Eating Disorders

elb4160

Gold Member
My OH works in Toys R Us and has been looking through the catalogue tonight as there's loads of new offers out tomorrow.
I just thought I'd share these next few pictures and see what your opinions are in regards to shoving body image down our children's throats....

Is it really any wonder so many people have eating disorders?

He is disgusted by these toys and actually has said to parents buying them how unnatural they look, and this is coming from someone who doesn't really care that much about body image etc.
 

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OMG, these "toys" look absolutely disgusting. They are somewhat insect-like. Not aesthetically pleasing :yuk:
Would not dream of buying trash like that for a child.
 
they are pretty disgusting looking "toys" i mean would anyone really buy a child that kind of rubbish!
 
Agreed!
 
hi, omg, these are so wrong, can't believe these have been passed
 
I think they are really ugly!

But maybe that could work in the favour of getting little girls to realise stick thin isn't necessarily beautiful? Yeah right...we should be so lucky!:sigh:
 
Body image is a terrible thing. I used to be nearly 13 stone at 5'3 and I was ridiculed for being 'fat'. I have since lost weight for myself, to improve my lifestyle, yet at 9stone 4lb, I still feel sooo much pressure to lose more weight because everyday I've got this image of 'thin is beautiful' thrown in my face. This is something I really, really wish to change about myself.
 
Hi Emma :) Distorted bodies are unfortunately nothing new in the dolly world. Barbie has been around since the fifties. This is from wiki...

One of the most common criticisms of Barbie is that she promotes an unrealistic idea of body image for a young woman, leading to a risk that girls who attempt to emulate her will become anorexic. A standard Barbie doll is 11.5 inches tall, giving a height of 5 feet 9 inches at 1/6 scale. Barbie's vital statistics have been estimated at 36 inches (chest), 18 inches (waist) and 33 inches (hips). According to research by the University Central Hospital in Helsinki, Finland, she would lack the 17 to 22 percent body fat required for a woman to menstruate. In 1963, the outfit "Barbie Baby-Sits" came with a book entitled How to Lose Weight which advised: "Don't eat." :eek: The same book was included in another ensemble called "Slumber Party" in 1965 along with a pink bathroom scale reading 110 lbs,which would be around 35 lbs. underweight for a woman 5 feet 9 inches tall. In 1997, Barbie's body mold was redesigned and given a wider waist, with Mattel saying that this would make the doll better suited to contemporary fashion designs.
 
It's terrible. No wonder most woman don't like their bodies and aren't confident in their own skin. I call a revolution lol!
 
Can I just say that dolls like this don't cause eating disorders? Many girls & boys have dolls growing up & don't suffer with EDs. Sure, they don't really help promote a healthy body but they also aren't the sole cause of eating disorders.

I had a Barbie Doll & it wasn't that which caused my eating disorder.. In fact, I never wanted to look like her in the slightest. My eating disorder was caused by problems at home & was never really about my body image.. Many aren't about body image, but are actually a manifestation of negative emotions.

It's comments like these that lead people to believe that eating disorders are about body image & wanting to look good/thin. I didn't want to be seen while I was suffering with my ED! I wanted to disappear. People around me thought it was about being vain & so I was told 'You're not fat', 'You don't need to diet' & so on.. When all I really wanted people to see was that I was struggling. I needed help. I was being abused.

Yes, the dolls look weird.. But chances are, if a child develops an eating disorder as a result of receiving one of them, then there's probably something more sinister afoot that needs investigating.
 
Can I just say that dolls like this don't cause eating disorders? Many girls & boys have dolls growing up & don't suffer with EDs. Sure, they don't really help promote a healthy body but they also aren't the sole cause of eating disorders.

I had a Barbie Doll & it wasn't that which caused my eating disorder.. In fact, I never wanted to look like her in the slightest. My eating disorder was caused by problems at home & was never really about my body image.. Many aren't about body image, but are actually a manifestation of negative emotions.

It's comments like these that lead people to believe that eating disorders are about body image & wanting to look good/thin. I didn't want to be seen while I was suffering with my ED! I wanted to disappear. People around me thought it was about being vain & so I was told 'You're not fat', 'You don't need to diet' & so on.. When all I really wanted people to see was that I was struggling. I needed help. I was being abused.

