is just a doll to me, a symbol of my childhood. I remember receiving a Barbie Corvette on my sixth birthday. I did not get to play with it for long because my brother, older than me by two years, decided to take over. He placed my "hard-bodied" Barbie in the car and they were off, racing down the streets of San Juan or another equally exotic place. I never wondered why Barbie had large breasts, because all women had breasts of some sort. In actuality, Barbie's breasts were less like breasts and more like large mounds of excess plastic. At ten, Prager states that she found Ken's genitalia-oppressed state ominous. At that age, I had no idea what genitalia were, nor did I care. The last thing on my mind was the sexual habits of two dolls. Prager also states that she did not marry because she could not find a guy who "looked as good in clam diggers" as Ken. She was not so worried about Ken's genitalia that she would not marry him.It is said that if Barbie were human, she would be almost 8 feet tall, have a 39-inch bust and a 23-inch waist. If Barbie were human, she would either be the most sought after basketball player or the highest paid model in history. Yet Barbie is not human. She is an eleven-inch piece of plastic. Any person who would find fault in Barbie's body had deeper issues than a doll's bust size. Prager says that she questioned the type of woman who would make Barbie; obviously Barbie's maker was a very loving mother. Barbie's maker gave her daughter a chance to grow emotionally and intellectually. My mother never designed a doll for me, but she did supply me with many Barbie's.In Prager's essay, "Our Barbie's, Ourselves," she ends by suggesting that we are all trapped in "Barbie's world" without chance of escape. I was never part of Barbie's world; Barbie was part of mine. I put Barbie in situations that occurred in my everyday life, and I put Barbie in my dreams. Through her, I could go anywhere I desir...
