Barbie's insane, unrealistic proportions have stirred controversy and body image concerns for quite some time now, which is why I was absolutely appalled when I heard that the Mattel doll's lead designer, Kim Culmone, defended her crazy proportions and you'll never believe what she said.
Read more ¿Qué más?: See what Barbie's proportions look on a real woman! (PHOTO)
Culmone simply stated that the proportions are all for the clothes. Wait … what? So let me get this straight, Barbie resembles a 5-foot-9-inch woman with a 36-inch bust, 18-inch waist, and 33-inch hips so that her clothes can fit her? Dear lord, please tell me that's a joke!
"Barbie's body was never designed to be realistic. She was designed for girls to easily dress and undress," Kim told Fast Company after being asked about her stance on Barbie's strange proportions.
"Because if you're going to take a fabric that's made for us, and turn a seam for a cuff or on the body, her body has to be able to accommodate how the clothes will fit her," she said. Here's an idea: What about accommodating the clothes so that they fit the doll?
Considering all the criticism Barbie has received for her controversial body proportions and their effects on young girls, you'd think that Culmone would have come up with a much more clever response. Mind you, this was her first time ever speaking up about the doll's unrealistic body shape.
And unfortunately, the interview gets worse. You have to see the way the designer TOTALLY dismissed body concerns. She didn't even sound open to creating a Barbie with much more realistic proportions. "So to me, there isn't an objective to change the proportion of Barbie currently." Seriously? And despite a 2006 University of Sussex study that concluded that unrealistically skinny Barbie dolls can "damage girls' body image," Kim doesn't think it's all that serious. "Girls view the world completely different than grown-ups do. They don't come at it with the same angles and baggage and all that stuff that we do," she said.
I'm sorry, but I strongly disagree with her. I don't think she understands that for most little girls, Barbie isn't just a play thing, they genuinely admire her. I can't tell you how many times I've heard little girls compare their hair, their clothes, and YES even their bodies to Barbie's. Culmone might be stuck in Barbie world, but for the rest of us this is a real problem!
Image via Mattel.com
