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Jessica Kant Jessica Kant

Barbie and the gender wars

Like most people, I have a complicated relationship with Barbie. I was in the single digits in the 80’s, and in high school in the 90’s. I remember the first studies which came out showing how profoundly the franchise had accelerated already impossible beauty standards, amplifying an already out-of-control epidemic of disordered eating and body image challenges. I remember when someone sat down and did the math, from which several eating disorder specialists postulated that based on the proportions of her untenably long legs, tiny waist and enormous bust, she would have spinal problems before she was middle-aged.

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