"Researchers Find Barbie is Often Mutilated" (AP News)

[LearnedHand]

Um, "Barbie torture"? Is that covered under the PATRIOT Act?

============================

By Jill Lawless

LONDON (AP) - Barbie, beware. The iconic plastic doll is often mutilated at the hands of young girls, according to research published Monday by British academics.

"The girls we spoke to see Barbie torture as a legitimate play activity, and see the torture as a 'cool' activity," said Agnes Nairn, one of the University of Bath researchers. "The types of mutilation are varied and creative, and range from removing the hair to decapitation, burning, breaking and even microwaving."

Researchers from the university's marketing and psychology departments questioned 100 children about their attitudes to a range of products as part of a study on branding. They found Barbie provoked the strongest reaction, with youngsters reporting "rejection, hatred and violence," Nairn said.

"The meaning of 'Barbie' went beyond an expressed antipathy; actual physical violence and torture towards the doll was repeatedly reported, quite gleefully, across age, school and gender," she said.

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051219/D8EJJO58A.html

[ramapo]

1. My kids loved to torture Barbie

I found headless Barbie. Barbie floating face down in the pool. Barbie with her hair cut off. Barbie without arms and legs. They took glee in it. But they turned out ok...

[demnan]

2. Of course

Who can stand to look at one without plucking its legs off.

Yuck!

[azmouse]

3. I bet they all grow up to be good little Reps!

:evilgrin:

[SteppingRazor]

4. I never had Barbies, of course, but...

I used to remove the heads from He-Man dolls, insert long-fuse firecrackers, replace the head, and then watch them explode. Does that count?

[LearnedHand]

5. Oooh, VERY creative!

Looks as if this report has uncovered the soft underbelly of us all! Ich bin ein torturer?

[hobbit709]

8. But most of us

never went beyond the blowing up toys stage. Evidently our Fuehrer still enjoys that kind of activity

[harlinchi]

6. Hey! Did you play a role in 'Toy Story' ?

Just kidding; it was animated! But you describe the action of the 'boy next door, Sid' who was set to launch Buzz using a fireworks-type rocket!

[SteppingRazor]

10. No, in Toy Story...

He straps the toy to a rocket. I used to take the heads off the He-Men, place a big firecracker (preferably an M-80 with a long fuse) inside the body cavity, replace the head, and then blow up the He-Man. Entirely different than strapping him to a rocket. Sheesh. Anybody can do that. ;)

[tocqueville]

12. that's terrorism !

you are in big trouble...

[LongTomH]

7. More examples:

A co-worker at my old company talked about her son and his box of Barbie heads. She expressed some concern about what this might mean about his psychological development; however, she quckly brightened up when I suggested they might make the perfect Halloween decorations: Barbie heads on little poles! Talk about Addams Family Values!

Another ghoulish example: I saw a "Barbie Guillotine" in the dealer's room at a local SF 'Con. It was a perfect, Barbie-scale model, complete with basket and kneeling Barbie. The sign warned that the blade was too sharp to touch.

[LearnedHand]

9. ROTFL!

OMIGOD! We are all sick, sick, sick. Who KNEW?

[calico1]

11. Hmmmm......

I guess I must qualify as a "torcherer." I did not have a Barbie but I did at one time or another pull the heads off my dolls (or arms and legs). Does that make me sick? Actually, everyone I can remember did that to their dolls. Who never pulled the heads or limbs off their dolls? My sister was the worst though. She gave one of my dolls a haircut! And she is the weird one so I guess that must explain it. ;-)

[crikkett]

13. so when little girls take apart their toys it's torture?

when little boys do it, it's 'curiosity'.

[400Years]

16. exactly, I think the kids know its just a few pieces of plastic

"barbie" is not a human, sheesh, its just a piece of molded plastic.
the kids know that even if the "researchers" what to place some kind
of conceptual baggage on this object.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

14. I tortured the bitch

and so did my daughter. AND WE'RE PROUD OF IT

[Clark2008]

15. Maybe this "torture" is more of the manifestation, subconsciously,

by little girls to cry out to adults that they can never live up to the rigid body ideals as expressed by the Mattel, which represents the worldview that women's bodies must be a perfect 40 by 22 by 32 (and seven feet tall while on permanant tip-toes).

Or maybe it's just because those body parts are so easy to take off.

:evilgrin: