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Shortly after Barbie made her debut Mattel introduced Ken, her boyfriend. They have never been married nor have any kids, therefore knowing that Ken was created to accompany Barbie and make her more interesting it is only fair to believe that little girls will be playing house with the two. Which can and most likely lead to making them kiss or hug. When you are a little girl or boy you’re naturally curious and want to explore the forbidden and mysterious thoughts of sex. Kids are going to create scenarios with Ken and Barbie together kissing or making love because they want to. With that being said, it is only fair for some parents to be apprehensive to indulge their child in a Barbie so she or he can fulfill his or her desires of roll play. The conservative Christians may also not want to promote inappropriateness and sex, which could give their child the wrong idea of sex before marriage. With Barbie dressing suggestively with an assertive attitude she already promotes a pushy sexual woman giving girls the impression that you need to be aggressive, assertive and sexy to be successful and famous. It all ties into when parents would leave their daughter alone in the room and she would start acting out dating scenes with Ken which could lead to more. Barbie and her hyper sexualized lifestyle and characteristics are what sets her apart from the toys of today. Conservative Christians may think twice before they buy their daughter a Barbie, or they may set an age limit before they consider buying her one. All girls want to experiment, causing them to grow up faster than they should and having “Child sexual fantasies about Barbie and Ken” (Rand 1995). She is a doll with adult assets, she has fully developed breasts and a supermodel body, little girls are not even developed yet nor do they have much knowledge on the female anatomy at this age. Girls are going to want to grow up faster than they should and conservative Christian parents would disapprove with Barbie promoting an overly sexual lifestyle. “She is distorting reality for children” says Chapman. In fact early adolescents view Barbie as “the image of perfection, perhaps too perfect,” says Tara L Kuther who wrote Early Adolescents’ Experiences with, and views of, Barbie. While “Mothers thought Barbie was too much of a “sexpot” for children” (Rand 1995), it turned out, they even “hated the doll. Mattel has had to overcome  the reluctance of Mother’s who have considered Barbie an inappropriate toy for their daughters, either because of her advanced “age” and sexual suggestiveness or because of her bimboesque qualities” (Rand 1995). Her body image is deemed as inappropriate giving off bad stereotypes to girls on how they should look, dress and act.  “Mattel’s line of Barbie underthings, which features do-me outfits instead of white cotton briefs” (Rand 1995) caused an uproar with parents. Toy stores even pulled Barbie’s pregnant friend off the shelves (featuring a belly from which a curled-up baby popped out) because of the high volume of customer complaints” (Champan 2014). “According to the Christian worldview, beauty and truth and goodness are identical. A lie cannot be beautiful and the truth is never ugly, Barbie’s total presentation represents a lie about feminine beauty, suggesting in not-too-subtle ways that external attractiveness (even artificial attractiveness) is the foundation of true beauty. But according to the biblical worldview genuine beauty is found within in the being and characteristics of a person- not in their external appearance” (Mohler 2015). 

Barbie through the years 

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