Barbie Doll Teachable Moment

I think I had my first body image talk with my five-year-old daughter. She had brought her new Christmas Barbie downstairs and taken off its beautiful wedding dress. I decided to take the opportunity to have a conversation about how her doll's body is very different from women's bodies. We talked about the length of her legs, the thinness of her legs and arms, the narrowness of her waist, the shape of her breasts, her ever-present make-up, her hair length, and her body glitter (my daughter's observation). Aside from her hair, not only do most women not look like that, I don't think any woman looks like that. Those proportions don't work. And yet, we probably grew up thinking that is beautiful and ideal...and perhaps have never lost that idea.

It's never to early to instill in our kids a sense of reality when it comes to our bodies. The majority of men are not chiselled, muscle-bound, and "perfectly" built like the Ken doll. And women don't look like Barbies. And, hopefully, we don't have plastic smiles that stay on regardless of how we're feeling.

I was very proud of one participant for bringing her whole family to the show on Saturday. At first, it may seem like a strange thing, but I think she's on to something. If we can bring truthful imagery into our kids' lives and talk about that, as well as discussing (rather than accepting and becoming desensitized by) the misleading imagery all around us, I think a healthier self-concept can develop, as well as a healthier way of looking at others. That said, as parents, we need to look at what we and our kids are ready to see and talk about (although I imagine we are behind much of the time).

The show goes until Tuesday the 9th. Hope you can make it!

A Good Question

Someone shared this question with me, and I hope she won't mind if I post it here: "I want to do it, but I don't know. Do you have to be skinny and good-looking like the girl on the web-site?"

The answer is a resounding no.

We need people of all shapes, sizes, ages, backgrounds in order to make this project a success. We want to show that you don't need to look a certain way to be considered a work of art. We have had about a dozen people come through so far, all unique. Some confident, others not. And believe it or not, skinny doesn't automatically mean comfortable with body.

I sincerely hope that any who are reading this that feel they don't measure up in some way, will have the freedom to come and be part of this project. You are needed. You can be part of the solution, part of changing what we perceive to be "acceptable" or normal or okay.

I apologize that our key images for the project have been a deterrent for some. There was a bit of a time factor, and we used the best images we had on file that either depicted an emotion of "Just As I Am" or a very basic nude pose on the background we planned on using.

Our project could still benefit from more variety. We've had some diversity in body shapes, but we'd love even more. We would love to have some 60 and 70 and 80 year-olds! We would love to have more skin tones! We would love to have people with scars that tell a story. Or stretch marks. Or whatever...

Thanks again, to all who have come out so far. It's been fun! I feel like this project has been worth it already.