Do Barbie and Ken Look More Like Us These Days?

Barbie and Ken are looking more like us - ABC listen

Dr Jen Martin, Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne, podcaster and author has the latest research. "Because on the one hand, we can kind of laugh and go, oh, Barbie and Ken, who cares? But the reason this is legitimate research is because what kids see in toys, like it does have an impact on, you know, it shapes kids' perceptions of health and body and what adults are supposed to look like"

Do Barbie and Ken look more like us these days?

Researchers in Australia found the iconic pair's looks are "markedly more realistic" these days.

Toy story: Barbie and Ken’s big, plastic body makeovers

Once upon a time, Barbie and Ken had bodies that belonged more in a maths equation than in real life.  Almost 70 years on, though, the world’s most famous plastic couple have finally put a little “human” back into “inhumanly proportioned” – a shift experts say could matter for how children see their own bodies. For decades, Barbie and Ken have been held up as the ultimate plastic perfection. She had a tiny waist and blonde hair, with legs for da…

Study finds Barbie and Ken now closer to real body proportions - The Indian Sun

Barbie and Ken may still be fashion dolls, but a new Australian study suggests they now look far closer to real people than they did three decades ago. Researchers from the University of Adelaide and UNSW Sydney revisited a landmark 1996 study that examined the body proportions of the iconic dolls and found that newer versions have become noticeably more realistic. Using the same scientific methods as the original research, the team measured dol…

Barbie and Ken Get a Reality Check After 30 Years

She’s the blonde bombshell and he’s her square-jawed sidekick. But nearly 70 years after the impossibly perfect Barbie and Ken made their debut, a new study from Adelaide University and the UNSW Sydney shows the iconic pair are finally looking a little more like the rest of us.