When there are adult women and teenage girls taking barbie dolls and burning them, what are your thoughts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4ikbDJ0Wq0

They are protesting the "Dream-House" because they feel it portrays a limited set of expectations and goals for very young girls in Germany.

The history of Barbie bashing goes back to the early days of feminism, when Barbie was singled out as an symbol of everything that was wrong with pre-feminist society. Personally I quite like Barbie and I think there's far worse things occuring in the world that are worthy of protest. If you look at Barbie in the context of the modern toy market, she has a much more realistic figure than, for instance, the very popular range Monster High (who are super-skinny), WInx or whatever - but because of feminism's anti-Barbie history, everybody concentrates on her and nobody seems to bother protesting against those dolls, which makes no sense to me. And before Barbie, little girls were encouraged to play with baby dolls a lot more, "to prepare them for motherhood". Do feminists congregate to burn baby dolls? No. I just don't like it when people base their protest on historical gripes, not their own thinking.

I think that Barbie-bashing has more in common with sl*t shaming than it does unhealthy body image concerns. The ultimate complaint always seems to be that Barbie is made-up, Barbie is busty and long-legged, Barbie is spangly and shiny, Barbie looks cheap. I don't think its healthy or productive to burn little effigies of women in a big orgy of hatred. Far more impressive are those feminists who mod their Barbies - they make Barbie fat, they make Barbie a punk or a butch lesbian or give her dreadlocks. That's creative, and positive, and challenging. Burning the thing you don't approve of in public ... well, ladies, that's got some really bad connotations

It sounds like a form of protest.

Barbie has been a source of long-time controversy by being a highly idealized and sexualized image of femininity. Many people, from both ends of the political spectrum, are concerned about the impact the doll has on the self-image of young girls. Many argue the doll should be allowed to vanish with other outdated toys and not celebrated.

I think they are wasting money on a protest that is never going to get the result they are looking for.

I also think "die Barbie, die"

I think of Barbie-que

Well I'll be.