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Barbie And Ken Sociology

1506 Words7 Pages

While children may not fully comprehend the gender, racial, and social divides that exists in the toy stores they shop, it is clearly evident that most toy stores are segregated according to said aforementioned factors. From an early age, our Christmas, Chanukah, birthday, etc. presents teach us that boys should exhibit strength, power, aggression, and self-confidence, while girls should exhibit innocence, grace, emotion, and beauty. This is never more obvious than when one analyzes the complex sociological relationship between Barbie and Ken. Obviously, there are many similarities between the two; both are gorgeous, both exude luxury, and both often represent the aspirations of young boys and girls across America. However, gender, race, and …show more content…

We took a multifaceted approach to our research at each toy store; in doing so, we hoped to collect helpful data concerning toys and sociological issues confronting this nation. First, we analyzed the layout of each toy store, from the wall design, to the toy color, to the toys themselves. The layout of the store itself provided valuable insight, as will be made evident later. Then, we proceeded to take an in-depth look at each individual toy. Prior to our research, we hypothesized that there would be a strong distinction between the gender roles of boys and girls. We proposed that toys associated with girls would exhibit feminine characteristics, while toys associated with boys would exhibit masculine characteristics. Some of the feminine and masculine characteristics that we predicted were color (dark colors for boys / bright colors for girls) and appearance (strength for boys / innocence for girls) Additionally, we thought that the toys would have an interest association corresponding to gender; “girl toys” would favor household tasks, including chores, babysitting, dressing, and decorations, while “boy toys” would prefer sports, fighting, and abstract design, perhaps LEGO. As it pertains to race, we predicted a disproportionately low number of African American dolls compared to the US population, because of the potentiality for said dolls to be interpreted as racist and due to white dominance in American society. We also believed that toys would showcase wealth and luxury, as such ideals are aspirations of families across

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Jaana Paske G. Christopher Williams English 150 Sec 14 2/20/2016 Rhetorical Evaluation of Jason Boog’s article, “Hello Barbie’s war on imagination: The childhood-destroying gift you don’t want to give your kid” on Salon.com Jason Boog’s article “Hello Barbie’s war on imagination: The childhood-destroying gift you don’t want to give your kid” on Salon.com talks about the consequences of technological advances in the children’s toy industry on the natural creative development and personal relationships that parents form with kids. In “Hello Barbie’s war on imagination: The childhood-destroying gift you don’t want to give your kid”, Jason Boog is using powerful, fear-invoking language to make a point of how technology, and specifically the

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Their boy toys required a lot more outdoor space. This reinforces Thorne’s (1986) findings that show that boys use ten times the space that girls do at recess. The array of Puzzles, LEGO buildings, and even advent Calendars, encourage creativity, and structure to build their toys, they even have to put the advent calendars together before they can use it. This is reinforcing the act like a man box, because it stresses that boys should show their masculinity by being be able to work with their hands and physically build things themselves as a part of the fun (Kivel, 1984). The toys even encouraged future professions one LEGO Mindcraft game inspires jobs such as, architecture, landscape design, and even farming.

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Since the dawn of time, expectations and stereotypes have been placed on women that limit them. Among these expectations are maximizing their femininity, or nulling it. The latter is the case in the short story by Sandra Cisneros, “Barbie-Q”, where the narrator's point-of-view while at a flea market with her family, searching for decent remaining toys after a toy warehouse fire, suggests that growing up in a male-dominated society destroys and forever alters women’s view of themselves. Cisneros uses the symbolism of destroyed dolls, typical “men's items” overcrowding the space, and the description of needing to search for pieces of feminine toys.

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Baby dolls are always made the same way. They had hair, arms, and legs, but the Barbie company featured dolls with no hair, diverse skin tones, prosthetic legs, wheelchairs, and clothing from all around the world. Girls had a way to visualize and see their future in the doll. As Barbie becomes more diverse than ever, people can find dolls that like them and have the same career aspirations (“How Barbie Helped”, n.d). Products like Rainbow High Dolls would not be here today if Ruth Handler did not transform the way dolls were made and marketed.

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AUSD District Argumentative Writing Assessment: Dolls and Trucks When a boy asks his mother to buy him a doll, she would refuse him by saying that “dolls are for girl.” In the article “Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls” by Katha Pollitt, Pollitt states that boys’ and girls’ personalities are shaped by the adults, not by biological reasons. Most parents want their children to fit in with society’s standards of how a boy or a girl should be. As a consequence, they mold the young generation’s thinking styles to what society believes is comforting.

