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View Full Version : Do you still like Barbie?



misspurdy06
March 19th, 2012, 06:05 PM
One of my favorite pass times as a child was playing with Barbie. I would play with her hair. Sometimes cut it and regret it. LOL. My sister would neglect hers and I would rescue them and brush their hair and put them back. I think she thought they took care of themselves. Any who.....

I don't have any Barbies now, but I do have 10 or 11 Barbie movies.

(I want more)

I still watch them and fawn over her hair and strive to have similar "Barbie hair" or my own version of it.

I was just wondering if anyone else still likes Barbie.

kitcatsmeow
March 19th, 2012, 06:08 PM
I do. My last avatar was a tattooed Barbie with pastel hair. heh. My mom created an entire Barbie playroom for my sisters and I when we were little. We had a whole little town. That's all we did. How could I not still love her??

Tia2010
March 19th, 2012, 06:22 PM
I had tons of Barbie things but never played with them .. Well thats a lie, I did play with them but it was only tape fire crackers to them and see how many it took to destroy them.:p

My mom only bought them because I was a girl and she thought she should, but I had two older brothers so I was a tomboy when I was little.

kme81
March 19th, 2012, 06:26 PM
My "hair idol" is actually a Barbie!
Here is a pic:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j388/kme81/mycamera015-1-1.jpg

aldasbeke
March 19th, 2012, 06:29 PM
I played with Barbie til I was 16 and then I stopped only because my sister who was 11 had "outgrown" Barbie. But I remember creating my own little Barbie worlds made up of things like shelves as multi-story mansions, VHS tapes as beds and upside down candle dishes as tables!

swearnsue
March 19th, 2012, 06:31 PM
I had tons of Barbie things but never played with them .. Well thats a lie, I did play with them but it was only tape fire crackers to them and see how many it took to destroy them.:p

My mom only bought them because I was a girl and she thought she should, but I had two older brothers so I was a tomboy when I was little.

ROFL! Had to read that one to hubby! Poor Barbie!

ratgirldjh
March 19th, 2012, 06:32 PM
I played with Barbie til I was around 14 or so. We also collected plastic horses and our Barbies would ride the horses and we would make like little landscapes outdoors with little ponds, clumps of grass, etc.

Ligeia_13
March 19th, 2012, 06:35 PM
I used to play with Barbies. I often wonder what exactly I used to do with them all day :p

Dorothy
March 19th, 2012, 06:37 PM
I was not allowed to as a child because it was sexist, but now I have a whole shelf of Barbies and furniture having a lesbian cocktail party. I like the homemade clothes best, I'm always looking for those. They have wonderful hair.

Miss Catrina
March 19th, 2012, 07:19 PM
I was never allowed to have Barbies because my mother was convinced they'd poison my mind with a ridiculous standard of beauty and give me bad self-esteem or something. :rolleyes: I've never really gotten over it.

So you best believe when and if I have a daughter, she'll be drowning in Barbies, and I'll be right there with her. :cheese:

Avital88
March 19th, 2012, 07:31 PM
i have to say i really dont like barbie...my daughter does and i used to do too but i dont know what happend,i just dont like the whole perfection thing that little girls are thrown dead with

Bedhead
March 19th, 2012, 07:37 PM
I didn't have any Barbies, and didn't miss them - I had dirt. :D

My friends had Barbies, one even had the RV? /bus? I never understood why their feet were like that. I couldn't figure out how they could walk bare foot when they're on their toes all the time. I also remember changing them and brushing their hair, and thinking I really wanted to just go outside and play... without the Barbies.

misspurdy06
March 19th, 2012, 08:01 PM
I never thought of Barbie as a standard of beauty to live up to.

I just thought she was pretty and my friend. I did love her hair and want to have her hair but that it.

I think a lot of hype over Barbie perfection and kids hurting themselves to be like her is adults projecting their own insecurities on them.