Yes, the dolls look weird.. But chances are, if a child develops an eating disorder as a result of receiving one of them, then there's probably something more sinister afoot that needs investigating.

I fully respect what you're saying and know that outside influences can be a real problem and trigger for EDs but I have also first hand experienced ED's from warped body images from the media. Everyday we're subjected to so many unhealthy bodies that we now deam painfully thin as the normal and so when normal, healthy girls start ispiring to be this media idea of 'normal' then that were a lot (but I'm not saying all by any means!) of EDs come from.
 
I was not saying that dolls like these are the only causes, but if you're shoving that kind of image down someones throat its bound to have an effect. Whether its concsious(sp?) or not is another thing, but its my opinion that these things DO affect young people.
 
Like someone has already said dolls of these proportions aren't anything new. All of the Barbie's that I grew up playing with had similar proportions & their 'shape' didn't influence me in any way. I have a daughter who is of the age that she likes dolls like this (though not these exact ones) & it has never once crossed my mind that she would end up with an eating disorder down the line. I think there are a lot more factors to consider than the shaoe of a doll
 
MMMMM, I've got to argree, the dolls look a little wierd, but I'm not sure many kids would make the connection between them and unhealthy body images unless it was mentioned to them. At that age I knew Barbie looked different cos she wasn't real. For me personally, its real actual people with stick thin bodies (like celebs) that make me feel rubbish about my own body. They are real flesh and bone and look like that, so why don't I?!:(
 
i once read that if barbies boobs were that size in real life she would fall over
 
Can I just say that dolls like this don't cause eating disorders? Many girls & boys have dolls growing up & don't suffer with EDs. Sure, they don't really help promote a healthy body but they also aren't the sole cause of eating disorders.

I had a Barbie Doll & it wasn't that which caused my eating disorder.. In fact, I never wanted to look like her in the slightest. My eating disorder was caused by problems at home & was never really about my body image.. Many aren't about body image, but are actually a manifestation of negative emotions.

It's comments like these that lead people to believe that eating disorders are about body image & wanting to look good/thin. I didn't want to be seen while I was suffering with my ED! I wanted to disappear. People around me thought it was about being vain & so I was told 'You're not fat', 'You don't need to diet' & so on.. When all I really wanted people to see was that I was struggling. I needed help. I was being abused.

Yes, the dolls look weird.. But chances are, if a child develops an eating disorder as a result of receiving one of them, then there's probably something more sinister afoot that needs investigating.

Hi Gemma. I am sorry if my post about Barbie was in any way offensive to you or seen as flippant.

The only person I know with an ED suffered as a result of a distressing family life and the belief that eating was the only thing over which she had any control :(

I do think, however, that there would be a riot if Barbie's diet tips book was published today as that is seriously messed up dietary advice for children.
 
silly sausage - My post wasn't aimed at you.. I was merely stating that it is naive to think that eating disorders come from only poor body image & the media. No, they don't help matters, but my ED developed before I was really aware of any of that type of thing. I wasn't reading fashion magazines, the TV shows I watched were kids shows still. I had a Barbie Doll, yes.. But the only thing she encouraged me to do, was to retreat into a pretend world - the same as any of my toys. I never once compared myself to her, I never wanted to look like her.

I can't understand why those 'tips' would ever be printed & given to children. Is it for real? Because that is disgusting.
 
The little book is quite shocking. If you scroll down this link there is a pic of the front and back of it

Barbie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Hope things have improved for you now, Gemma. You are doing well on SW which is a great plan :)

That's really messed up! I can't believe that was allowed onto the shelves!

Thank you :) I have good days & bad days. I consider myself 'recovered' but it's one of those things that you just have to learn to live with, eventually it gets easier. SW is brilliant & it's helped me a lot.. Although I do find myself resorting back to my old 'habits' when times are tough.
 
Just been googling the dollies in the opening post. Turns out they are Gloom Beach Dolls and meant to be monsters or zombies or something, hence not very healthy looking. Although the naked one looks a bit like Helena Bonham-Carter, I wouldn't but them myself.
 
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