Role model or Weapon?

     Once upon a time there was a little girl who looked up to an unrealistic idol, Barbie. Spoiler alert: that little girl was me. From the time I was three years old I was taught to love Barbie. Everyone around me played with Barbie's; my sister, my cousin, my friends all had tons of them. In actuality I never saw anything wrong with the dolls until I read, "Our Barbie's, Ourselves." In fact, when I was little I looked up to her. She had everything I wanted in life: lots of talents, great careers, a beautiful house, and much more. But after I read, "Our Barbie's, Ourselves," I began to understand all the controversy surrounding the beloved toy. Emily Prager uses rhetoric, such as allusions and rhetorical questions, to reveal to readers the effect that Barbie can have on women. Girls who play with Barbie at a young age are taught that they should look like that doll. They are taught that in order to be 'beautiful' you must be tall, skinny, and blond, and you must have big breasts and a small waist. But, a girl looking exactly like a Barbie is about as realistic as my friends becoming pink elephants tomorrow. It's very unlikely- dare I say impossible. Today there are so many different people in the world who have such different body types and physical characteristics that the standard of perfection set by Barbie is even more outrageous than it was when she was first created. They say that perfection is in the eye of the beholder, but I think that no one can see you as perfect until you truly believe yourself to be perfect. Perfection is not only about looks but rather about who you are on the inside. Jesus Christ once said, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven." In this quote, Christ makes no reference to beauty but instead suggests that the path to perfection involves sacrificing your wants for the sake of others. Perfection is a word that can mean a thousand different things to a thousand different people; just as Barbie can be considered a role model or a weapon against feminism (Prager), depending on who you ask.