I was the little girl who loved her Barbies.

I had dozens of them.

I would sit and play for hours,

dreaming up story lines for my favorites and making them find their princes and live in their big beautiful house, happily ever after.

I had the house, the plane, the cars (a yellow buggie which was rad!) even a pool….I had all the fun gadgets and accessories!

While many girls were most likely more partial to blonde bombshell “Barbie,”

I was more pron to playing with the “Teresa” Barbie.

To me the “Teresa” dolls were the fierce fun brunette who I felt looked more like me (dark hair tanner complexion)…

That, and my mom’s name is Theresa, which I thought was pretty cool, lol.

“Teresa” was the more ethnic Latina inspired Barbie, she was always my favorite.

It was a sad day when I packed away all my Barbies.

It’s funny you never think the day is going to come as a young girl just playing and dreaming.

But for me it came a little later then most…

honestly I probably played with Barbies til I was like 11 or 12… (no shame).

Granted I had two little younger cousins that were still playing with them, so they were my convenient excuse.

For us, playing with Barbies…was a bonding experience between cousins.

For the most part we would end up just dressing them up and doing their hair and then getting bored and putting them away.

It was when that started to happen that I think I realized it was time to say goodbye.

Even though my Barbie days are behind me (until I have my own daughter, or until my goddaughter starts to gain an interest…or until the next time my other little cousins drag me into their rooms to play) I still have to get a glimpse of the Barbie aisle anytime I’m in a Toy store. Call it nostalgia, but I find it interesting to see how Barbies have changed and what the latest accessories are.

Which brings me to my main point.

Barbie…although beloved…could use a bit of a reality check.

After all Barbie isn’t normal…she’s too perfect…

Her body, her clothes, her makeup…too perfect.

In a way it lends fuel to the body image beast that has plagued girls from early on.

It’s hard for me to understand that though…

I mean growing up, I never looked to Barbie as a body image role model too much.

I never looked at her and thought hey I wish I was stick thin.

Ok maybe when they came out with the Barbie with the rubber belly and belly shirts and belly ring aka “Jewel Girl.”

I was kinda like…oh I wish my stomach was flatter, cuz her outfit is AWESOME! (and she had on purple lipstick and lip liner…how cool is that! lol.)

But I guess that proves my point, I’ve just put a hole in my own declaration.

Young girls are impressionable and although I wouldn’t plague body image issues solely on Barbie and her unrealistic proportions, I also think Barbie could afford to tone down the sexuality just a bit. It is a child’s toy. They shouldn’t be sexualizing things at such a young age. Instead Barbie should serve as an inspiration to girls, to be themselves, to be whatever they dream to be…I mean that’s why Barbie has so many careers. That’s why she’s a doctor, a teacher, a singer, a ballerina, a basketball player, a gymnast, a mom! I’ll never forget when I got the pregnant Barbie, it was pretty cool! She basically had a magnetic belly bump that you would put the little baby in!

A few months ago I remember seeing Demi Lovato (the curvy

and beautiful girl she is!) tweet these…

I remember thinking this is so amazing.

It’s just a beautiful concept to inspire young girls to be themselves, to not strive to be stick thin, or to conform to media standards of beauty (which if you ask me is made up of photo shopped women who don’t even really look like that.)

And now it seems Barbie is getting a new look…welcome the latest Barbie-related campaign…”Average Barbie” where “Average is beautiful.”

“Average Barbie” was derived from the mind of artist Nickolay Lamm…in which he’s now labeled this new and improved version of Barbie after himself calling this version Lammily. The Lammily line of dolls is said to be in production soon.

Barbie’s New Girl in town is quite the improvement…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfQu8pq0kok

I love how simplistic this doll’s look is, she wears less makeup and has a fuller figure. I feel like looking at her I know her. I feel like I can walk down the street and see someone who looks like her. Her proportions are based off of an actual human body type, which is something that should really be praised. I just recently found out about this campaign, I had seen Demi’s tweets about it a while ago but I didn’t think that it was being put into production so soon. As I saw the current update news on twitter, I decided to really get into it and do my research. Like I said Barbies are close to my heart. But I have to say I’m kind of surprised and saddened by the negative reactions this campaign is getting. Many bloggers and news websites are claiming this doll is still fake. I understand that it may not be the perfect improvement as it gears more to an athletic characterization, but I think a fuller figured doll is at least a step in the right direction.  I mean if anything she’s promoting exercise, and a healthier life style. I don’t understand what’s so bad about that. There’s room for evolution. And with evolution comes revolution. And a chance for change.

So as Barbie continues to evolve, and her shape changes as it’s changed several times before to fit the times, the more willingness for change the more room there is to revolutionize the toys your daughters play with. There is a definite anti-[perfect] body image revolution upon us in this generation and this Lammily line of dolls is a way to help change the narrow minds of media constraints.

For more on Lammily visit:

https://www.lammily.com/average-is-beautiful

Barbie’s Evolution is turning into a Revolution for all future generations.

Because the more we speak up about these issues the more will get done.

And the more that gets done, the better the minds of future generations of daughters.

It all starts with diversity and acceptance in all shapes and sizes.

Change for the better.

Can’t wait to make a purchase, because I support this campaign, it’s way more realistic then the dolls I grew up playing with! Be apart of the movement and understand that “Average (as in your everyday ordinary girl) is beautiful.”

*I take no credit for any of the images*

-<3-