Just my opinion. I'm probably wrong. lol Thats just how I see it.

lostchyld
March 19th, 2012, 08:09 PM
I didn't ever really like Barbie for Barbie's sake or in a girly sense. I much preferred playing war with my siblings using our dress up clothes that consisted of Mom's castoff formal dresses and old makeup for camouflage. Barbie makes a great air strike missile, in case anyone is interested. My Barbies tended to lose heads, get chewed on by the dog and the baby sister, get haircuts from Bro and middle sister, and get thrown off the balcony with shopping bags as parachutes in addition to being used as wmds in our games.

I'm still not inherently a pacifist, but I don't bomb people with Barbies anymore. Well, I don't bomb people at all, unless dropping candy off on coworker's desks counts as bombing.

misspurdy06
March 19th, 2012, 08:12 PM
Well, I don't bomb people at all, unless dropping candy off on coworker's desks counts as bombing.

Yes it does. LOL.

PixxieStix
March 19th, 2012, 08:12 PM
I liked the old school Barbie with her impossible figure and clothes, the new ones? Not so much. The entire point of Barbie was that she wasn't real, so her body type didn't have to be either, and honestly, I think the "new" style Barbies are kinda ugly. :p That's just me though. I also like Cabbage Patch dolls, because no real person looked like them either! Either way, I wasn't too hung up on dolls, I had dirt mounds, pocket knives, home made bows and arrows, and a dad who would take me to the rifle range nearly every time I asked. :)

misspurdy06
March 19th, 2012, 08:14 PM
I liked the old school Barbie with her impossible figure and clothes, the new ones? Not so much. The entire point of Barbie was that she wasn't real, so her body type didn't have to be either, and honestly, I think the "new" style Barbies are kinda ugly. :p That's just me though. I also like Cabbage Patch dolls, because no real person looked like them either! Either way, I wasn't too hung up on dolls, I had dirt mounds, pocket knives, home made bows and arrows, and a dad who would take me to the rifle range nearly every time I asked. :)
I used to make bows and arrows too! They didn't work well but it was still fun.

lostchyld
March 19th, 2012, 08:16 PM
Yes it does. LOL.

Ok, then, I do still bomb people, but only with junk food. Seriously, one of my coworkers is such an easy mark that if I have a bag of candy, I put it on his desk, because the half-hearted glare he gives me while he eats the whole thing is just too funny.

Nedertane
March 19th, 2012, 08:21 PM
I'm pretty "meh" about Barbie. When I was little, I did some pretend scenarios, some the usual, and some weird, hehe. I got into quite a phase with the dolls in our house in general where I'd color over them, giving them tattoos, new makeup and such. I have the clearest, fondest memory of taking a pen to a baby doll and turning it into a werewolf baby :D (yeah, even then, I was creepy lol).

Nowadays, I have to wonder why some of the issues are what they are with Barbie and other kids' toys. True, yeah, little girls may very well feel "boxed in" in that they only get to play with pink tiaras and such, where boys get dinosaurs and soldiers (I think I did, come to think of it). But I don't know about the whole "Barbie imposes an impossible beauty standard on young girls". At least from what I remember (and yeah, I know how faulty it is to rely on a memory from well over 10 years ago), I didn't think Barbie looked the way I or anyone else "should" look like. To me, it just kinda looked like a pretty lady in her 20s, or maybe teens (lol, which still seemed pretty old to me at the time) and that's all. Same with the Disney princesses. I might've said something like "I wanna be pretty like a princes, but I don't think I ever expressed a need to look JUST like them. Heh, but maybe I'm wrong and was brainwashed...

WOW. Sorry for the novel!

lostchyld
March 19th, 2012, 08:26 PM
I'm pretty "meh" about Barbie. When I was little, I did some pretend scenarios, some the usual, and some weird, hehe. I got into quite a phase with the dolls in our house in general where I'd color over them, giving them tattoos, new makeup and such. I have the clearest, fondest memory of taking a pen to a baby doll and turning it into a werewolf baby :D (yeah, even then, I was creepy lol).

