#normal barbie

If only we all looked like “Menstruation Barbie” on our periods.

Dear toy manufacturers, please stop making dolls defecate or menstruate, we have enough of that in our lives already.

via Latest Content - ELLE

via Latest Content - ELLE

Fund the campaign right here today: http://lammily.com/average-is-beautiful. 

With air brushed photographs of perfect women dominating the media, it’s no wonder girls are having self-esteem issues younger and younger. Women have perfectly toned stomachs, long and slender legs, dainty features, but manage to maintain their voluptuous bums and boobs. Surely our youth can’t think that’s reality? The point isn’t weather or not they think it’s real, because chances are they know what goes on in the editing room. The point is it still has a damaging impact on them, and even s adults, because most of us are so far from those goddesses that we see ourselves as far less attractive than we really are. I loved Barbies when I was a little girl, owning around 100 (shamefully). I particularly loved how long and thick their hair was, and their ‘grown-up’, ‘womanly’ features that I might one day have, but back then I didn’t consider that being the weight you want is a lot of work, and you can’t choose how you develop. I was blissfully unaware of the damage magazines and celebrity gossip journalists would inflict on my absorbent mind. Luckily Barbies didn’t have a lasting effect, and I’m comfortable enough in my own skin to ignore the media telling me to be perfect. Sadly that’s not so easy for everybody – male or female. They’re telling boys they need to be sculpted, and girls they need to be petite. Not only are they giving girls and boys false expectations of themselves, but also of each other. More and more pressure is being added from every angle. The Telegraph reported in 2008 that airbrushing celebrities ‘could be banned’, but that never happened of course. This year artist Nickolay Lamm decided to take a stand on the issue, starting by aiming the change at our youngest audience by creating ‘Lammily’. ‘Lammily’ has been nicknamed in the media as the ‘Normal Barbie’, coming with stretch mark, cellulite, and acne stickers. Her measurements, according to an article by Kashmira Gander for The Independent, are relative to that of a standard 19-year old girl in the US, and her makeup doesn’t resemble a human My Little Pony. Who knows if she’ll help young girls understand that real women have imperfections, or if she’ll be a fun sticker game that’ll be forgotten about when those young girls hit puberty and find pictures of celebrities to idolise. Maybe we should be focusing more on teaching our young girls and boys that both genders are subject to insecurities, and they should support each other. The media should be taking the pressure off. God knows there’s enough for us to worry about, so our waistlines and muscle tone shouldn’t be one of them.

What exactly is normal anyways? Apparently blemishes and cellulite? I'm sorry. How is that supposed to make anyone feel better about themselves? The fact that they think that is normal doesn't really feel like that is a self esteem booster at all. 

Kids respond to the "normal barbie" & it's awesome.