When I hear the name “Barbie,” I immediately think of a pretty, thin and blonde doll — the first word itself that comes to mind being “pretty.” For so many girls like me who grew up with the influence of the Barbie franchise, Barbie as a character greatly shaped the beauty standard to be thin, blonde and feminine. However, with National Barbie and Barney Backlash day on Dec. 16, people should recognize the consequences of the doll’s unachievable and idealized beauty standards.

Barbie was an integral part of my childhood. I was a collector of Barbie dolls. By that, I mean I had over 30. Of those dolls, nearly all were blonde and all but one of them were Caucasian. And they all had the same thin, hourglass-shaped body. Playing with these dolls on a day-to-day basis, I began to view them as the definition of “pretty.” On top of that, watching the Barbie movies, where the protagonist was almost always a version of Barbie that maintained her beauty ideal, made me associate the beauty ideal with being a princess or fashion designer — which I wanted to be.

When I was little, I didn’t realize the impact these dolls had on me, but looking back at it now, they made me associate beauty with thinness. Barbie was definitely not the only factor, as other characters I saw on TV also were often deemed to be pretty if they were thin. However, as a child who saw these characters and aspired to be like them, I became obsessed with my body image. I associated beauty with thinness to a point that I feared gaining weight because I would not be as “pretty” as I previously was if I did. Other than contributing to “fat phobia” found in society, this idealized beauty standard can be extremely unhealthy for young girls as they could develop body dysmorphia, a mental illness where they obsessively focus on flaws in appearance.

However, I concede that the Barbie franchise has made an effort to move away from the thin, blonde beauty standard with dolls of different races. I remember when I was little, my parents bought me an Indian Barbie doll very soon after they were released because they were excited by the fact that Mattel was releasing dolls of various races and acknowledging different cultures with ethnic clothes. It was a step in the right direction, but a small one. Nonetheless, the variety of dolls did little to change Barbie’s idealized body type as they all maintained the thin, hourglass shape the character was always known for. With this considered, Barbie continues to have a negative impact on body image among the young girls who consume products of the Barbie franchise.