Nowadays, I have to wonder why some of the issues are what they are with Barbie and other kids' toys. True, yeah, little girls may very well feel "boxed in" in that they only get to play with pink tiaras and such, where boys get dinosaurs and soldiers (I think I did, come to think of it). But I don't know about the whole "Barbie imposes an impossible beauty standard on young girls". At least from what I remember (and yeah, I know how faulty it is to rely on a memory from well over 10 years ago), I didn't think Barbie looked the way I or anyone else "should" look like. To me, it just kinda looked like a pretty lady in her 20s, or maybe teens (lol, which still seemed pretty old to me at the time) and that's all. Same with the Disney princesses. I might've said something like "I wanna be pretty like a princes, but I don't think I ever expressed a need to look JUST like them. Heh, but maybe I'm wrong and was brainwashed...

WOW. Sorry for the novel!

Ok, love the werewolf baby and wish I had thought of that.

I agree about the pretty like a princess thing. I wanted to look like me and be pretty like a princess, because, naturally in my mind, one had to be a princess to be pretty. lol. I never wanted to be pretty like Barbie though.

ETA: I'd add that the biggest scars to my self image have come directly from my well-meaning mother and sisters who, as I got older, started encouraging me to wear makeup and "do something" with my hair. I wear pants most of the time now because Mom somehow managed to get it into my subconscious that my long skirts were something undesirable the fact that I seem to attract more of the right kind of men and jobs while wearing them notwithstanding. My hair issues are from my inability to ever use anything hot on my hair with any success. Anyone else can do it, but I just don't have the patience to practice and it never felt important to me. Mom and sisters never approved of the fact that I'm perfectly ok leaving home with wet hair. No one else has ever commented on it, with the exception of occasional ribbing from friends about the drowned rat look, but they never said it in a judgmental way. I've never had a friend or stranger imply that anything was wrong with how I look, all that input came from my immediate family. That said, I don't think they meant to imply that there was anything wrong with how I look, just that it didn't fit with what they saw as societies standards. (And that their own self-image was feeling damaged by the fact that I preferred to stay outside the social standards)

Carolyn
March 19th, 2012, 08:33 PM
I adore Barbie. Mine was the original Barbie with the blonde ponytail. I was 10 when I got her and played with her until the summer before 9th grade. She was well loved. I did a lot of sewing and knitting for her and still have a lot of the clothes. I am hoping for a Barbie loving granddaughter so I can spoil her with everything Barbie.

Hollyfire3
March 19th, 2012, 08:42 PM
I never played with barbies, only the animals that came WITH the barbies, i thought of this upon reading this thread Holly Marie Combs once said this (yes, i googled the interview for the quote, lol!) "What if she asked for a Barbie? I would have been like, 'Honey, we don't support Barbie because she isn't an accurate depiction of a woman's body."
I only quote it because i do agree with it, although i do enjoy hearing so many people like them, they just were never my favorite things, i prefered toy cats and dogs and other animals...no wonder i'm so obsessed with Cats today....:D

misspurdy06
March 19th, 2012, 08:48 PM
I never played with barbies, only the animals that came WITH the barbies, i thought of this upon reading this thread Holly Marie Combs once said this (yes, i googled the interview for the quote, lol!) "What if she asked for a Barbie? I would have been like, 'Honey, we don't support Barbie because she isn't an accurate depiction of a woman's body."
I only quote it because i do agree with it, although i do enjoy hearing so many people like them, they just were never my favorite things, i prefered toy cats and dogs and other animals...no wonder i'm so obsessed with Cats today....:D
I love Holly Marie Combs! She is one of my hair Idols.

Hollyfire3
March 19th, 2012, 08:56 PM
I love Holly Marie Combs! She is one of my hair Idols.


Really? She IS my idol! Hair included! Now, i ask this to all people who say she is there hair idol, please completly hair type her for me, i like guessing, and i like hearing others guesses! Its fun! Lol:) sorry to highjack.....but i wanna know what you thinK!

lilydes
March 19th, 2012, 08:59 PM
I collect Barbies! I'm working on villains right now, I want every villain Barbie ever made.

