The Barbie Doll Image

　
Eilene Zimmer’s well-versed article in Psychology Today, “Teen Angst Turns Deadly ,” informed readers about the pressures teenage girls go through every day and how suicide rates are increasing among young girls. Whether it’s in glossy magazines, on TV or even in toys, like Barbie Dolls. Skinny, beautiful women are everywhere. Zimmer’s research shows that in 2004 suicide rates rose 76 percent among girls ranging from 10 to 14 years old. The suicide rates for girls 15 to 18 have even been raised more than 30 percent! Physiologist, Alan Berman, believes this trend may just be a, “random fluctuation.” I disagree with this because from a very young age, girls are pressured to look like the perfect, skinny, Barbie Doll. Real women don’t look tike this, with perfect smiles, bodies and hair. Young girls see these dolls and want to grow up to look exactly like them. This reminds me of the movie 13 going on 30. In the movie, a magazeine company wants a new look, and one girl tries to make a diffrence. This character uses real women and creates the magazine to look like a high school yearbook. This is really inspiring and it shows how much people perfer real people with real lives, than fake, plastic women. I believe we should use real women to show off America. Magazines should show real people, and Barbie dolls should be made with hips and curves like real women.

This article also mentions how technology my play a role on the pressures of girls. Texting, facebook, and e-mail can instantly spread gossip that can break confidence in a girl. I have been told that when a girl has confidence, it is one of the best virtues she can have. I now understand that confidence is quite hard to find among American girls. How can adults, the media and parents show girls that it is ok to be curvy? How can we boost confidence? I also wonder if other countries have problums with their teenage girls?

This article also reminds me of the music video, More Beautiful You by Jonny Diaz. Even though the video is cheezy, the message of this song is so great and positive. Diaz’s video tells girls that they are beautiful the way they were made, and one day a man will come along and love them exactly the way they are. We need to drop the Barbie Doll image and show girls how beautiful they are inside and out.