THE BARBIE SYNDROME

An essay by Alexandra Mayoral

Introduction

Barbie Syndrome (Body Dysmorphic Disorder) is a term used to loosely describe the desire to have a physical appearance and lifestyle representative of the infamous Barbie doll. It is most often associated with pre-teen and adolescent females but is applicable to any age group. Usually it is female youth that will attempt because it is associated with puberty and the awkward stages. The child will want to look her best and most beautiful to males and believes in looking beautiful like Barbie, though Barbie has radical body proportions. Someone afflicted with Barbie syndrome strives for an unattainable body type.

Males that strive to have a very charming and attractive look will have what is called Ken Syndrome. They will strive to look as attractive as Barbie's male companion, or boyfriend is presumed to be.

Children have always innately associated themselves with their toys to give them information about their own identities. This allows them to form and develop their self image at an early age. When playing with Barbies, children project their self image onto the doll in an attempt to identify with it and have been doing so since its launch in 1959. This confusion in young girls’ self perception has sparked the interest of many feminist scholars because the likelihood of having Barbie’s body shape is 1 in 100,000, but Ken’s body shape is more easily attainable. Some feminists believe that this re-instills the ideals of male dominance in American society.

Origin and Beliefs

Barbie syndrome entered the lexicon after complaints concerning the unrealistically proportioned plaything, most often by parents and some feminists groups. They believe Barbie's figure instills unhealthy standards about appearance in the children who play with her and could lead to eating disorders or low self-esteem.

Actual Size

If Barbie was a human woman with the same proportions she would not be able to stand.

Creator Intentions

Creator Ruth Handler has said she created Barbie in part because it was "important to a little girl`s self-esteem to play with a doll that [had] breasts."

Waist Alteration

Mattel has long maintained that Barbie's proportions are necessary to make her outfits appear naturally fitting, but in the 2000s, the company altered the doll's waistline. Detractors claim the figure is still atypical of actual body types.

Living Doll

A self-admitted example of Barbie syndrome is Cindy Jackson, a woman who spent 13 years and $100,000 in initial plastic surgery to resemble the doll, including surgically applied make-up.

Cindy´s Cosmetic Surgery

The Plan Applying the principles of beauty she learned as an art student, including centuries-old rules of facial and body proportion, along with some basic anthropological laws of human attraction, she drew up a plan based on the following wish list.

Her Wish List from 1988

• Wider, less tired-looking eyes • A small feminine nose • High cheekbones • Fuller lips • Perfect white teeth • A smaller, more delicate jaw and chin • To eradicate premature facial wrinkles and acne

scarring • A flawless, unlined complexion • A defined waistline and flat stomach • To lose my love handles, saddlebags and cellulite • Thinner thighs and slimmer knees • To tone up flab from being 50 lbs. overweight in the

'70s. • Not to have to wear a lifetime of hardship etched on my

face

The Raw Material

Her Procedures List

• Eye lift • Nose job • Facelift • Cheek implants • Lip enhancement • Cosmetic Dentistry • Chin reduction • Jaw reshaped • Breast implants

• Liposuction • Dermabrasion • Chemical peels • Fat transfers • Mole removal • Filler injections • Laser treatment • Microdermabrasion • And more...

The Result

You can see her transformation and many changes over the years from various angles below.

No one had ever done anything this before so she had no role models to follow. After spending more than two decades having various procedures and pushing the boundaries in the fields of anti-ageing and cosmetic procedures, she have hard-to-acquire inside information combined with vast personal and professional experience

no one else on the planet has. Therefore she insist on - and consistently achieve - only the very best cosmetic surgery results. she have no intention of "growing old" as defined by previous generations. Transformation 2008 - Barbie to Bardot In 2008 she unveiled a new look after having several procedures to look more like the classic French beauty and fellow animal lover Brigitte Bardot. She have been told I also resemble Claudia Schiffer, who looks very much like Bardot. Full details of her Bardot transformation and the procedures she had to achieve it can be found in her book “Image and Cosmetic Surgery Secrets”. Below are the results. She has re-created some of Bardot's most famous iconic images.

How to abandon your Barbie Syndrome

Here are some ways to make peace with your own "undesirables", that just might help you overcome any "Barbie Syndrome" that might be lingering in your own psyche.

1. One Size Does Not Fit All

“Growing up in Southern California, I always felt the pressure to be impossibly thin. I compared myself to surrounding women considered “aesthetically amazing”, and felt empty as a result. It never occurred to me that most of these “Genetic Lottery” winners lived in Hollywood and pursued the Silver Screen because they were the exception, not the rule. No one explained to me that not all women are genetic anomalies, built a size zero and as thin as the Melrose Place sign pole”.

“I felt inferior because my body didn’t mirror the models that walked off photo shoots and down my local sidewalks. My athletic build was lean and toned, but never twiggy. I longed for endless pencil-thin legs and nonexistent hips. If only I had the waify body of Kate Moss that was all the rage of my teenage years. I desperately wanted to be a graceful paper doll, infinite limbs carelessly traipsing on the wind. I never understood that as women, we really do come in all shapes and sizes, and that try as I might, I was never going to have the pipe cleaner arms of the girls I envied”.

2. Try to Stop Obsessing Over One Feature

You are a beautiful whole entity. Instead of spending time wishing your backside was firmer/flatter/fuller/smaller, get into the gym and work within your genetic possibilities. Don’t think of any basic part of the whole as a “limitation”, because the only thing limiting your success is a negative attitude toward your “lacking” body part. Your bum is probably the envy of someone else.

3. Dress for Optimal Body Image Success

If you are feeling blue about something work your impressive assets. I have a friend who thinks she is “hippy”, but she knows how to draw attention away from her lower half by wearing great sleeveless tops to accentuating her amazing arms and delicate neckline. Love your body by wearing great clothes that compliment your favorite features; choosing the right wardrobe will help increase your body confidence. Wish your legs were longer? Stay away from cropped pants and three-quarter length skirts. Opt for longer bottoms to elongate your figure and feel fabulous.

4. Try to Ignore Unrealistic Images and Imagine Total Body Acceptance

This one is tough, but it is a key point for finding contentment with what you wish you could change. Someone else always looks more attractive than we might feel. The media wants to flood our minds with their conjecture of “perfectly proportioned people”, but try to remember their financial motivation for cultivating and perpetuating these ideas. Focus less on what various companies are trying to sell you, and more on what is realistic for your individual body type. You will nurture acceptance and create happiness.

5. Celebrate Your Individual, Healthy Body

Your body is an amazing machine. It functions in fine form, regardless of “imperfections”, for all of the tasks you require of it, from hoisting kids to slugging

laundry up and down the stairs, not to mention growing and birthing babies in the first place. So, while most of us may not be as thin as Heidi Klum appears to be a day after delivery, we might ask ourselves if she should really be the yardstick by which we are measuring. There is a reason she is in front of the camera providing for her children while the rest of us common folk are working quietly behind the scenes raising ours.

Sources. 1. Barbie Syndrome | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_5456996_barbie-syndrome.html#ixzz1704jEIK4

2. Jackson, Cindy. “Image & Cosmetic Surgery Secrets: The Ultimate Guide to Cosmetic Surgery”

3. Lind, Amy. "Battleground: Women, Gender, and Sexuality", Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008

4. Making Cindy into Barbie? - BBC News, HEALTH (21 September 1998)

5. Becoming Barbie: Living Dolls, Real Life Couple Are Models Of Plastic Perfection - by Rebecca Leung (Aug. 6, 2004) CBS News

6. Lind, Stephanie Brzuzy – “Barbie syndrome” 2008