griffrat
Commander
3507 Posts
    
 | | 02/19/2006 9:07 AM |
| I was sitting at work listening to a radio station out of Seattle. When the news update came on and I was kinda interested in this story below. I have not been able to see if it is really "true research" but is pretty interesting. And there are people that say that D&D is to "violent".....[:D]
Girls often 'torture' Barbies, researchers say
Last Updated Mon, 19 Dec 2005 16:28:18 EST CBC News
Many young girls like to mutilate and "torture" Barbie dolls, including popping off their heads and microwaving them, a British study suggests.
Researchers at the University of Bath have been analyzing the effects of product branding and marketing on more than 100 children aged seven to 11.
They found that, of all the products tested, Barbie provoked the most violent emotions.
"The doll provoked rejection, hatred and violence," said Agnes Nairn, who teaches marketing in the university's school of management.
She said that regardless of age or school, children "gleefully" reported maiming the dolls.
"The girls we spoke to see Barbie torture as a legitimate play activity, and see the torture as a 'cool' activity in contrast to other forms of play with the doll," she said.
"The types of mutilation are varied and creative, and range from removing the hair to decapitation, burning, breaking and even microwaving."
The researchers offered a number of different motivations for the mutilations.
The most common was that the girls felt they had outgrown the doll.
"It's as though disavowing Barbie is a rite of passage and a rejection of their past."
Mattel, which manufactures Barbie, dismissed the study as a very small sampling. Its annual sales of 94 million Barbies are proof that the doll is widely loved by children, it said.
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Lord_Raven
Sergeant
391 Posts
| | 02/19/2006 9:41 AM |
| "...are proof that the doll is widely loved by children, it said."
More likely, since children aren't typically wealthy enough to go buy stuff in the stores with "their" earnings from work. The real truth is the Parents are forcing their toys onto the children and trying to make little "Barbies" out of them by example! Hence the destruction and mutilation after they realize that is an unatainable goal!
Another way for mothers to torture their daughters is forcing them to be in Pagents! Psycho/fat/ugly moms that got no attention because of their bad looks and such, then force their little girls to do pagents to relive their young live failures! SICK!
Not to say Dad's making the boys play "Ball" is any better...
p.s. thanks for the rant... | |
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griffrat
Commander
3507 Posts
| | 02/19/2006 10:14 AM |
| No worries. I just think that it is funny that the kids not only ripping the little heads off, but putting them in the microwave!!!
For some reason Metallica's Creeping Death comes to mind...Die by my hand...... | |
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zenthrus
Warlord
5132 Posts
SLC, UT
| | 02/19/2006 12:52 PM |
| Reminds me of Fox Trot. Jason's always torturing Barbie. [:)]
Apparently he's just "going through a rite of passage" [:P] | |
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orcmonk220
Underboss
1608 Posts
| | 02/20/2006 1:45 PM |
| Cue the band 'Murder Dolls' [)]
Interesting fact there. Mwahahahaha | |
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Bert the Troll
Commander
3964 Posts
Adelaide
| | 02/20/2006 6:01 PM |
| Meh, sterotyping overdramactisng it imo.
Boys of course never do the same to thier dolls action figures or armymen. Heck little Jane sees Johny slowly incinerate GI Joe's head with the magnifying glass so she puts barbie into the microwave to save time. All of a sudden she's the psycho :rolleyes:
Normal play activity to cut a doll's hair, or to find a breaking point of a leg. Hey why is everyone backing away from me? If they asked the girls 'Have you ever cut your doll's hair' it would be a rare one that didn't, so of course all of them end up as torturers if thats what you class as torture.
I do understand why the anatomically incorrect blondie princess type dolls provoke some resentment or rejection though.
I do remeber one movie or show where the freak little brother was found to have boxex & boxes of barbie heads under his bed which he had gathered from people in the neighbourhood...
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"Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrer." Bert the Troll - The Hobbit
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zenthrus
Warlord
5132 Posts
SLC, UT
| | 02/20/2006 8:13 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Bert the Troll
I do remeber one movie or show where the freak little brother was found to have boxex & boxes of barbie heads under his bed which he had gathered from people in the neighbourhood...
That wasn't a show, just your childhood memories [:D]
I remember a few years back Mattel decided to recreate Barbie as a more proprotionate doll. It seems to me that somewhere along the line they stopped that practice. Personally I would hate to see someone with Barbie's measurements. She's basically a 10 year old with a DD cup size. Yikes! [V] | |
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Bert the Troll
Commander
3964 Posts
Adelaide
| | 02/21/2006 7:03 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by zenthrus
quote:
Originally posted by Bert the Troll
I do remeber one movie or show where the freak little brother was found to have boxex & boxes of barbie heads under his bed which he had gathered from people in the neighbourhood...
That wasn't a show, just your childhood memories [:D]
Oh yeah thats right. Whadda know... still there. Wanna come look? | |
"Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrer." Bert the Troll - The Hobbit
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Malin Lug
Sergeant
742 Posts
| | 02/21/2006 8:51 PM |
| This makes me think about a foreign commercial that I've seen on one of those crazy "World's Funiest __________ " shows. It shows this little boy, about 8 y/o who is playing with a pair of Barbie dolls. His father gets frustrated and tries to get him to play with GI Joe's instead, but at night the boy is gripping his two barbie dolls. Fast forward 10+ years and the "boy" wakes up between two girls that look like barbie dolls and walks into the kitchen and his dad is there with a guy that looks like GI Joe. Have no idea what the commercial was for, but it was kind of funny.
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