Photo Credit: Virginia News

When many of us hear the word ‘Barbie,’ we automatically imagine a tall doll with blond hair and blue eyes. But recent changes may result in, this is no longer being the case.

On March 1^st 2016, Mattel released a new line of Barbie dolls, featuring many different skin tones, shapes, and sizes in order to stray away from only advertising a certain type of girl. The new set of dolls also includes 22 different eye colors, and 24 different hairstyles.

Mattel’s decision to create these dolls came from all the backlash the company was receiving for not having dolls that looked realistic and that encouraged girls to think Barbie’s size, eye color and shape was what a girl should look like.

Although this may seem irrelevant to girls our age, Christine Jacob ’17 thinks “It’s wonderful that little girls can finally relate to their dolls. It will help encourage them to not only be confident, but also accepting of others.”

Due to a study, which showed that girls who were exposed to Barbie dolls had a lower self-esteem, Mattel made it a priority to create dolls that everyone could relate to. The new Barbie dolls can be tall, curvy, short or petite. Now, a new generation of little girls will have the ability to say that her doll looks exactly like themselves.

Little things help take a big step towards the end of body shaming, and towards the beginning of acceptance of different body types.

By Antoinette Afriyie ’17, Staff Writer