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Summary/Response to Article:

Barbie Doesn’t Live Here Anymore



The essay “Barbie Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” written by Mariflo Stephens, talks about her relationship with her daughter Jane, and her cognation with a slim, plastic doll named Barbie. Throughout this summary/response, I will talk about how Mariflo talks about her own experience she had as a child with her own Barbie doll. Many girls in society view this slim, plastic doll with flowing blonde hair as being the “perfect image”, when in fact it can only give some of them low self-esteem and a misconception that we all need to be slim.

Mariflo begins to start out about her own experience she had with Barbie when she was a young girl at the age of twelve. In 1962, she was given her first Barbie doll. She took off all her clothes and just looked at her body and how slender her body was. She began to put all her clothes back on, and had a lot of trouble because the clothes were so small and tight. Mariflo explained how Barbie looked like she was “poured into the outfit.” Ms. Stephens, talks about her best friend Jane and how they both would rather be playing outside then playing with a slim plastic doll all day.
As like Mariflo, Jane didn’t like to play with Barbie as well. They both told each other parents that they loved the doll and thought she was pretty. When in fact, they both lied to make their parents feel good about giving them the doll. When she was a pre-teen she was concerned about not having the perfect body like her Barbie doll did. This gave her great concern over her own body image as a child who was going to be a teenager in less than a year. Ms. Stephens thought that the boys would look at her and not see a flawless body. She had told herself that when she became a mother herself she would not let her daughters have a Barbie doll.

I would like to mention that I enjoyed reading this essay, and how I agree with Marifo Stephens. Barbie does give the wrong impression on young girls and how their body image should look in society. Every girl, no matter what her body size or shape is, should be proud of who she is and what she stands for.

In conclusion, I would like to comment that Barbie is a plastic toy and is just an unrealistic plaything. I truly believe that parents need to look at their own parenting skills on how they want to instill a good body image in their own daughters.