The “new and improved” Barbie dolls have made their way into the spotlight. The dolls are no longer all tall and skinny, they have three different body types: tall, curvy and petite.

According to Time Magazine, Barbie has received years of criticism for promoting impossible body standards and now the Mattel brand dolls “better reflect 21st century America.”

Initially after first hearing this, I thought this was a great idea; I thought the dolls would promote that beauty comes in different shapes and sizes. However, I didn’t realize the complications that came with it.

Imagine your 8-year-old self playing with the a brand-new Barbie. Your friend has the petite one, and you have the curvy one. You see the differences between the two dolls and realize the petite doll looks better in the mini skirt. Now you want to play with the petite doll and not the curvy doll. This is how little girls start thinking about body image and feel that they, or their doll, would look better if they were skinnier.

Related Stories

All you need to know about gender-neutral bathrooms

What Teachers Make

Student privilege to eat off-campus lunch

Over the past 10 years, Barbie has been harshly criticized for encouraging impossible body standards. Daily Mail published an article that illustrates what Barbie would look like if she was real. Her body would be dangerously disproportionate. For example, the article explains, “Her 16-inch waist would also be four inches thinner than her head, leaving room for only half a liver and a few inches of intestine.”

But the thing is: Barbie is not real. From what I remember, I don’t recall feeling self-conscious as a little girl because of the way my doll looked compared to my own body. Furthermore, because all of the dolls were built the same, there was no sense of competition or jealousy about who had the skinniest doll. Although there are several cartoons who have disproportionately slender waists – such as Kim Possible or Scooby Doo – they are cartoon characters, meaning they are not designed to be realistic, and thus are not promoting that their audience should look like them.

It’s still debatable that the new dolls will affect children in a positive way by teaching them the beauty of different body types, and so I still question for whom this change was intended. Like I said before, Barbie has gotten a lot of negative feedback for making their dolls too thin, and their biggest critics were adults. But when the diverse Barbies made their public display in Time, with the headline, “Now can we stop talking about my body?” it became clear that this wasn’t for the children.

Whether or not the change was intended for children or adults, the original intent of the revamp was good. However, Barbie’s target audience is too young to understand this issue and will cause them to be predisposed to thinking about body image in a negative way before they even understand the concept of body image.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Parkway School District.