Comments about ‘Barbie at 50: USU students reinvent America's most famous cultural icon’

how exactly does a plastic toy "flaunt" anything, let alone her (ahem) "beauty". Honestly if it wasn't Barbie, human girls would have issues with their toy rocks, complaining that they can't get the same granite like surface on their skin no matter how hard they try. The whole concept of blaming a toy for low self-image is nothing but a stooooopid scapegoat and excuse for not taking control of one's own life.

Pardon me while I throw up. Barbie, a mainstay for preschool children, is revolting to me. I do not think handling an adult female body and letting it lie about naked in the toy box is anything that we should be proud of for our young children. Thankfully, most girls are through with Barbie before they start kindergarten. I wish mothers would give their daughters baby dolls and little girl dolls so they can act out and pretend games about the world they live in and understand. Barbie as a vet, a president or an astronaut is pretty far fetched to a 4 year old.

The Barbie Bash was a wonderful, satirical celebration of the ridiculous ways that Barbie and other toys have taught American kids to objectify girls and women, and to glorify gender roles that limit kids' lives. By making fun of Barbie, this event helped students and adults exorcise Barbie's limiting portrayals, and poke fun at the way gender plays in American society and the mass media. USU is to be commended for this kind of activity, but condemned for firing Brenda Cooper as director of the Women & Gender Studies program. Budget cuts shouldn't mean getting rid of your most successful and effective teachers.

Not GIJoe is absolutely correct. Barbie represents everything that is wrong with modern society. It is outrageous that a toy which promotes vanity, haughtiness, and self-gratification has become so popular in the last 50 years. There was a time in this Country when the public demanded that toys reflect the old fashioned values that made this Country great: humility, moderation, and respect for others.

Yes, a toy that has shown girls that you can do anything is really bad. Girls need their Easy Bake Ovens, and Betsy Wetsy dolls to train them where their rightful place should be!!

Chill out!!! I work at the No. Campus school mentioned in the article and it was a very enlightening project for the girls to express their thoughts about themselves. Also, it was a great writing experience for them.

I love this idea! Barbie grates on me and has for years, although, yes, I bought my daughters one or two when they were younger. (But the one or two total were enough for all 3 girls to share and dispense with forever, since blocks, paper and paint always won out over dolls of any kind.) What fun to poke fun at society and at Barbie all at one time! Even my kids would love this. So would my 8yo activity group!