Barbie Beautiful

Most women I know played with Barbie as a child. If you're a man, perhaps you tortured Barbie as a child. Either way you are familiar with the blond bombshell icon. As a mother I have contemplated the real body image of Barbie wondering what harm it might do to my little girls. I didn't spend much time thinking about it though, and of course my daughters own their fair share of Barbies. I did try to buy a doll that looks more like me once. I bought the Family Loving House. The mother is flat chested, slim hipped, and has short mousy brain hair. It's me! She looks "normal". The Family Loving House Dad is not buff and his jeans are not super tight Ken jeans. He looks "normal". Well, of course, Barbie and all her flashy, fashion forward friends came to visit at The Family Loving House making the Mom feel  frumpy and in need of some Botox, or perhaps a little nip and tuck.

This unfortunately is the world we still live in as adult women.  We see magazine covers that show beautiful women with personal trainers and nutritionists that fit into size 0 pants. Zero shouldn't even be a size. They have no wrinkles, no stretch marks, and their hair falls perfectly every time. Imagine how life must feel for those of us with frizzy hair, flat chests, and stomachs that look like they have seen combat. Society tells us that we should, at all costs, strive to be these models of loveliness. Completely unrealistic. 1 Samuel 16:7 says that the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Genesis 1:27 says that we are made in the image of God. Now forgive me if you don't agree, but I believe that God never expected to have His image plumped with silicon. I believe He did intend for us to be healthy, taking good care of the body He gave us. After that, the lines get hazy. Where is the end of "taking good care" of the body He gave us and the beginning of vanity? I just want my girls to understand that in most cases what God gives you is not Barbie beautiful. It's God beautiful. We are all beautiful. With the wrinkles, and the wild hair, and the bulges in all the wrong places. We are beautiful. Our daughters are beautiful just as they are, created in God's image.

This video shows what a life sized Barbie would actually look like. It's nearly comical.