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With the constant fear of ridicule and discrimination, we still try and define ourselves, though we are always under the society’s scope. Marge Piercy, in her poem “Barbie Doll”, gives us a look at the influence of our surroundings and how something as innocent as a doll can trigger these insecurities. Our strive for acceptance and “perfection” can cause major emotional damage on anyone who identifies as a woman. Young girls look at these depictions of “perfect” bodies, such as a barbie doll for example, and compare themselves. In the poem “Barbie Doll”, Piercy talks about a young girl who she described as “...healthy, tested and intelligent...” (247) but, she was picked on by peers who said she had “a great big nose and fat legs.”

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Society is the same thing. In the story, Veronica always wanted the stereotypical barbie doll with blue eyes instead of the imitation doll that may look like her, even if to her the blonde hair doll may not look like her but is beautiful. Throughout the story, she learned that the two dolls may not look alike, but are the same to her in the end. The Story “Barbie” by Gary Soto reflects the theme of what’s on the inside counts and the symbolism for the two dolls, and

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Although Barbie has conveyed many beliefs through the clothes and jobs she has had, the most controversial belief has been body image. Since first being brought out into the world, Barbie has had an unreasonably shaped body, with a small waist and large breasts. All of Barbie’s body features have impacted the way society expects women to look. But in 2016, Barbie had a dramatic makeover, she was released in different heights and body shapes, making her more suitable to the way women actually look. Barbie’s new look has made a positive impact on young girls and potentially society’s unrealistic expectations of

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In such a way that, Barbie has displayed multiple career paths, offered in various ethnicities but always displayed in the same way and with the use of Logos and Ethos. Although the whole idea behind the Barbie doll was to encourage young girls to be able to dress Barbie how they wanted to with the various wardrobes, it was not until quite recently that Barbie was able to hold more “leadership like” rolls in society. With advertisement of the Barbie doll, gender equity closely intertwined with the portrayal of the doll. “Consistent with other commercial advertising formats, males were found in the leadership and authority roles, while females were generally portrayed in more passive roles. When women were the only individuals in the advertisement, the ad copy usually reflected a biased message toward the abilities and function of the women in their roles as professionals.”

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When you first enter the toy section of Walmart, you don’t really need signs to know which side is for boys and which side is for girls. Besides all of the purples, pinks and pastels that filled the shelves on the young girls’ side, it was also a glitter wonderland. On the boys’ side, however, were darker colors – black, gray, blue, red, or dark green. I found that a lot of the toys that I saw were dedicated to roleplaying, which we discovered in class, is crucial to childhood socialization.

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In the short story ''Barbie Q,'' Sandra Cisneros portrays that Barbie dolls can impact girl's lives as they grow up, and influence the way they act and perceive themselves. These girls grow up in a poor family environment considering that they acquired the rest of the dolls in a toys sale after a store burned down. In ‘‘Barbie Q,’’what is the thematic significance of the damaged dolls after the fire? The girl’s enthusiasm to get the new dolls -when they said that they prefer to receive new doll’s clothes- suggests that the meaning of these Barbie dolls is more than just a new toy.

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The phrase gender role is concept of society that defines what behavior society expect form men and women and how they are suppose to act in society . While evolving, what kind of passive and active toys are allowed to play with? What kind of clothes and colors to wear? Unaware route of molding a person to fit in with society 's norms and values is called sociologists as "socialization." Many think that gender stereotyping in form of clothes, toys or books or along with other aspects, teach a children rising up to fit into conventional gender roles.

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As gender stereotypes in toys impact a child’s interest, this also influences their career choices. Through playing with toys, kids develop interests (Steinmatz). When kids are only offered half of the toys available, they don’t get the chance to gain interest in the toys declared for the opposite sex. Gender stereotypes limit the variety of toys that kids will form interests and skills upon (Clayton). The skills and interests kids develop during childhood shape what academic and career choices they make as adults (“Toys”).

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Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” takes a sarcastic approach to backlash at society and send the reader a message about what beauty really is. In “Barbie Doll”, A Barbie doll is used to show and symbolize what society views as what a female should aspire to become “perfect”. “Barbie's unrealistic body type…busty with a tiny waist, thin thighs and long legs…is reflective of our culture's feminine ideal. Yet less than two percent of American women can ever hope to achieve such dreamy measurements.”

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But where did it all start and how did you get to this position? You’re five years old when you receive your first Barbie doll. Your innocent mind looks at the plastic figure as just a symbol of inspiration or a relatable toy used on the playground

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