The Thin Ideal

I once read a story about a mother who walked in on her six year old attempting to purge because the kids at school called her fat. A six year old! At first I didn't believe it. Children that age are, well, children. All they think about is playing, eating sugar, and waiting for they day that they're finally "grown up."

And then I read about how children's toys are teaching toddlers sexual objectifications. Did you know about some of the toys they have out there now? I had no idea! But it makes sense.

The first toy that comes to mind is the Barbie doll. Barbie has been loved by almost every girl in America, including myself. After all, she's perfect. That's the problem . . . no human being - breathing, eating, flesh and blood human being - has a body like Barbie. The original Barbie was created in 1959 and automatically became the number one doll for little girls all across America. She began her career looking like an almost-normal person. I'm sure you have all heard that if Barbie was a human being she would be missing a rib and be severely underweight. This has only gotten worse in the last fifty years. The Barbie dolls manufactured today are created to emphasize a thin waist and, to put it in a nice way, is quite grown-up.

Barbie isn't the only children's toy that gives children distorted views of beauty. Apparently My Little Pony is now creating horses with luscious hair, long legs, and pink high heels! And did you know that ponies love accessories and make-up? Troll dolls are also toys that have been made to look less like trolls and more like scantily dressed teenage girls.

Not only are toys being sexualized, but children's television shows are teaching fewer morals and giving more fashion tips. Let me remind you, these shows target three to six year olds. In a show featuring a fairy named Rainbow Bright, the characters wear revealing clothing and some might say they speak in seductive tones.

Why are the toy manufacturing companies and the media targeting children? The thin ideal in our society has gone so far as to make six year olds feel fat. They see the stereotypes that fat equals lazy, stupid, and a person with no friends and put themselves in that position. Everywhere you look the media points towards "thin and beautiful" people to be kind, popular, smart, everything that a "fat" person isn't. Thinness does not equal goodness.

To the parents out there and especially the mothers: don't ever call yourself or someone else fat, ugly, or stupid in front of your child. You have no idea how much those words can influence them. Help your children. Teach them how to be healthy, to exercise and to eat right, and don't ever let them think that if they aren't skinny they aren't worthy of your love.

I recently saw a commercial for the show Toddlers in Tiaras. There are some messed up people on that show. One of the mothers said that if you aren't pretty and skinny you won't go anywhere in life. My heart breaks for her daughter and for all the little girls on that show. And I pity the mothers because they probably are teaching their children what they were taught growing up. Is this what our society has come to? If you aren't pretty and perfect you're nothing?

Don't let your children believe the lies the media is feeding us. Don't let this be a lost generation.