Teens In Balance

Brazen Barbie Persists After 50 years

When I was ten years old I gave all my Barbie dolls away to a young girl, maybe 8, who was on a visit from Europe. I had about a dozen of them in various states: broken off toes, unevenly cut hair, face make-up with magic marker. For some reason I felt sorry for the girl. The family was not poor; she had dolls. It was something else that was a bit off about her - an utterly shy demeanor, an unnatural awkwardness.

Years later the girl was diagnosed with a sever mental illness.The interesting thing about that episode was my mother'€™s reaction after the family had left. She was furious at me for giving away all my Barbies and the plastic pink suitcase containing all the gowns and accessories. "These will be worth something someday!"

I was shocked. I thought I had done something kind. But my mother was on to something. Barbie turns 50 this year (see pictures and timeline). The plastic doll has endured over the years in spite of the controversy Barbie elicits among feminists and eating disorder professionals. NPR (On Point with Tom Ashbrook) had a program about a book on the inventor of Barbie, Ruth Handler (the doll was modeled after a German sex toy) and covered the debate over whether the dolls are a positive or negative influence on girls. Barbie has been, after all, an astronaut, doctor, a business woman and a presidential candidate; she'€™s been black, Hispanic, blond and brunette. The fashion queen and runway model is but only one aspect of the doll'€™s remarkable capabilities and talents. Amy Poehler hosted a self- esteem program, Smart Girls at the Party, for girls sponsored by Mattel, the maker of Barbie, as part of the ongoing anniversary celebration.

I can'€™t say that I'€™m sorry I gave away my Barbie dolls. I just lost interest. I avoided giving my daughters a Barbie doll for all the reasons the feminists hate the doll (my girls received Barbies as gifts anyway), but it turns out my girls were more interested in American Girl dolls. But they out grew those flat chested, normal looking dolls around - age 10 as well.

As for the thin beauty ideal for women in the US? The images abound on TV, bill boards, music labels and just about every type of magazine cover whether it is fashion, fitness, sports or cooking. Teaching girls about normal weight, natural body shape, to dress for your body type, and how to be media literate is the best prevention against body image disturbance. But it still doesn'€™t stop today'€™s teen girls from wearing belly shirts and navel rings.

As for my long lost Barbies, I tried to find out how much they would be worth about 30 years later. I think the personal damage I created on them would render them worthless today. But if you have coveted and saved your dollies over the years, there is a website that helps you to determine how much your Barbie is worth.

Text Dirty to Me: Reactions to the Sex and Tech Survey

So the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and CosmoGirl joined forces to sponsor a survey of over 1200 teens and young adults on how often they have posted online, or sent messages, with sexually suggestive content. And the results? Fairly often.  

Or is it really? I wrote about this Sex and Tech survey on another blog but have a bit more freedom here to focus on my personal reaction. Surveys like these are very important and hopefully the information derived can influence public health messages, school prevention programming and ideally, the behavior of hormonally raging teens with their cell phones and online profiles. Yet, I must confess that I found the study summary devoid of context and feel conflicted about the sponsorship. Ok, many teens are sending nude or semi-nude photos or sending sexually provocative flirtations with a disregard to the potential of exposure to many unintended recipients (like the whole 9th grade). Yet, the cultural milieu for today'€s youth is rampant with sexual images and the sexualization of ever-younger kids. Children under age five are exposed to dolls with belly shirts and low cut outfits and superhero figures bulked up to the max with exaggerated musculature. TV shows and movies abound for the under 13 crowd that are sexually explicit -- and continue to reinforce the rather boring fairly tale scenarios of the dashing prince rescuing the damsel in distress. Really, nothing much has changed thematically since I was a child; it's just that the sheer amount of media has increased and venues have multiplied. And there is little by way on the value of sexual health, maturity and enjoyment. Instead the public casts a judgmental eye and horrified cry at underage sexual acting out over the web and cell phones. The MSNBC interview about the survey has one of the sponsors remarking, "€œeven the nice girls"€ are doing it. (We'€™ve heard that line before.)  

Sponsors 

The National Campaign holds a very important mission to reach out to youth, parents and communities to educate about pregnancy and prevent unplanned pregnancies. That'€™s a tough calling especially given the recent political climate of abstinence-only educational programming -- a noble but unrealistic effort. Consider that the there was a recent spike in the frequency of unplanned teen pregnancies. I can understand why the Nat'€™l Campaign would partner with CosmoGirl, a savvy teen publication, to sponsor a survey. Kids would be more likely to respond to the slick verses the staid.

With that said, just take a look at CosmoGirl or its online version. It'€™s got sex written all over it. Or, it'€™s online blog called, The Daily Kiss. The daily kiss? What'€™s the underlying message in that title? Nothing against the blog itself -- the post on the Sex and Tech survey was chock full of links. The rest of the site is what you would imagine for contemporary teen fashion, fame and fluff. 

But here's the inherent conflict for me: if you want to reach teens you need to meet them where they are at. That means arriving at the doorstep of hot brands -- like the Abercrombie€™s, with poster size images of young lads with bare chests and girls with pouty lips. It'€™s tough line to tow for public health initiatives. But it has to be done.

A good read may lead to healthy lifestyle changes in overweight girls

I love behavioral health research with a creative design so I was pleasantly surprised when I was tipped off to Tara Parker-Pope'€™s piece in the New York Times this week, Healthful Messages Wrapped in Fiction.She reported on a Duke University study that basically had overweight tween girls (ages 9-13) in a obesity prevention program split into three groups: (1) one group read a Beacon Street Girls Series novel focused on the classic middle school angst around weight, feeling fat, being teased, and ways the character coped, (2) another group read an installment of the same series around self-esteem only, and (3) a third group did not receive anything.

The interesting results: Girls in the first group who read about the girl with the weight issues changed their behavior around eating and physical activity to be more healthy and thoughtful â€" resulting in a slightly lower BMI -- which, if apparently sustained for these girls, could mean growing into teenagers with a healthier weight. The second group also showed positive gains in healthy lifestyle habits although not as great; and the reading-deprived group showed a slight increase in BMI.

Of course, there is the question of whether statistical significance translates into clinical significance. But to me the important points were that fiction may a viable way to communicate to kids about healthy choices in scenarios that readers can connect to (rather than us grown ups and health educators stammering over and over again about eating your fruits and veggies). And, also that small changes -- early enough in one'€™s development -- could lead to sustained healthy habits to carry through life. Time will tell if the researchers follow these girls long enough.

(The study was originally presented earlier this month at the Obesity Society'€™s annual conference, lead author: Alexandra C. Russell, medical student, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, N.C.)

The second reason I was delighted to read the story is that I used to live on Beacon Street and when this series came out I was still living in Brookline, MA. The story hit the local press at the time and the shelves of Brookline Booksmith, the neighbor bookseller with the best guest writer talks in Boston area. I was impressed with the mission of B*tween Productions who created the Beacon Street Girls series. At the time I thought the books series was a brilliant idea. Now, with a daughter about to turn 11, this is a great reminder to start her on this book series (if she could stop reading the Harry Potter series again -- this time in reverse order).