Barbie Dolls and Beauty Pageants

A lawmaker in West Virginia wants to outlaw Barbie because [she] promotes unrealistic beauty standards.

The bill was proposed Tuesday "to ban sales of the iconic Mattel doll and others like her."

I had a Barbie (and Ken) doll when I was little, and I don't recall thinking I was supposed to grow up to look like Barbie. I just knew she had pretty hair I could play with when I wasn't busy with my Matchbox cars.

Why put forth so much effort to ban a doll (a doll which, when combined with the proper - even regular - parenting and no imposed unrealistic beauty standards, is just a doll) instead of banning something like sexist ads or toddler beauty pageants?

Barbie, at least, has a job. Career Barbie has a laptop, desk, and briefcase. There's Doctor Barbie (granted, the only one I could find was a baby doctor, but that's a perfectly good profession - just a little obvious & maternal), Veterinarian Barbie, Pilot Barbie, Astronaut Barbie, and Army Barbie.


































I'm unsure, here, of Barbie's rank or MOS, but she's clearly deployed.