sorry i am coming in a little late in the game, but here are some of my thoughts about barbie and the roles she can play in young person's lives. first off, i had TONS of barbies when i was young. i enjoyed playing with them, they went shopping alot, but barbie also walked around the globe (literally, a globe in my sister's bedroom), travelling to different countries and meeting new people, creating new situations that only the imagination of a child can find. if a child's mind isn't already in the mode yearning for conformity, dolls and playing things such as barbie are merely tools that can help them create new and fascinating worlds. granted, it would be more healthy for young girls to be playing with more realistic plastic models of humans, but kids are kids, and they do not obsess over things such as vanity unless there is a presence of it in their lives to make those things seem important. barbie herself does not force young girls to think that looking like her is the only way to be.

but i must say, in my self-defense, that i am not a barbie fan. there are many many things i would change about her. and because so many girls who play with her seem to think of her as an ideal, it is worrisome that barbie is in so many girls' toy boxes. barbie sucks, but having a barbie doll does not automatically turn a young girl into a vain, dieting, hair-dying woman.