On body image

I replied to a post about Barbie tonight. It was a post of a woman who supposedly was a model in a former life and is now a mother who blogs about body image. She was surprisingly not against girls playing with dolls like Barbie and Bratz. I am. Here was my reply:

“I am going to have to disagree with you and your readers who think Barbie is OK. I am a mom to a 4 1/2 year old and a 14 month old. Both daughters. I forbid barbies in our home. YOU are the parent and the child will get over it. My daughters play with cloth dolls and those neat Groovy Girls dolls if someone buys a doll for them. Barbie does aid in perpetuating beauty myths. I speak as a woman who has battled over and again with anorexia. I still battle with whether or not to eat each day, but being a mother and wanting to set the BEST example I can for my children, I do what I can to make sure I eat, my husband keeps me accountable, and we do not allow things in our home which will aid in giving our children a negative body image. Grandparents all know not to purchase Barbies for our girls, she is a doll, not a role model and even the Brats, while I have heard their cartoon show (we don’t watch tv) sends a decent moral message, the image does not sned a healthy or positive one. Moreso, with Brats, than Barbie, we are teaching young girls that it is okay to dress like hookers at 11 and 12 years old. I am not a prude by any stretch, nor am I some religious fundie, I am as left as they come, but this is something that is going to affect the daughters of the world for the rest of their lives. So what if your daughter gets pissed because you won’t buy her a Barbie, YOU ARE THE GROWN UP (and I speak you, abiguously, ANYONE who lets the child be the decision maker.) YOU get to make the rules and the decisions about what your children are and are not allowed to be witness to. That doesn’t mean we need to sugar coat things to constantly protect children from the world, but we do have to make sure they know, this is wrong and why this is wrong. Please don’t think I am judging you, ebcause I only stumbled on your blog tonight, but I honestly think (and this is something about myself as well) the reason a Barbie may appeal to a 27 (me) year old or a 37 year old or a 47 year old mother owuld be because she STILL hopes to see herself that thin, still hopes to get that control that seems to always slip through her hands, even still, even after we think we have fought, battled and conquered our ED demons.”

For those not hip with the lingo, ED is NOT Erectile Dysfunction. It is Eating Disorder.

Pretty sure I pissed someone off.