What kind of a role-model is Barbie really?

The first thing I want to bring your attention to is this: Tramp stamp Barbie, now this is a youtube video of a guy reviewing one of Barbies more... intriguing little doll lines. Tramp stamp Barbie?! Come on. Yes, it's real, yes girls buy this - and as we all know (apparently) all girls wanna be just like the dolls that they buy from Woolworths, or from other stores that haven't actually closed down.

I'm not the first person to think about Barbie in this way, there's numerous articles over that thing we call the inter web about Barbie being a little whore - but there also ones of a contradictory note - one of the more interesting finds was this: Barbie as a role model.

Now, here the author states that Barbie is not to blame for anorexia, bullemia, social anxiety and eating disorders, peer pressure and other thoughts about a child needing to look perfect in every way.

...Personally, I don't know. I mean, surely things such as "Tramp stamp Barbie" should not be around, but that would be more of a morla high ground - exposing children to something that shouldn't really be talked about or thought about until after a certain age. So what do we do? Censor Barbie? Say "you can't have Tramp Stamp Barbie until you are at least 16 years of age or sexually active"? Hm, I can't see that happening. And then there's the fiasco of a child saying "but mum, I have teenage pregnancy barbie, why can't I have tramp stamp barbie". - All sorts of questions will then arise.

Maybe Barbie is to blame for children wanting to look good, I mean, at the end of the day she is the stereotypical image of a sexually attractive girl - but, thats nothing to do wit the makers of the doll wanting to change social outlooks on women, it's more the simple fact that people prefer to buy aesthetically pleasing figurines - would you realy buy a barbie doll if it looked like someone who would be considered too ugly to pass for the ugly stepsisters in cinderella? - No, you'll be much morelikely to buy the beautiful Cinderella herself.

So, I'm not too sure about this one. Maybe certain lines of the barbie products are wrong, but all in all I can't see that Barbie is solely responsible for girls wanting to look pretty - thats just natural, guys like attractive women.