Writing my own version
By Julie Wrathall
of a fairy taleALMOST every girl I know has at one time or another owned a Mattel Barbie doll. In fact, I've read that as of 1992, the average girl owned seven of these Barbies.
Why? Because Barbie is beautiful. She is tall, has a perfect hourglass figure, long blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes. She has cool clothes and even has her own house, car and dream guy, Ken.
Barbie is the perfect all-American girl. What little girl would not want to be beautiful like Barbie?
Now, I will never have long blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes, but I could still strive to be like the Asian version of Barbie. All I would have to do is work on my figure, right? Then I would achieve the true beauty that everyone in this Miss Universe-obsessed society seems to be after.
But if you want to know the truth, if Barbie were a real person, she would be 5-foot-6 inches tall, weigh 110 pounds, have a 39-inch bust, an 18-inch waist, 33-inch hips and wear a size 3-1/2 shoe.
Now let me back up. Not only will I never have blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes, but I will never be 5-foot-6 without the help of 4-inch platform shoes and I haven't worn a size 3-1/2 shoe since the fourth grade.
I hope my point is getting across.
I have come to realize that the vision of beauty as exemplified by Barbie is ridiculous for the average person, but sadly, there are many people who haven't figured this out.
Problems of anorexia, bulimia, depression and suicide are very real in today's world of teen-age girls. Society then wonders what went wrong. Well, Barbie is not the only one who has given us an unrealistic view of beauty. Society worships Barbie lookalikes everywhere.
Magazines use computers to erase imperfections on models. And when was the last time you saw a main character on TV who was not so beautiful?
Dr. Gary Allen Fine of the University of Georgia has said that Barbie allows "girls to fantasize about what they've been told their lives should be."
OK, so maybe this false vision of beauty isn't all Barbie's fault. She is just a reflection of the views of society.
We all know the fairy tale in which we are represented by the gorgeous princess who gets rescued by our studly prince charming and whisked away on a white horse into the sunset. If we looked at what society wants, the horse would be replaced by a shiny new car, the prince would still be studly, and instead of heading toward the sunset, we'd be taken to a fancy restaurant and showered with gifts.
I could go on and on about the problems in our society, but I would prefer to propose a solution. This will not solve the problem overnight or even soon, but at least it might be a step forward.
It's really quite simple. We are the makers of our own fairy tale. We get to decide what is beautiful and choose our own prince. Just because I don't look like Barbie or Miss Universe does not mean that I am not also a beautiful princess. Also, if my prince's horse is a little dirty or he doesn't have a horse at all, that's all right. It's my fairy tale and I get to decide what's in it.
If everyone had a role model to encourage them in remaking their fairy tale in more realistic terms we would probably see a drop in problems like anorexia and depression and a rise in self-esteem.
It would be easier to believe that beauty comes from within if that is what we were told and if that were reinforced through our choices of role models.
We can all work together to write a new generation of children's fairy tales.
Julie Wrathall is a senior at Kahuku High School. Rant & Rave is a Tuesday Star-Bulletin feature
allowing those 12 to 22 to serve up fresh perspectives.
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