Barbie comes up with new dolls that break stereotypes

Many of us have played with Barbie dolls in our childhood. It's global popularity is hard to beat, it's most talked about and with most unattainable physical body attributes. With the criticism rising against the fairytale hot bod about promoting stereotypes about women's bodies there has been some shift in the way its makers perceive its future. Particularly given the rising discourse on gender equality and race equality.

Mattel, the manufacturer of Barbie, announced that the new range will include different body-types like curvy, tall and petite. There are going to be seven skin types, 22 eye colors and 24 hairstyles in Barbie. “The product is evolving to offer more choices to make the line more reflective of the world girls see around them,” said Mattel spokeswoman Michelle Chidoni, according to reports.

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Barbie is one toy that has been scrutinised deeply since its inception. Some people loved it to bits and some disliked its so-called perfection in everything. People could not relate to the world that they live in, which is quite true. This was the reason that Barbie has tried to evolve over the period of time with different methods and tactics.

Barbie is in a way has been considered the epitome of female beauty and fashion. And with the kind of perfectly-impossible-to-inculcate body structure, people find it difficult to relate with doll even today.

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“She’s reluctant to celebrate Barbie’s new strategy because it doesn’t change the fact that Barbie dolls and other kinds of fashion dolls still over-emphasise female beauty,” expressed Kris Macomber, who teaches sociology at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The doll which made its entry in 1959 and since then has been on the top of all fashion dolls was pressured to take this step overseeing its highly decreasing sales. Evelyn Mazzocco, head of the brand, commanded her team to work on making the variety of dolls closer to the real world women according to a report in Mid day. Now there will be among others an Asian Barbie, Black Barbie, red-head Barbie etc with different body types.

The manufacturers of Barbie have not made any promises so as to satisfy everyone, but they do say that they have tried their best to improve and include as many body structures as possible.

Picture credit- Indian Express