statements sum up to say that Barbie is a mindless, materialistic, vapid woman who is the worst type of role model for girls. However, those on the pro-Barbie side of the argument say that “Barbie is a fun part of growing up.” Supporters argue that Barbie was ahead of her time, that she “achieved” careers historically before women did, such as becoming an Astronaut. Finally, the third camp of arguers, the moderates, say that while Mattel made Barbie “the ideal woman,” she also sends the message out that girls can be who ever they want. (97)

As a child I received Barbie's all the time, in fact some of my most vivid memories as a toddler include when my father would bring me home a new Barbie, well a new Barbie and gummy bears. But Barbie to me wasn’t something to aspire to be, something to wish I looked like and in fact a majority of young girls probably felt the same way as I did and still do. Most young girls don’t aspire to be Barbie, because Barbie can be whatever or whoever you make her. She doesn’t dictate what you should be, or wear, or how you should look. Instead the child is the one deciding what Barbie wears, who she will be and how she will look. Children, particularly young girls, assert their independence and thinking through her.

While the author does not exactly agree with the standpoint I have taken, she doesn’t disagree either. Instead the author holds a moderate view towards Barbie, and sees her as a “scapegoat,” stating that it’s more important to look at “an entire culture” and see the ideas that we are teaching about beauty as a whole to children. (98) While reaching her conclusion the author incorporates a blend of templates used in They Say, I Say, including the arguments of X, Y, Z (such that X, Y, and Z stand for pro-Barbie, anti-Barbie, and the moderates) and then stating her own argument. With her argument the essay points out her own standpoint, where she agrees and disagrees with the three sided debate and exactly wherein those categories of X, Y, and Z she stands.

Works Cited

1. Wood, Nancy. Essentials of Argument. 2nd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009.

2. Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say, I Say. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2006.