Muntean Violeta Alina Muntean 1

Babeș-Bolyai University

Faculty of Letters, 3rd year, EN-JA

Course: American Culture and Civilization

Professor: Daniel Darvay

The Influence of the Barbie Doll on Identity and Constructions

The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of the white Barbie doll

manufactured by the American toy company Mattel Inc. on young African-American girls.

The discrimination and the incapacity to find themselves in the portrait of the white Barbie

doll made the African-American girls to gradually develop a lower self-esteem. Furthermore,

with the passing of time, the Barbie doll became the ideal body-icon not only for young girls,

but also for women. This negatively affected women’s self-image reaching to the point where

they considered themselves as being imperfect.

To begin with, the issues of racial and minority discrimination has deep roots in the

American history. Richard Perry in his attempt to define the true meaning of “race”

concludes that the term itself raises a paradoxical problem. On one hand, the concept of race

is real, merely because the term exists in our consciousness.

We face a problem even when we critique the idea. To use the term “race” is

to perpetuate the implication that race is real […] It exists to the same extent

that Santa Claus exists in the hearts and minds of many people, though with

far more sinister consequences. (Perry ix)

On the other hand, to examine a concept that exists only in our consciousness, but

which should not exist in reality can become quite complicate.

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It is difficult to engage in a serious discussion of something that do not exist –

although it is not impossible, as many erudite scholars and theologians have

shown over the ages. (Perry ix)

To consider that biological differences between humans are the reason for the

existence of such classification in races is a misconception because the term “race” is not a

biological concept, but a cultural one. The science of genetics completely eliminates this

theory of people division into races. However, the real problem is not “race” but racism.

(Perry 1)

In the United States of America, one of the major events that influenced the course of

history is related to racism between white-skinned people and black-skinned people. It is well

known that the black community encountered several oppressions from the white-community

starting with the inequality in rights, the impossibility of having a higher education, low-

grade workplaces or even slavery. It is said that the reason for this discrimination between

“races” is due to the biblical myth of Adam and Eve. In the 19 th century, it was put into

question whether the African Americans or other groups descended from Adam and Eve, or

whether God created all “races” independently. Richard Perry argues that “Josiah Nott, a

prominent Southern physician, was convinced that Africans could not have sprung from

Adam and Eve” (Perry 137-138).

Ann duCille, who is an African-American woman, makes her voice heard in an article

published in “The Black Studies Reader” about her own experiences of being a black person

inside a white-community. She confesses that from the beginning of her life she was fully

aware of her own status as “different”, not only from her parental interference, but also from

the injustice she suffered from her white-town in which she was raised. Everywhere she went,

she was surrounded by white-adults, white-teachers or white-authors. The only place a young
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girl as Ann duCille could find alleviation was among her dolls. However, these dolls were not

created by the resemblance of her either, their skin was also white. (duCille 266)

Regarding the first Barbie doll, it was manufactured in 1959 by Mattel Inc. company

in southern California. It is situated in a place nearby Disneyland, in a place where people

from all corners come to fulfil their desires and where all dreams can become real (Lord 24).

However, even though the beginning of the Barbie doll seemed promising, it brought

happiness only to one group of young girls, of those who were part of the white-community.

Because the Barbie doll was created with long blonde hair, blue eyes and white skin, the

African-American girls could not find themselves in the physical appearance of the doll. This

phenomenon led to many negative effects such as race marginalisation and body-perfection.

For instance, in the article “Dyes and Dolls: Multicultural Barbie and the Merchandising of

Difference” two women confesses their childhood memories about their first white Barbie

doll. Sarah Delany argues that when she was young she had an African-American friend

named Bessie, who felt the urge to paint the skin of her doll with brown painting in order to

look like her.

These dolls were white, of course […] but do you know what Bessie did? She

took an artist’s palette they had also given us and sat down and mixed the

paints until she came up with a shade of brown that matched her skin. (duCille

265)

The other woman named Lisa Jones claims that when she was young she felt the need

to cut the hair and tore the limbs off of her Barbie dolls.

I had two blonds […] I cut off their hair and dressed them in African-print

fabric […] then I tore off each limb, and sat on the stairs for a long time

twirling the torso like a baton. (duCille 265)

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The two examples mentioned above illustrates only one part of the negative effects of

the Barbie doll. Ann duCille in her article argues that young girls tend to fantasize about their

own personal world, but their self-image is created according to the image of their Barbie doll

(duCille 268). In other words, we can assume that by recreating their own self-image, young

girls can achieve not only a lower self-esteem due to the incapacity to resemble with the

“perfect” body of the doll, but also it can influence their own perspective on race and racism.

However, due to the Black power movements and the civil rights, in 1976 Mattel Inc.

produced the first black Barbie doll named “colored Francie”. Yet, “colored Francie” did not

sell well because of the racial climate of that period of time. The black Barbie doll raised

several issues such as the interpretation of the term “colored” as having a bad connotation

and also as being racist (duCille 268). After “colored Francie”, Mattel Inc. produced a series

of other “black” dolls. The Shani doll was intended to become the representative of the

African-American women with wider hips, fuller lips and broader nose. However, these

attributes mentioned before, only led to other interpretations such as authenticity and truth. It

was put into question “what makes a doll look Black?”, “how does Black look?” or “when a

doll can be considered as authentically African-American?”(duCille 272). These

interpretations led merely to the creation of stereotypes and to make notice of the differences

between people.

