Life in Plastic
Barbie and the Conservative Christian Community
Barbie does not dress with class to put it nicely. Her style is the latest fashion as a young, hot, super model. Her clothing does not set a good example to young girls regarding body image. “Through Barbie, little girls could be anything they want to be” (Barbie History 2015), even going so far as to wanting to dress and act like Barbie herself. When seeing Barbie in her skimpy outfits and her perfectly toned tight body, they might get ideas in their head to look and dress the same and in some instances to be successful and famous, or to even land a job or to attract a boy. Conservative Christians and early Christians wore modestly dressed clothing. Barbie leaves nothing to the imagination; “Christian woman are required to dress modestly” (Linda 2015). Conservative Christian parents may not accept Barbie in the household because they do not want their child being exposed to inappropriate toys. Barbie is a doll for a little girl to enjoy playing house and dress up with, although she has adult body parts, little girls are going to want to imitate her. It is only natural to think that way and its common sense to assume that a Christian mother of a conservative community would be hesitant to let their young girl play with Barbie, thinking she will get distorted ideas about what’s appropriate and what’s not.
A lot of Barbie’s clothes are sold separately. If a conservative Christian mother does not approve of the clothing Barbie wears, she will not be inclined to buy the doll. Little girls are able to portray their personality and imagination through Barbie; but how can a conservative Christian let their daughter do that without buying the revealing clothing for the doll? It is far easier to not buy Barbie at all. “Fundamentally dress codes are less about clothing than about the control of the body by the more powerful church members who enforce their groups” (Lockyer 1986). If you were to take this quote in a different aspect, the more powerful church members are the parents and they are trying to enforce a proper dress code on their daughter so she grows up respecting her body and Barbie does not promote this. Back in 2002 stores were forced to take lingerie Barbie off the shelves from the numerous customer complaints (chapman 2014), She is not a good role model for little girls when it comes to dressing appropriately and Barbie flaunting her perfectly proportioned body may give girls the wrong impression.
