Comments on: Sunday Fun: Barbie Without Make-Up

By: Treefinger

Treefinger — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 05:44:00 +0000

I don’t really see the point of giving her extra things (wrinkles, stained teeth, some form of alopecia or something so she doesn’t have ANY eyelashes) that the doll doesn’t have and wouldn’t be completely covered by makeup anyway. I know the wrinkles might be because Barbie is supposedly nearly 50 “years old” but how old the product is doesn’t really reflect how old the “character” is supposed to be, which is usually about 25-30 or so. I think it would have been a powerful image without those. Tusconian has a point but I think aside from its problems the image can stand alone without necessarily being a judgement on beautified women, rather more of a comment on how the toy industry represents an archetype that is supposed to stand in for those women. Why can’t you get a makeup-free Barbie? Women with extensive beauty routines (if that’s what her character is meant to be) don’t and shouldn’t have to conform to them 24/7 and it’s okay to acknowledge that. Or, why are there many different Barbies in terms of race (not that there are no problems in the way this was handled) and career, but they are all thin, youngish (at least I don’t think there are older relative dolls available, I only heard of her 2 younger sisters when I was a kid and owned them both) and wear makeup? That seems like it’s not representing the full spectrum of what the kids playing with them might grow up to be. Which I suppose is part of the concern too.

Ed: I will say though that apart from the teeth stains the first image looks loads like my mother without makeup. I find it a bit more personally effective/sadder for that reason.

By: redjet166

redjet166 — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 04:33:00 +0000

Oh dear people. Lighten up, yeah? A man can’t make any bloody comment about women without a bunch of oversensitive feminists jumping up and down telling him he doesn’t know anything. Just lighten up.

By: Weekly Feminist Reader

Weekly Feminist Reader — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 14:30:32 +0000

[…] Here’s what Barbie looks like without makeup. […]

By: Red

Red — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:04:00 +0000

You’re writing this from an interesting perspective, implying barbie without make up is ugly in the first place.

By: Lovely Links: 4/19/13

Lovely Links: 4/19/13 — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:32:22 +0000

[…] Eddi Aguirre shows us what Barbie might look like without makeup. And before […]

By: Sundaydrive00

Sundaydrive00 — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:16:00 +0000

I had a Ken doll where you could do it with his hair. Hot water made him a blonde, and cold water made him a brunette.

By: crookedfinger

crookedfinger — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 05:55:00 +0000

Actually, that’s what happens when I put mascara on. I’m not even blonde and my eyelashes are practically invisible on their own. And then they’re super long and very noticeable. Just saying.

By: snerker

snerker — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:03:00 +0000

I hate this and I frankly don’t see the point. What exactly is the artist trying to convey with this? All women who wear make-up are ‘ugly’ underneath? It’s certainly not going to inspire women to be proud, go make-up free and let their natural beauty shine. It’s also not telling women that being ‘ugly’ is ok. To me its only purpose seems to be to mock women wearing make-up as if it’s something shameful when in reality, fair or not, it’s ridiculous to expect that a women who looks like ‘before’ Barbie wouldn’t be mocked or completely ignored if she didn’t try to hide her flaws. It’s bad enough for the average to plain woman like me, I feel bad for those women who ‘dare’ to have flaws like large moles, huge bags underneath the eyes and next to no eyelashes.

Don’t fight the beauty industry, fight society where ‘ugliness’ in men is far more easily tolerated than in women (just think of all the countless TV shows and sitcoms where the fat/ugly/plain guy is married to the bombshell but never the other way round).

By: Elena

Elena — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:10:00 +0000

Keep in mind that a doll's makeup isn't related to what a real human wears as makeup, it's more of an stylized, 3D painting of a *cartoon* version of a human. That's why they have such a heavy use of "tertiary sexual characteristics" (in the TV Tropes sense): redder lips for women while male action dolls^H^H^H figures keep their lips unpainted, three or four extra-long eyelashes, the regulatory one twinkle of light in each iris, and so on. You can compare Barbie and other mass-market dolls (Bratz, Monster High) with movie tie-in figures (which actually try to imitate real people's coloration because they do have to look like Jonny Depp or Scarlett Johansson) to see the difference. Barbie isn't intended to look real, Barbie is intended to look like a cartoon. Mind you, these movie tie-in figures can be improved by hand for more photorrealism, too.

By: Tusconian

Tusconian — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:13:00 +0000

“Natural” makeup? While that opens up a whole discussion about makeup for human girls and women, is it really possible for a doll to wear natural makeup? When dolls “wear” obvious “makeup,” they’re not actually wearing makeup; they are painted with a type of symbolic visual shorthand for makeup. What looks like normal, albeit heavy, makeup on Barbie would look clownish and tacky on most human women. The reason there is a distinction between a woman wearing “natural” makeup and a woman wearing no makeup is the fact that real women have skin. “Natural” makeup is used to conceal and subtly enhance. Barbie doesn’t have pores or birthmarks or scars. She doesn’t break out when she has her period, she doesn’t burn or freckle in the sun, she doesn’t get bags under her eyes if she stays up all night, her lips don’t get chapped, she doesn’t think her complexion looks duller than usual today. The closest possible way to imitate a real woman’s use of natural makeup would maybe to make every single dolls slightly unique with facial scars or birthmarks. Which might be a cool idea for expensive collector’s dolls, but would be completely impractical for a cheap plastic children’s toy that’s probably going to end up naked with it’s hair chopped off forgotten in a shoebox.

By: Sunday Fun: Barbie Without Make-Up » Sociological Images - Let You Know Everything

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 03:40:54 +0000

[…] Read More: Sunday Fun: Barbie Without Make-Up » Sociological Images […]

By: Tusconian

Tusconian — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 01:26:00 +0000

Nope, I don’t, but I’ll be sure to check yours out, and you can use my opinion. I find it’s honestly a pretty common one on a lot of other blogs I comment on, for a lot of different reasons.

By: Barbie without makeup - Heavenarticles

Barbie without makeup - Heavenarticles — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:23:55 +0000

[…] Barbie without makeup, Eddi Aguirre. (Via Sociological Images) […]

By: Lunad

Lunad — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 21:50:00 +0000

the “braces” look more like stains that braces can cause sometimes to me, actually,

By: Lilly

Lilly — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 21:23:00 +0000

I’ve never seen lil miss makeup before, that seems like a really cool way for kids to costumize their dolls and a lot easier than having to paint the dolls by hand.