Anje
March 19th, 2012, 09:03 PM
"Still" seems to presuppose that I ever liked Barbie. Can't say I was ever particularly interested, though the My Little Ponies got their share of play. In general, I think I was allergic to pink as a child, and haven't recovered yet.

misspurdy06
March 19th, 2012, 09:05 PM
Really? She IS my idol! Hair included! Now, i ask this to all people who say she is there hair idol, please completly hair type her for me, i like guessing, and i like hearing others guesses! Its fun! Lol:) sorry to highjack.....but i wanna know what you thinK!
I think about 1b, naturally medium to dark brown.

Nedertane
March 19th, 2012, 09:14 PM
I only quote it because i do agree with it, although i do enjoy hearing so many people like them, they just were never my favorite things, i prefered toy cats and dogs and other animals...no wonder i'm so obsessed with Cats today....:D

Hehe same here. I loved animals myself (and still do!), but in addition to dinosaurs, dragons and other scary things. What I often say to people is: "I'm the same person I was when I was 7. I hated talking to people, but I loved the s**t out of drawing dragons and monsters." :D

Hollyfire3
March 19th, 2012, 09:20 PM
I think about 1b, naturally medium to dark brown.


What about strand and thickness? just curious...i think her hair is probably wavy, but i'm biased because mine is, so of course i want hers to be, and her natural color, i say light brown, btu we will NEVER know...lol

Hollyfire3
March 19th, 2012, 09:22 PM
Hehe same here. I loved animals myself (and still do!), but in addition to dinosaurs, dragons and other scary things. What I often say to people is: "I'm the same person I was when I was 7. I hated talking to people, but I loved the s**t out of drawing dragons and monsters." :D


My best friend is like that! We BOTH love animals, and she got me into dragons and scary stuff! She used to make up stories and talk about them ALL the time when younger, she IS the same person today, lol, SO true, i think this often too about myself! So, are you SURE your name ISN'T Juliana? (my bff;s name):D

lostchyld
March 19th, 2012, 09:24 PM
Hehe same here. I loved animals myself (and still do!), but in addition to dinosaurs, dragons and other scary things. What I often say to people is: "I'm the same person I was when I was 7. I hated talking to people, but I loved the s**t out of drawing dragons and monsters." :D

I think I love you. I used to pretend I was a dragon, and this was in high school. Some of my friends even call me "little dragon".

sfgirl
March 19th, 2012, 09:27 PM
Barbies were the only kind of dolls I had. I hated baby dolls. I just hated babies when I was little, with a passion (that has died down, but I'm still child free).
I don't think barbies affected my ideals of beauty that much. I still think hourglass shapes with long blonde hair and tans are attractive. But I've always known there was different kind of beauty (I LOVED Princess Jasmine when I was little, and I read everything I could on India also).
I have disney Princess hair idols, so why can't you have barbie hair idols?
Also, I am loving Monster high right now. I want to buy them all!

filthygorgeous
March 19th, 2012, 09:34 PM
yes. she was my icon growing up. to this day i credit her as my first fashion icon. i was obsessed and my Barbies and their world were my everything growing up. funny now i look like a barbie doll and yes, i strive for Barbie hair ...flawless, shiny and long.

Nedertane
March 19th, 2012, 09:37 PM
I think I love you. I used to pretend I was a dragon, and this was in high school. Some of my friends even call me "little dragon".

In the words of Veruca Salt and Violet Beauregard:
"Let's be friends."
"BEST friends."

:D

Nedertane
March 19th, 2012, 09:38 PM
My best friend is like that! We BOTH love animals, and she got me into dragons and scary stuff! She used to make up stories and talk about them ALL the time when younger, she IS the same person today, lol, SO true, i think this often too about myself! So, are you SURE your name ISN'T Juliana? (my bff;s name):D

Hahaha, no, but my real name DOES begin with a "J"! :p

lostchyld
March 19th, 2012, 09:41 PM
In the words of Veruca Salt and Violet Beauregard:
"Let's be friends."
"BEST friends."

:D

:puppykisses: Sounds good to me.

Hollyfire3
March 19th, 2012, 09:48 PM
Hahaha, no, but my real name DOES begin with a "J"! :p

WOW, that is SO funny!:D I guess people who's names start with that letter are better, naturallly, oh and P's (p for Piper) that is awsome too! my name bgins with a J also!

lostchyld
March 19th, 2012, 09:51 PM
WOW, that is SO funny!:D I guess people who's names start with that letter are better, naturallly, oh and P's (p for Piper) that is awsome too! my name bgins with a J also!

