Staff Writer
For years, the Barbie doll has been a favorite toy of young girls everywhere. However, many people argue that she isn’t a good role model for children. In fact, the Barbie doll has created a stereotype for how girls think they should look: stick thin, beautiful, and practically perfect. In reality, the “perfect” body that Barbie has actually proven to be physically impossible and absolutely unrealistic. Studies have shown that if Barbie were a real person, her waist would actually be 19 inches less than the average woman and she would be unable to walk or function normally due to her abnormal children’s size 3 feet and 6 inch ankles. The materialistic Barbie doll has created quite the controversy due to the impossible beauty standards she has set for young girls. Luckily, a new, more realistic doll is currently under development.
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| Barbie and Lammily dolls |
Artist
and researcher Nikolay Lamm is bringing the idea of a realistic doll to life with
the support of crowd funding. After creating an image of what Barbie would look
like with normal proportions, he received many requests to make the real thing;
thus, the new doll was created. He calls it Lammily, an everyday girl with
average body proportions and purely natural beauty. The doll was modeled by incorporating
the proportions of the average 19-year-old American woman. Lamm says, “Rather
than criticizing her [Barbie], we should make a proof of concept to show that a
doll can actually look good if she were a normal woman.” In just one day, Lamm
raised the needed $95,000 to create a first run of the Lammily doll. The
first-edition doll will be offered in several versions, each in different outfits,
and is said to hit stores in November of this year. Lamm advertises the doll
with the tagline, “Average is beautiful,” hoping to please many parents and
their young daughters.
