Besides one British woman with a video about how to look "cute", you'll be bombarded with little girls who transform themselves into looking plastic - complete with colored contact lenses, false eyelashes and eyeliner - and they teach you step by step how to do it.
It's downright spooky! I don't know who is giving out colored contact lenses to 9 or 12 year old girls, but STOP! Both Barbie and Japanese anime are noted as influences of this makeup, and undoubtedly, these online tutorials are influencing more young girls to try to trend.
Some of these little girls with videos say "It's perfect for Halloween." Okay.
Venus Palermo (above) is ONE girl, who supposedly dresses in doll makeup all the time. You can see her in videos showing off multiple outfits, talking in a little girl's voice and typing things like "Hello my dolly molly inky pinky cotton candy clouds.” She's 15.
Then there's one girl in her 20's - Valeria Lukyanova. She's an internet sensation in Russia, and ABC News calls her A Real Life Barbie doll.
Now, now, Valeria won't admit to getting any surgery besides breast implants, and she COULD be dating Joe Photoshop Wizard, but she's some sort of sensation for her looks.....and her Barbie figure. A 16 inch waist? Did she have a rib removed? Maybe. Maybe not. Here's pics of her before and after transformation.
She certainly has the "plastic" look down and I'll say one other thing about her: She sure gives good "dead eyes."
So we mentioned the B word. BARBIE. How do you think Barbie influences us? Did "she" - AKA Mattel - create some sort of ridiculous and unreachable set of standards of beauty and body proportion?
Some girls with eating disorders and scorned moms are pointing the fingers at Barbie for influencing little girls to have perfect body measurements. They usually do this around National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.
Hooey.
I played with Barbie growing up, and turned out not to have an eating disorder. I have OTHER disorders....(totally unrelated)....just not an eating disorder. The worst thing Barbie did to me was expect that all men were supposed to look like Ken dolls.......they don't.
In the same vein of reasoning, if Barbie was "Big Barbie," would I have grown up wanting to put on more pounds in order to emulate my doll?
One student from Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon wanted to prove a point for National Eating Disorders Awareness week a few years back. She built a life-size version of Barbie to shock people into realizing how disproportionate her body measurements would be....that is, IF, Barbie were real. She made it out of wood, chicken wire and papier-mache to bring awareness to anorexia. Her Barbie was even on the Today Show.
The student's replica stands about 6 feet tall with a 39" bust, 18" waist and 33" hips.
How many women do you know that have these measurements - let alone women who are the age of Barbie? I don't know many women who are 6 feet tall, but I'm not running out for leg extensions anytime soon.
Others say a real life Barbie would be a little less tall and bustie if she were real: 5 feet, 9 inches, with measurements of 36-18-33. But get this: According to hospital research, if Barbie was real, she would lack the requisite 17 to 22 percent of body fat required to get a period (University Central Hospital in Helsinki, Finland).
I guess then she would be "Barren Barbie." Oh, so there won't be a Little Kennie, Junior in her future. It's okay, she's rich, right? I mean, she has mink coats and lives in a palace and drives a sports car, no? That's what I always wanted: her LIFESTYLE, not her waist. And she doesn't age. Why's that? BECAUSE SHE'S A DOLL.
I'm so glad that hospitals are getting involved in this critical research of what a doll would look like if she were real, instead of...I don't know.... trying to cure diseases or something. I can't wait for the specs and documentation to come out about the Tickle Me Elmo doll.
Wait, here's someone who is making sense: the makers of the doll:
“As a pop-cultural icon, Barbie is often used as art to express one’s own personal opinions and views,” a Mattel spokesperson said in an email (not to ME, but in response to the life-sized Barbie the college girl created for Anorexia Awareness.)
“Girls see female body images everywhere today and it’s critical that parents and caregivers provide perspective on what they are seeing. It’s important to remember that Barbie is a doll who stands 11.5 inches tall and weighs 7.25 ounces — she was never modeled on the proportions of a real person.”
Whew! Thanks for that info. PERSPECTIVE. Barbie isn't supposed to be a real person.
In an article called Internet Craze Sees Teenagers turn into Freakish Living Dolls, from DAILY MAIL ONLINE, one doctor, Dr. Gray from The British CBT & Counseling Service, warned that too much emphasis on physical appearance from an early age could have 'disastrous consequences', encouraging anxiety, depression and eating disorders later in life.
She told MailOnline: "At any age, placing too much value on physical appearance can be potentially detrimental to a person’s self esteem and sense of self worth."
That is so true. The student who made the life-size Barbie at one point had anorexia. She made life-sized Barbie to prove a point. She said: "I'm not blaming Barbie [for my illness] -- she's one small factor, an environmental factor," Slayen said. "I'm blond and blue-eyed and I figured that was what I was supposed to look like. She was my idol. It impacted the way I looked at myself."
Too much value on physical appearance. Yes, we HAVE to stop. There is nothing we are all "supposed" to look like. And yes, Los Angeles gets the gold medal for putting too much value on physical appearance. Just take a look at this REAL ad I found in the Los Angeles Craigslist job section:
Karaoke Club companies in Koreatown continue recruitment of friendly Hostesses/ entertainers with extra thin, fragile, emaciated, underweight fashion model appearance ( THIN arms and legs - NOT an athletic look) to socialize with and entertain professional / business clientele in a private club environment (this is NOT an escort service, not a massage parlor, not a strip club)
Monthly earnings $3000 - $4000 including tips (if working full-time-higher income is possible) ; some experience as an entertainer is a big plus, but not required. No sex, no dating with customers, no nudity, some alcohol. Regular Hours: 9pm - 2am.
AGE: 21-28 and FRAGILE (NOT ATHLETIC) appearance - APPROXIMATE height/weight ratio requirements (what extra thin means): for a height of 5'7" - 90-100lb, 5'8"- 110lb or less, 5'9" - 115lb or less and 5'10" - 120lb or less. If you dont exercise, don't have muscles and look naturally thin (not intentionally anorexic) - this is the right look.
Please email your resume (if any) and Full Length pictures. Successful candidates will be contacted over the phone for interviews.
One of my fave parts about this ad....is email your resume....IF ANY.
Betcha Barbie didn't have a resume.
Here's to "Keeping It Real"
~The Anti-Aging Analyst
