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.