Is Barbie getting what she deserves?

[minx]

 

uh oh Barbie

 

Researchers Find Barbie Is Often Mutilated By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer

Mon Dec 19, 6:02 PM ET

 

 

 

LONDON - Barbie, beware. The iconic plastic doll is often mutilated at the hands of young girls, according to research published Monday by British academics.

 

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"The girls we spoke to see Barbie torture as a legitimate play activity, and see the torture as a 'cool' activity," said Agnes Nairn, one of the University of Bath researchers. "The types of mutilation are varied and creative, and range from removing the hair to decapitation, burning, breaking and even microwaving."

 

Researchers from the university's marketing and psychology departments questioned 100 children about their attitudes to a range of products as part of a study on branding. They found Barbie provoked the strongest reaction, with youngsters reporting "rejection, hatred and violence," Nairn said.

 

"The meaning of 'Barbie' went beyond an expressed antipathy; actual physical violence and torture towards the doll was repeatedly reported, quite gleefully, across age, school and gender," she said.

 

While boys often expressed nostalgia and affection toward Action Man — the British equivalent of GI Joe — renouncing Barbie appeared to be a rite of passage for many girls, Nairn said.

 

"The most readily expressed reason for rejecting Barbie was that she was babyish, and girls saw her as representing their younger childhood out of which they felt they had now grown," she said.

 

Nairn said many girls saw Barbie as an inanimate object rather than a treasured toy.

 

"Whilst for an adult the delight the child felt in breaking, mutilating and torturing their dolls is deeply disturbing, from the child's point of view they were simply being imaginative in disposing of an excessive commodity in the same way as one might crush cans for recycling," she said.

 

Manufacturer Mattel, which sells 94 million Barbies a year worldwide, said the doll remained the "No. 1 fashion doll brand."

 

Mattel U.K. said that despite the findings of "this very small group of children, we know that there are millions of girls in the U.K. and across the world that love and enjoy playing with Barbie and will continue to do so in the future."

[roboboy]

creepy

[Dru]

Researchers Find Barbie Is Often Mutilated By JILL LAWLESS

 

This Jill sounds like a psychopath!

[EWolfe]

In a word, Yes.

[roboboy]

women under x ? - don't event think about it

[Gary_Yngve]

I heard Dick Cheney tortures and mutilates Barbies too.

[Dru]

Gary needs a TA doll to nibble and bite. Cause Barbie thinks math is hard.

[minx]

creepy

 

 

perhaps...i confess to disfiguring more than one Barbie

[sobo]

On a tangential note, one thing we found disturbing in China during our recent trip to adopt our baby daughter, was that at the White Swan Hotel in Gwangzhou, our final stop before departure for the States, the hotel staff gives you a Barbie doll (Caucasian, and complete with long legs and high fashion skirt/clothing) holding a baby daughter (Chinese, yellow skin, black hair), complete in a sealed case suitable for display. Like it was some kind of fad or something to adopt Chinese kids. It was creepy...

[roboboy]

All I ever did was dismember a toy monkey when I was 8 years old. I would never harm anything remotely human.

[Dru]

Like it was some kind of fad or something to adopt Chinese kids. It was creepy...

 

I have news for you - it IS. I thought you knew?

[sobo]

I find that comment disingenuous, even for you, Drew.

 

American families have been adopting Chinese babies for well over a decade. By definition, that's no longer a fad or a craze.

 

Grow up.

[Dru]

All I'm saying is that every single couple that I know of that has adopted kids in the last 5 years has gone to China. If that isn't a fad, what is it?

[specialed]

I bet G.I Joe could kick Action Man's ass. Action Man sounds like a fag.

[TREETOAD]

I have never done this until tonight when I get home.

[sobo]

All I'm saying is that every single couple that I know of that has adopted kids in the last 5 years has gone to China. If that isn't a fad, what is it?

 

It beats the alternative of adopting kids Stateside, where our legal system allows you to raise what should be considered as YOUR KID until his/her late teens, then the biological parents (read: loozerz) show up to "claim their prize" and take your kid away from you. THAT'S WHY so many people adopt internationally, because THAT WON'T HAPPEN.

 

If you care to recall, our son was adopted from Viet Nam. Is that a fad now, too, by your definition? What about Guatemala? India? Ukraine? Are those locations not "fad-ish" enough to be deemed trendy by you? Are you now the arbiter of all that is haute couture? Hmm?

 

I guess I should just chalk it up to being back home at cc.com

[Dru]

5 years ago everyone wanted a Romanian orphan.

But since Romania got out from under Ceaucescu and re-legalized abortion and birth control, the supply of Romanian orphans has dried up.

 

One adoptive mom in Canada told me that "In North America, the children available for adoption will all have fetal alcohol syndrome or other developmental abnormalities because they come from mothers who were too drunk or stoned to take birth control or have an abortion". I don't know if that is true or not but that was the argument she made for going overseas - a child with fewer problems.

[TREETOAD]

And would also be good at math..

[Dru]

And would also be good at math..

 

I don't think Gary can adopt until he hooks up with the girl who knows ALMOST as much about math as he does

[chelle]

All I ever did was dismember a toy monkey when I was 8 years old. I would never harm anything remotely human.

 

My brother and I used to crush his army men in our dad's vice. The little checker patern it left on their flat heads was kinda interesting.

[sobo]

One adoptive mom in Canada told me that "In North America, the children available for adoption will all have fetal alcohol syndrome or other developmental abnormalities because they come from mothers who were too drunk or stoned to take birth control or have an abortion". I don't know if that is true or not but that was the argument she made for going overseas - a child with fewer problems.

 

That is well-documented, and the same can be said of Eastern European (Ukrainian orphans tend to have a high incidence of FAS) babies. But does that make it a fad?

 

South American orphans tend to have a high incidence of drug dependency due to their (typically) agrarian mothers chewing coca leaves. So is that why it's not a fad (as determined by you) to adopt SA babies? Well, I have news for you...

 

It is currently a relatively straightforward and highly structured process to adopt a kid from China. Americans like things with no surprises and all the particulars spelled out. That's why so many American couples (and singles, too) look to China for international adoptions.

 

Oh, and could it also be that there appears to be a never ending supply of babies there needing a home and parents to love them? But it couldn't be that, could it?

[archenemy]

I scraped my Barbie's tits off on a brick walkway.

I hated her and I was jealous of her.

I think I still am.

[Cobra_Commander]

she's hot, quiet, and low maintenance. not much more you could ask for really.

[kix]

clearly.

[Dru]

sobo, you seem kinda defensive to the point where you are deliberately misinterpreting me?

 

I don't know about the US but there is apparently a fad here for adopting kids from China, like there was for Romania a couple years ago. Seems like the hotel you stayed at even picked up on it. I am not claiming you are part of this fad OK? I'm talking about wealthy yuppies up here not poor ol' normal folks from eastern WA adopting a kid from Vietnam.