My last name starts with a P. Yay, I'm awesome. :cheese:

Hollyfire3
March 19th, 2012, 09:53 PM
My last name starts with a P. Yay, I'm awesome. :cheese:

yes you are!:cheese: yeah! my first dancing chees i haev posted! its about time....what IS the story behind that cheese?

MagicAndMayhem
March 19th, 2012, 10:00 PM
Oh man, I had so many Barbies. My sister and I would create all these different scenarios with them, from the Ken dolls that dressed up like women to sneak into the girls' locker room to Skipper who had to have her stomach pumped because she had too many mushrooms....this was when we were 8 or 9 :p

Hollyfire3
March 19th, 2012, 10:05 PM
I think I love you. I used to pretend I was a dragon, and this was in high school. Some of my friends even call me "little dragon".


My best friend also used to pretend to be a dragon, she is amazing, really, i think it is funny you did the same thing!

Carrie Ingalls
March 19th, 2012, 10:17 PM
I never had any Barbies growing up (or now, though I do have the disney mini rapunzel doll), I never wanted one or felt I was missing out. I remember one time babysitting with I cousin of mine and the little girl we were taking care of wanted to "play Barbies" I gave it my best but really couldn't see the point. I guess I just liked playing outside and with my brothers more, I really didn't have much "girly" (with the exception of Sunday dresses) stuff growing up and most of what I did have was hand-me-downs. We liked to play imaginary games with those rubber animals, they took to the mud, dirt, and gravel better that a Barbie would have. When we were a little older we started building rather sizable collections of Playmobil.

aldasbeke
March 19th, 2012, 10:18 PM
I never understood the whole body-image issue thing with Barbie. I mean, it always seemed apparent to me that she was just a doll and not supposed to represent real women. In fact, her proportions are kind of absurd anyway. I remember in second grade I had a conversation with one of my friends and we were wondering why Barbie's legs were so ridiculously long and her feet were pointed. It never really occurred to me that anyone would want to look like that or have that expectation of themselves. I just had fun playing with my Barbies and wasn't too bothered by their odd shape, although I did find it strange when I stopped to think about it...

misspurdy06
March 20th, 2012, 04:17 AM
What about strand and thickness? just curious...i think her hair is probably wavy, but i'm biased because mine is, so of course i want hers to be, and her natural color, i say light brown, btu we will NEVER know...lol
medium course. probably closer to medium.

LittleOrca
March 20th, 2012, 04:32 AM
I'm not into Barbie per say anymore. I enjoy some of their "collectible" dolls and I do buy dolls for my own collection if I like them, but it does not matter to me if they are Matel or Disney or whatnot.

On a related note, I saw a Barbie at the store that was being sold as having "Super long hair!" ... it was classic length. That used to be normal on that type of doll when I was a little girl, but now most Barbies have shoulder-length hair. Wtf, Matel.

Olga-Freya
March 20th, 2012, 05:58 AM
I never like dolls, though I had several (even a Barbie) in my childhood. I even had a big pink dollhouse, but I played with pair of toy rabbits in it.
I loved toy animals, but my fave toys was figures of dinosaurus, I still have most of my dino-horde somwhere in wardrobe :D And one absolutely new triceratops now is standing near my monitor.



On a related note, I saw a Barbie at the store that was being sold as having "Super long hair!" ... it was classic length. That used to be normal on that type of doll when I was a little girl, but now most Barbies have shoulder-length hair. Wtf, Matel.
Wow, this is weird!

Firefly
March 20th, 2012, 06:18 AM
I had a Barbie as a kid, but was never overly crazy about her. I did like all the accessories, though. :D I decided not to buy any for my own DD-- I agree with others that for many girls she does become a ridiculously unattainable standard of beauty. That said, she did receive a couple at birthday parties over the years. She played with them sometimes, but it turned out they were never a big thing for her-- like me, she much preferred outside imaginative play. After a few years they "disappeared" into the Good Will pile, and were never missed!