In the 1940s, two psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark created and organized a

series of tests known as “the doll test” in order to study and analyse the impacts and effects of

segregation on African-American children. The test consists of the use of four identical dolls,

except their colour in order to study the children’s perception on race. For this study, children

between the age of three to seven were asked to determine the race of the doll and to choose

which doll they prefer the most. The results of the test were disturbing. Regarding to most of

the children, they preferred the white doll and provided a series of positive characteristics.
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Moreover, the African-American children felt a sense of inferiority and also a damaged self-

esteem (Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc).

In 1985, the Clark’s doll test was repeated. In this time, an alarming 65 percent of the

black children, when put to choose between dolls, preferred a white doll rather than a black

one. Furthermore, 75 percent of the children argued that they preferred the white doll because

the black one looked “bad” to them (duCille, 270).

Besides the negative effects of race marginalisation, the Barbie doll also started to

influence women physiologically. Due to the fact that Barbie’s body was created in a

“perfect” manner with small waist and equally hips and chest, this influenced women’s

perspective of what bodily perfection means. In an article published in UK Essays, Cindy

Jackson confesses her story about her addiction to achieve the perfect body proportions

having as a model the Barbie doll. When Cindy was six years old, she considered herself as

unattractive and began to acquire an obsession for her Barbie doll. She claimed that she

wanted to look just like her because she looked perfect. Her addiction became more and more

powerful that Cindy took over thirty-one surgeries in order to look like Barbie.

Furthermore, psychologists argues that the Barbie doll gives children a sense of low

self-esteem. Starting with young ages, girls begin to be physically influenced by their dolls.

One psychologist claims that “girls exposed to Barbie reported lower body esteem and

greater desire for a thinner body shape than girls in the other exposure conditions”. Moreover,

in the present-day, the image of beauty is distorted both by media and by the toy industry.

Children are exposed to these ideas imposed by the media and by the Barbie doll industry,

that in order to achieve the “perfect” body, you need to be skinny just as Barbie. By putting

the Barbie doll into the hands of young girls you can influence their perspective on the

meaning of perfect. (UK Essays).

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Last but not least, one of the question to which we still do not have a complete answer

is “is Barbie bad?”. Taking into consideration all the facts that we have mentioned above, the

Barbie doll can be seen as a bad influence, because the African-American girls felt excluded

from the world they lived in and they were unable to find their peace, not even around their

dolls. Furthermore, the Barbie doll also influenced children perspective on race and racism.

When children were asked to choose which doll they preferred, due to external factors they

classified the white doll as being “good” and the black doll as being “bad”. Moreover, the

Barbie doll also influenced women’s perspective on what body perfection means, driving

them to take extreme decisions. Our society influenced our image of beauty making both

young girls and women to feel bad about their own body because they do not resemble with

the Barbie doll. However, in my opinion, the Barbie doll raises a paradoxical problem. Even

though Barbie can have some negative effects on young girls, the doll can still be seen as a

method for children to develop imagination, communication or parental feelings.

In conclusion, since the creation of the first Barbie doll, a sense of race

marginalisation was felt by the young African-American girls. However, after the Black

power movement, a new Barbie doll appeared named “colored Francie”, but it was not well

received by the Black community due to its racist term. Moreover, Barbie started to influence

women’s vision about their physical appearance.

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Works Cited

“Barbie’s Negative Impact on Society” UKEssays.com. 11 2018. All Answers Ltd. 03 2019

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/beauty-therapy/barbies-negative-effects-on-young-

girls.php. Accessed on 19.04.2019

duCille, Ann “Dyes and Dolls: multicultural Barbie and the merchandising of difference”

The Black Studies Reader (2004), Routledge, Great Britain.

J. Perry, Richard “Race and Racism. The Development of Modern Racism in America”

(2007) Palgrave Macmillan, New York

Lord, M.G. “Forever Barbie. The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll” (2004) ePub

version, Walker Publishing Company.

N.A.A.C.P, Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. [US] “The Significance of the Doll

Test” (2019)https://www.naacpldf.org/ldf-celebrates-60th-anniversary-brown-v-board-

education/significance-doll-test/ accessed on 17/05/2019, 20:16

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In order to be able to write my final critical analysis paper, first of all, I had to find a

topic of my interests which is the impact of the Barbie doll on society in terms of racism and

body-image. After choosing my topic, I searched for relevant sources that can help me write

my first draft and also my final paper. When the first draft was done, I took into consideration

the constructive comments of the professor in order to improve my final paper. What I added

to Ann duCille article is a broader analysis of the impact of the Barbie doll, not only on race

marginalisation, but also on self-image. After I revised my first draft, I searched for the most

important parts in my essay and I developed them by inserting new comments or new

examples and also I have inserted another important fact which is the “doll test” part which

was not in the first draft.