Abstract
There has been considerable discussion in both the scientific literature and general media concerning the appropriateness of the body shape and proportions of the Ken and Barbie dolls, the most popular dolls in modern history. The greatest concern has been of the possible influence that these, and other “cultural ideals” for body shape, may have on young children. However, these concerns have been based entirely on the subjective interpretation of how one perceives the body dimensions of the dolls relative to an adult size. We therefore used our skills in anthropometry and the rules of allometry to scale the dolls to an adult height to determine the dimensions that these dolls would assume at this adjusted size. These were compared to actual proportions of several representative adult groups of predominantly Anglo-Australian males and females. The critics have been justified in their opinions since both Barbie and Ken are thin relative to the reference samples. Barbie's mean girth z-score relative to a reference cross-section of the young adult population was −4.2. This indicates that the probability for such a body shape is less than 1 in 100,000. Ken is more realistic at about 1 in 50.
References
Brownell, K. D. (1991). Dieting and the search for the perfect body: Where physiology and culture collide.Behaviour Therapy, 22 1–12.
Charest-Lilly, P., Sherrill, C., & Rosentswieg, J. (1987). Body composition of women with anorexia nervosa: A pilot study.Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 4 126–136.
Cox, D. R. (1977). Barbie and her playmates.Journal of Popular Culture, 11 303–307.
Creekmore, A. M., & Pedersen, E. (1979). Body proportions of fashion illustrations, 1840–1940, compared with the Greek ideal of female beauty.Home Economics Research Journal, 7 379–388.
DASET (Department of the Arts, Sport, the Environment and Territories). (1992).Pilot survey of the fitness of Australians. Canberra: Australian Government Printing Service.
Dodds, J. (1994, May 4). The anti-hero of the beauty world.Sydney News.
Fleming, A. T. (1991, March). Living dolls.Allure, pp. 128–133.
Furnham, A., Hester, C., & Weir, C. (1990). Sex differences in the preference for specific female body shapes.Sex Roles, 22 743–754.
Garner, D. M., Garfinkel, P. E., Schwartz, D., & Thompson, M. (1980). Cultural expectations of thinness in women.Psychological Reports, 47 483–491.
Hartland, M. (1981).The anthropometric prediction of body density and relative body fat in South Australian males. Unpublished honors thesis, The Flinders University of South Australia, Australia.
Kefgen, M., & Touchie-Specht, P. (1986).Individuality in clothing selection and personal appearance (4th ed.) New York: Macmillan.
Lewis, L. (1987). Form and female authorship in music videos.Communication, 9 355–377.
Barbie at 24: A curse-or blessing? (1983, September 11).Newsweek, 102, 10–11.
Norton, K. (1984).South Australian females: Body fat, somatotype, body density and anthropometric fractionation of body mass. Unpublished master's thesis, The Flinders University of South Australia, Australia.
Norton, K. I., Whittingham, N. O., Carter, J. E. L., Kerr, D. A., & Gore, C. J. (1994). Measurement techniques in anthropometry. In K. I. Norton & T. S. Olds (Eds.),Anthropometry and anthropometric profiling. Sydney: Nolds Sports Scientific Publishers.
Pedersen, E. L., & Markee, N. L. (1991). Fashion dolls: Representations of ideals of beauty.Perceptual and motor skills, 73 93–94.
Rintala, M., & Mustajoki, P. (1992). Could mannequins menstruate?British Medical Journal, 305 1575–1576.
Rozin, P., & Fallon, A. (1988). Body image, attitudes to weight, and misperceptions of figure preferences of the opposite sex: A comparison of men and women in two generations.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97 342–345.
Silverstein, B., Perdue, L., Peterson, B., & Kelly, E. (1986). The role of the mass media in promoting a thin standard of bodily attractiveness for women.Sex Roles, 14 519–532.
Sutton-Smith, B. (1986).Toys as culture. New York: Gardner Press.
Tisdall, S. (1994, January 4). Group “liberates” Barbies.Sydney Morning Herald, p. 5.
Wilkinson, D. Y. (1987). The doll exhibit: A psycho-cultural analysis of black female role stereotypes.Journal of Popular Culture, 21 19–29.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Special thanks to Melissa Clough, Brendon Dews, Loretta Downie, Judy Morris, and Kim Birchall.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Norton, K.I., Olds, T.S., Olive, S. et al. Ken and Barbie at life size. Sex Roles 34, 287–294 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01544300
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01544300