Barbie blessed for including health insecurities on their dolls

The once thought of ‘perfect’ dolls who were created without a trace of reality have been praised in the latest Barbie movie for including health issues such as cellulite.

Greta Gerwig’s latest movie Barbie has broken box office records and become the first film to cause a major shortage on pink paint. However, underneath all the pink paint and glorified outfits, Barbie dolls that have been released months before and after the movie came out have been completed with health issues such as scoliosis and cellulite to make them more human.

Despite marketing, advertisements and the beauty industry, cellulite, which involves the netted fibrous tissue in the fat beneath your skin and sometimes the fat cells present in this particular area will clump together and get pushed through that net creating a dimpled appearance to the skin, is not actually a health condition that requires a ‘cure’ in the medical sense.

According to figures from Cleveland Clinc, between 80% and 90% of all women who have experienced puberty have cellulite, but unfortunately on the whole statistics from UK Parliament show 62% of women feel negatively about their bodies.

However, since barbie dolls have been created with cellulite and broadcasted on the big screen, women have come to realise that the condition is completely normal, and it was in-fact past barbie dolls that were created with perfect plastic skin to be abnormal.

In addition, Mattel, the creators of Barbie dolls, launched a ‘Chelsea’ doll who has scoliosis – a condition that causes a curvature of the spine.

Cadi Dafydd, a 25-year-old woman who was diagnosed with the condition when she was 17 has been inspired by the new Barbie Film and the new doll as she claims it will inform young girls who play with her about the disease.

Commenting on the launch of the new doll, Cadi told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast: ‘Representation really does matter…seeing as very few of us, I would say, would fit into the ideal image that Barbie was once known for.

‘Along with this representation is the awareness that it raises of scoliosis and other conditions.

‘To think that it is now a doll – and that young girls will know of us – is really a big thing.’  

Research from Scoliosis Association, the only UK wide organisation providing support for people affected by the condition, found that 2-3% of the population will have scoliosis and 10% of them may require surgery.

Image: Elena Mishlanova