KwaveT
March 20th, 2012, 06:31 AM
I played with Barbie til I was 16 and then I stopped only because my sister who was 11 had "outgrown" Barbie. But I remember creating my own little Barbie worlds made up of things like shelves as multi-story mansions, VHS tapes as beds and upside down candle dishes as tables!

This sounds a lot like me. I never outgrowed my toys until my sister almost six years younger than me outgrowed hers. I use to take my action figures along with my sister's barbie dolls and we would roleplayed together with them. I learned a lot about how girls roleplayed with their toys during those years. I never outgrowed my toys until I was 15 as a result.

zombi
March 20th, 2012, 07:08 AM
As a child I was much more interested in playing with My Little Ponies, Transformers, or pretending I was Princess Leia. We had Barbies but they were mostly my sisters and I had the Barbie brand horses, not the dolls. I was one of those horse people (if I could afford a horse, I would still be).

But in my house, we played pretend a lot. We'd play Star Wars, we'd play mermaids and princesses and dinosaurs and Power Rangers and anything else we could think of. Build forts from blankets. The kind of play that doesn't involve toys as much. My sisters and I had a storyline we used to play all the time where we were like Nancy Drews and we'd "solve" mysteries in the backyard.

eta: I STILL pretend I am a mermaid in the bath sometimes! I like to make up stories in my head -- always have.

Carolyn
March 20th, 2012, 07:17 AM
On a related note, I saw a Barbie at the store that was being sold as having "Super long hair!" ... it was classic length. That used to be normal on that type of doll when I was a little girl, but now most Barbies have shoulder-length hair. Wtf, Matel.I saw that Barbie too and had the same reaction.

I realize this is just a sign of the times but the quality of the Barbie clothes today is pretty crappy. My Barbie clothes from the 60s are all beautifully made. It makes me sad how things have changed.

lw8666
March 20th, 2012, 10:19 AM
Barbies are awesome. I had dozens and dozens of barbies. I am a barbie lover for life. Lol.

Hollyfire3
March 20th, 2012, 10:22 AM
medium course. probably closer to medium.


Course, i don't t=know, i guess i just don't know what course strands look like, her hair looks medium or maybe even fine to me, but idk really, and i say ii thickness in ponytail? I wish they made Charmed barbie dolls, now THOSE i would have LOVED as a little kid!!!

turtlelover
March 20th, 2012, 10:38 AM
I liked them as a kid, but my mom was kind of anti Barbie, so I only had one which I bought with my own money. This thread makes me want to run out and Barbie shop as a treat for my "inner child" HAHAHA! I still love to play with their hair and change their clothes! ;)

lilydes
March 20th, 2012, 10:53 AM
I saw that Barbie too and had the same reaction.

I realize this is just a sign of the times but the quality of the Barbie clothes today is pretty crappy. My Barbie clothes from the 60s are all beautifully made. It makes me sad how things have changed.

I absolutely hate today's Barbie clothes. My mom used to make me clothes for mine, complete with little tiny buttons and snaps, none of this velcro and strings that fall apart.

melusine963
March 20th, 2012, 01:12 PM
I never liked barbie, but I had great fun with one her little plastic hair brushes. I used it to brush my soft toy horse's mane and tail (probably not very good for it, but oh well). :)

HuggyBear
March 20th, 2012, 02:38 PM
I never thought of Barbie as a standard of beauty to live up to.

I just thought she was pretty and my friend. I did love her hair and want to have her hair but that it.

I think a lot of hype over Barbie perfection and kids hurting themselves to be like her is adults projecting their own insecurities on them.

Just my opinion. I'm probably wrong. lol Thats just how I see it.

I agree with you, misspurdy. I played with Barbies for many years and I never once thought that a woman's body was supposed to look like that. Geez..they are only toys. My 2 year old DD has one Barbie and I plan on buying her lots more in the future.

