WV lawmaker wants Barbie outlawed in his state
 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29508066/

Excerpt:

Barbie could get an unwelcome present for her 50th birthday: outlawed in West Virginia.

A state lawmaker proposed a bill Tuesday to ban sales of the iconic Mattel doll and others like her.

The Barbie Ban Bill, proposed by Democratic Delegate Jeff Eldridge (D) Lincoln County, says such toys influence girls to place too much importance on physical beauty, at the expense of their intellectual and emotional development.

"I just hate the image that we give to our kids that if you're beautiful, you're beautiful and you don't have to be smart," Eldridge told West Virginia news station WOWK.

The delegate concedes that the chances of getting the bill passed are slim, but adds that he stands behind it.

"It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible." Oscar Wilde

Why does the lawmaker think that because Barbie is pretty, she can't be smart? That's the beauty of dolls...they can do/think/say anything the little girl or boy playing with them wants them to.

It's the time of the year when batshit crazy bills get introduced and dismissed in state legislatures.

Good times will always be had by all involved.

This lawmaker thinks that toys like Barbie are a bad influence, when take away Barbie, and you still have the media. Magazines, TV, movies..that's what gives the little girls the problems. Not the Barbie. Millions of little girls had Barbies growing up, including myself, and I grew up just fine. I'm happy with myself. It has absolutely nothing to do with the Barbies.

Barbie has been

-a vetenarian.
-a pilot.
-a flight attendant.
-a teacher.
-an astronaut in 1965 - long before other American female astronauts.
-a doctor in 1988.
-a NASCAR driver in 1998 (okay, not sure if this is positive or negative...)

Not such a negative image, IMHO. I think it would be doing more harm than good by refusing to let your daughter have a Barbie. I understand that she will have a new face and that the waist is larger on the Barbies to be sold this year.

Barbie will turn the big 5-0 on March 9 this year, but there's no truth to the rumor that Menopause Barbie will be for sale!

Don't we have bigger issues to worry about??

Here's an idea - how about we let parents decide what playthings they want their children to have? As long as they are safe, toys should be left out of government control.

Can we ban Ken?

Try banning inbreeding among the mining community, you silly douche

What! Are you offended by his man bump?

*giggle* @ man bump! :D

In my humble opinion, it is MEN who place those expectations on women in society, not Barbie. Let's ban men :)

Doesn't WV have among the highest obesity rates in America? I bet kids in WV stopped expecting women to look like Barbie a decade (or more) ago.

And what's with the "if you're beautiful, you're beautiful; you don't need to be smart" crap? I didn't realize the two were mutually exclusive.

It just came to me!!! If you're fat, then you need to be smart. So West Virginians should pour Mountain Dew in their babies' bottles so they'll become obese. Then, out of obese necessity, they'll be smart. By far, the sneakiest way to take over the USA I've ever seen! Go, WV!

This sums it up for me.

Doesn't WV got other things to worry about than banning Barbie?

And honeychile forgot that Barbie ran for president before Hillary did. :D

It makes me wonder what they are sneaking through while using these bills as a distraction.

Don't I have some sort of constitution right to have my theoretical children play with lawn darts?

What a waste of time and money.

I just had this conversation with my mother yesterday, funny. My mother didn't allow my eldest sister to have Barbies because she thought Barbie was a bad example. My sister saved her money and bought me my first Barbie. I'm the daughter who has traveled the world, moved away from home, and got out of my crappy relationship, nor have I ever been married. My sister has been married three times and is a stay at home mom. Kind of back fired (though it was the 70's when she denied my sister and the Women's Movement was still going on, by the 80's Barbie had multicultural friends and empowering jobs) if you look how different we turned out.

Watch yourself now!

I'm pretty sure that Mississippi is more obese than WV.

Here ya go: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/0..._n_113460.html

Mississippi it is, with Alabama and Tennessee trailing.

I am pretty sure its WOMEN that place those expectations on other women in society, not men.

Most of my male friends would have sex with a toad if the toad's vagina was big enough. We are NOT, as a rule, a picky gender. ;)

Nope. :)

Men and women place these expectations on women together because it's part of our socialization. BUT it's no coincidence that this is a patriarchal, misogynist, and sexist society where maleness is the "gender neutral" standard and males dominant most social institutions.

Chalk the bolded up to some men with limited options having extremely low expectations. Other men beg to differ. LOL.

Men are as picky as women are when they aren't busy trying to be a stereotype of masculinity and manhood.

I was reading about the Barbie store opening in China and how excited the Chinese generally are over Barbie. The question was whether the people in China could relate to a doll that is typically does not look like them.

Then the source was talking about how much money Barbie will make. The Chinese govt restricts families to one child so families will spoil that child with Barbies and whatever else.

teehee

http://www.slate.com/id/2213123/?GT1=38001

WV dude is pissed 'cuz his blow up Barbie deflated...

Besides, my Barbies liked GI Joe with Kung Fu grip or Steve Austin with the Bionic Eye...

ETA: picture

http://profile.ak.facebook.com/v229/...73648_3742.jpg

http://www.funny-potato.com/images/new-barbie.jpg

:D

You know I'm teasin' hon! I do think women judge each other more harshly than men do, much of the time. But, I think that's mostly out of jealousy. We tend to be most brutal toward women with natural beauty!

ETA: AKA_Monet, that may be the first squirrel picture I've seen on GC that I wasn't fond of since our sorority mascot is the squirrel! lol

Well, jealousy doesn't really make the go 'round and I won't wager that most women are jealous and petty. The real judgments that are made about appearance don't mostly come from women.

she still looks good at 50. what's her secret?

plastic surgery?

Q: How do we know that the toothbrush was invented in West Virginia?
A: If it had been invented anywhere else, it would be the teethbrush.

Now that's just mean! :D

That Barbie looked like she was 70, not 50. Most of the 50 year olds I know look a lot better than that.