Be Brave - Confiscate the Barbie Dolls!

Everything seems to be getting faster these days. Cars, computers, money, even fashion! My my.. even the children are not spared.

Beauty is skin deep, goes the old refrain. Physical beauty is superficial. But of course, we humans are superficial too.

Modern society is crazed with looking good. Lipsticks in a thousand different shades of red and boxes and boxes of rouge, filler and other miscellaneous powders occupy pride of place in a modern woman's dressing table. Timeslots for expensive and complicated cosmetic procedures are snapped up with what seems like undue haste. The mass media laps this all up, of course. This quest for the perfect face/figure is glorified, held up as a quest that is highly important - nay, essential for every Woman to undertake. There's a stigma associated with tiny imperfections: a mole here, a wrinkle there, maybe an extra few inches of fat.

It's not just women, of course. There's a rising group of men who do this as well. Gender equality at its finest (not!)

As you can no doubt tell by now, I'm not in favour of this overemphasis on physical beauty. Note the word overemphasis, I'm not one of those select breed of people who believe in the total unimportance of looks. We have a word for people them, it's called a Slob. I would like to believe that I'm not one (although I really may be, but bear with my conceit here). I am, however, against having the achievement of a Good Look espoused as some sort of Holy Grail for young people to attain.

To my view, the practises reported in the article are pretty disturbing. Even 6-9 year olds - kids too young to even watch PG-13 movies, let alone handle the emotional rollercoaster that is a romantic relationship - are being sexualized and turned into objects of glamour. What kind of adults are these children going to grow up into? There's the stereotype of the "dumb blonde", perpetrated by materialistic and highly plasticized stars such as Paris Hilton. Is this then the inevitable fate of these poor children?

And their parents allow their children to indulge in these activities - sometimes encourage them, even. I feel disgusted to the core.

That reaction may seem a tad extreme. Let me explain. No matter how much society changes, 6-9 year olds will never be prepared for serious relationships. The timing of puberty (which is purely physiobiological) ensures that. These children, therefore, are deluding themselves. They're living in a Castle in the Air, supported by the delusion-inducing bubblegum images disseminated bythe mass media. It's a compelling mirage, and I can certainly see why many are enamoured with it. Be beautiful, and attract many hunky men to woo you. What could possibly be better?

But it's an illusion nonetheless, and the sooner they recognize that the better. Looks aren't everything, despite what the Disney Channel tells you. Oh, you can make a case that we shouldn't interfere with childhood hopes and dreams, as we could permanently damage a child's psychology. But I put forth to you that we must, simply because one day a child will find that those steps of smoke she's been climbing aren't real. And what then? She falls, possibly to her death.

The pursuit of beauty, when taken to excess, can and does kill. Michael's excellent report on Anorexia talks at greater length about this.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't be allowed to pursue beauty, nothing of the sort. But if this pursuit becomes an obsession... then something has to be done. Judging by the way society is going, I would definitely say the current state of affairs qualifies.

So what then? Is this morbid state of affairs already set in place? Maybe, maybe not, although I certainly hope otherwise. We cannot, however, know unless we try. And the first step to that, is to break children of the view that Beauty is All that Matters. And to do that effectively, you have to stop the harmful influences that put forth this viewpoint.

Be strong, parents, for you do what you must. For the sake of your children, and your children's children, the Tyranny of Barbie must Fall.