My brother used to enjoy making me angry by dismembering my Barbies and leaving body parts scattered throughout the house. Took me forever to reattach all their heads and appendages. Grrr....brothers can be so annoying. :)

SaucyWench
March 20th, 2012, 02:47 PM
I'm 53 and had the first Barbie (black hair and zebra swimsuit). I still have her (complete with that original rubber band in her ponytail!).

My collection dates from 1959 to 1970 and is carefully packed and stored in our garage. Everything is in excellent condition (I was always very careful with my toys) and nothing is ripped, stained or broken.

I still have all my Barbies (multiple versions of the different Barbies, Skippers, Francies, Tootie, Tod & Kens, though never got Madge as I hated her name). I still have all their clothes (purchased, back then, as well as the entire GORGEOUS homemade wardrobe my sister made for all the dolls as my Christmas 1967 gift!). I still have boxes of accessories (oh, how those high heels hurt when stepped upon...). I still have Barbie furniture and cars. I still have two Barbie houses. I still have Barbie storage cases.

I have a very patient husband (and a very large garage)!!

My best friend & I played with them until we were in our teens. We kept it a secret because, nerds that we were, we didn't want anyone knowing we still played with dolls!

However, our dolls were never fashion models (how boring). They were doctors and lawyers and scientists. They were married (and, he was never named "Ken") and also got pregnant (Skippier dresses made great maternity smocks). They had affairs. They were allowed to use the words my friend & I didn't (ie, bad words!). I used Barbies to explain to my friend how women got pregnant and how babies were born when we were 12 (her Mom had told her the baby got IN by God's wishes and came OUT through the belly button!). Barbies were educational, for us.

If my friend's Mom had ever found out how our story lies played out, she would have tossed all the dolls! My Mom would have just said, "Okay, fine, but watch the language, okay?"

I saved everything in case I had a daughter. I had a son, instead, and so all the Barbie stuff is boxed. I don't know what to do with it. Guess ds can use it to finance something, someday, or give it to a daugher, if he has one.

I think the whole Barbies skew little girls brains and make them think that that is the ideal body/beauty is a lot of bunk. Children aren't stupid and can see that dolls don't look like people.

I also think the new generation of Barbies and other dolls of that style (ugh, Bratz) look like cheap hookers. But, then, so much of the media sells that look anymore. Guess I'm getting ornery in my maturity..........................

Anywhere
March 20th, 2012, 02:57 PM
I like Barbie just fine. I never felt the need to look like her though. To me, a doll is a doll. I doubt any little girls think Bratz dolls are how real women look, so why is a Barbie any different?

And.. uhm.. my happy meals as of late have consisted of tiny barbie dolls. Their hair has been about knee IIRC. I kept them so I can fawn over how long their hair is. :p
and no I am not too old for Happy Meals. :o

Firefly
March 20th, 2012, 03:38 PM
I like Barbie just fine. I never felt the need to look like her though. To me, a doll is a doll. I doubt any little girls think Bratz dolls are how real women look, so why is a Barbie any different?

She's not... we didn't do Bratz either. ;) I don't know... I think it's awesome that there are some of you who weren't influenced. But just because YOU weren't, doesn't mean there aren't many who were. I just know I've seen an awful lot of grown women who seem to be trying to achieve that Barbie "look". :shrug:

NymphSpirit
March 20th, 2012, 04:54 PM
Aw yes... I remember watching all the Barbie ballet movies, my favourite was the Swan Lake, I wanted to be Odette so badly! I still love Barbie :) when I was around 13 I started hating it tho, you know, rebellious times... and I put all my Barbies away... except for one I destroyed (I was all "goth" and "hardcore") I regret it so much :/ tried fixing it with silicone and paint, but I didn't try hard enough, now this thread made me feel guilty!! hehe

Now, my true love were Little Ponies, I had billions, and I pranced around school pretending to be one! haha

HairFaerie
March 20th, 2012, 04:59 PM
I played with Barbie til I was 16 and then I stopped only because my sister who was 11 had "outgrown" Barbie. But I remember creating my own little Barbie worlds made up of things like shelves as multi-story mansions, VHS tapes as beds and upside down candle dishes as tables!

I played with Barbie dolls until I was about 16 too!

