Barbie

The newspaper reported that Barbie is 50 years old! Wow!

The article goes on to highlight that some people loathe these dolls while some adore them.

Me? Well, it sure brings back childhood memories.

My mum bought me Barbie dolls when I was young. I remember it cost RM9.90 for the basic doll and a costume. I'll post the picture here one day if I can dig out my Barbies from my storage boxes.

Somehow, it was just natural to grow up with Barbie dolls during my time. I can still remember that my mum would crochet and knit little dresses for my dolls.

My younger brother was envious that he would even kidnapped the clothes for his own plush dolls. The worse was the mutilation of my dolls into headless dolls!! My mum would tape back the heads gently but they no longer look the same to me; with the plastic tape around their neck... giving me the Frankenstein-eerie feeling.

Alas.. that's how children are and how we torture dolls mercilessly...

However, I don't really see Barbie dolls as a menace to little girls with riduculous body type. To me, it is merely a doll for me to make-up stories of a lady and her friends going on with their lives. Yes, and also her boyfriend, "Ken" who is the lonely guy doll among the crowd of Barbies that I have.

However, the newspaper reported that if Barbie was life-size, she would have measured 36-18-33 inches, stand 1.74m and weight 50kg - making her 19kg underweight for a woman at that height.

As a woman now, I know that figure is ridiculous. 18 inches waist! With 36 inches bust, I wonder if she could stand or just tumble over with such a heavy top!! Not to mentioned the backache!

If we dissect the doll that way, yes, it may seem to be an unrealistic role model for little girls to follow by. That's why they have created the oversized-head Barbie Bratz dolls versions.
I am shocked to discover that, I quote Julie Bindel's article, "Barbie is modelled on a German 'porn doll' called Lillie, who was in turn based on a comic strip character marketed to lecherous men".

Well, what can I say? Men are men. Maybe, there are many boys or men out there who secretly harbour deep feelings for Barbie. :P

Let that be a trivia fact and kept aside at the back of my brain, while I continue to recall the days when I was young, innocent, naive and in my world of imagination with Barbie Dolls, erasers, plush dolls, anything else one would used to dream on and have great adventures...

Ironically, "barbie" sounds like "babi" in Bahasa Malaysia which means pig... but has no relevance to this blog or entry. :p