I loved making stuff (clothes, furniture, etc) for them. I even once made a "cruise ship" out of an ironing board!

My mom totally supported me, my sister and my niece with our Barbie adventures. She sewed elaborate sets of wedding dresses, tuxedos and bridesmaid gowns for each of us. I even had one "family" that I deemed as Hawaiian and their wedding was a luau!

Ahhhhh...those were the days.

Recently, I actually got into Barbie repainting! It's really fun!

irishlady
March 20th, 2012, 05:53 PM
I do lol.

I don't have any and don't own any of the films, but I do think a few of them are cute, and sometimes still have a browse at the Barbie dolls in the shops lol

I think many women secretly (or not secretly) still love Barbie.

Yame
March 21st, 2012, 05:16 PM
I learned how to sew specifically to make Barbie clothes. That was the most fun part... along with cutting and styling my Barbies' hair! As I got older and more "alternative" I began giving my Barbies facial piercings, too.

I played with Barbies until I was fairly old... like, 12 or 13. I haven't since, I moved many times and didn't bring any of them with me, but I still remember my favorite Barbie, she was a mermaid and had purple hair. Now when I get the urge to play with Barbies, I just go and play The Sims. LOL!

Diamond.Eyes
March 21st, 2012, 05:25 PM
I used to play with Barbies when I was a Toddler, but that's about it. I was kind of a Tom-boy when I was a child and spent most of my time playing outside, building tree houses and forts, and catching lizards and bunnies and keeping them as pets :p. I didn't care very much for toys. I've been over Barbie for a while now lol.

Hollyfire3
March 21st, 2012, 05:34 PM
Aw yes... I remember watching all the Barbie ballet movies, my favourite was the Swan Lake, I wanted to be Odette so badly! I still love Barbie :) when I was around 13 I started hating it tho, you know, rebellious times... and I put all my Barbies away... except for one I destroyed (I was all "goth" and "hardcore") I regret it so much :/ tried fixing it with silicone and paint, but I didn't try hard enough, now this thread made me feel guilty!! hehe

Now, my true love were Little Ponies, I had billions, and I pranced around school pretending to be one! haha

My true love was My Little Ponies also!!! i had TONS and played with them ALL the time....oh, good times...goood times...:D

Wavelength
March 21st, 2012, 06:10 PM
Hmm, I played with Barbies... as cat toys.

I'd hold them by the legs and swish their long hair around on the floor for the cats to play with. They LOVED it. Sometimes they'd even manage to pop Barbie's head off, which was always hilariously awesome.

Does that count? :D

My parents didn't care what I did with my toys as long as I was having fun, keeping safe, and wasn't actively disrupting the household. But I was an only child and not a "girlie-girl". There were some girls my age who acted very girlie, and I never really saw the point. It just seemed like too much trouble to maintain that level of prettiness, demureness and air-headedness all at once. In the meantime, there were cats to play with -- and cats > everything else. Just ask them. ;)

ETA: In case someone takes that last paragraph the wrong way, I don't think being girlie is the same as being air-headed in general. It's just that the girls around my neighbourhood seemed to think so.

Mrsbaybeegurl
March 21st, 2012, 06:37 PM
Barbies were fun although it was babydolls that kept my attention til I was 11. I was pretty much an only child until I was 9 so playing barbies wasn't very fun by myself.

Funny hair story tho...I did try to cut their hair once so my mom took their heads off and put them on top of the refrigerator until I promised to never cut their hair again haha:p

Springgrl
March 21st, 2012, 06:42 PM
I love Barbie. My mom never allowed me to cut their hair or take them in the bathtub because it would ruin their hair! I guess she was training me to have long hair lol.

turtlelover
March 21st, 2012, 07:52 PM
I didn't chop their hair off, because I was a long hair fan back then, but I used to wrap their head up in bread ties as curlers, and then give them boil perms. I ended up with some BIG 80s hair, let me tell you!:eyebrows:

Malibu Barbie
March 21st, 2012, 08:32 PM
I loved my barbie's.. I had the house, the cars, my brother designed her clothes. I had lots of fun with them as did most of my friends.