The Barbie backlash? Some Indianapolis Girl Scouts weigh in

Behind that perpetual lipsticked smile, Barbie's been going through a rough time lately.

Last week, two consumer advocacy groups called upon the Girl Scouts of the USA to discontinue their patch with the doll's curly signature. An anti-Barbie doll is in the works with proportions based on that of an average 19-year-old woman rather than an alien from Planet Male Fantasy.

And an Oregon State University study found that girls who played with Barbies saw themselves as having fewer career choices than boys.

None of this surprises me. I've long felt conflicted about Barbie.

When I was young, I desperately wanted Barbies, but only had hand-me-downs or tag-sale finds that never had that new Barbie dazzle. My friend, however, had an impressive collection of Barbies and a lone but lucky Ken. I'd try to lure them outside (let them swim in the pond! roll down the hill!) but the dolls' owner would demur.

Then, I realized that the doll with the long blonde tresses (it was the '70s and diverse Barbies were hard to find) had little in common with me. If I had daughters, I could see myself imposing a Barbie ban, though for no clear reason.

So I found myself wondering: Does Barbie really squelch girls' ability to develop into strong, independent women?

I took this question to a panel of local experts: Girl Scouts. Deanna Potterf of the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana gathered a dozen girls, ranging in age from 6 to 18. All but one had owned Barbies — and that one had played with her sister's dolls.

All had internalized the Barbie patch message to "Be anything. Do everything."

"Barbie is a girl who shows you that you can be or do anything that you want," said Fiona Duffy, 14, an eighth-grader at The Orchard School.

One day, her Barbie might be a high-school cheerleader, another day a professional, said Stephanie Gossman, 17, a junior at Cardinal Ritter High School.

No matter her age, Barbie always had the right clothes and an assortment of appropriate accessories — which helps her young fans put themselves in her high-heeled shoes, they agreed.

"When I was playing with Barbies ... I was generally just thinking about her outfits," said Allison Belmont, 14, an eighth-grader at The Orchard School. "There's so many different things Barbie can be, so many different occupations that she can have."

Still, her outfits cause consternation among groups like the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which called for the Girl Scouts to sever ties.

The Boston-based campaign cites Barbie's recent appearance in Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue and points out the doll doesn't have the best reputation. Why does veterinarian Barbie wear a skirt that just covers her thighs? Why does her counterpart, the professional chef, choose capris as her cooking attire?

But the Girl Scouts I met weren't troubled by a lack of fidelity to reality in Barbie's wardrobe. For them, Barbie offered an opportunity to direct their own play.

Not a one objected to Lammily, the proposed anti-Barbie, designed to look like a real woman. What brought them back to Barbie was not her waspish waist but the worlds she opened for them.

For Lammily to succeed, it became clear, she would have to lead as active a life as Barbie does.

"I don't think it's about having the perfect figure," Allison said. "What Barbie is about is getting the sense of creativity."

Self-described tomboy MaKenna Nickens, 9, was the only girl who didn't have any Barbies of her own. Sometimes, she said, she'd play with her older sister's dolls with friends.

The Fall Creek Elementary School fourth-grader prefers Legos, which she noted, offer an opportunity similar to that with Barbies.

"Instead of changing outfits, you can switch pieces," she said.

Unlike Legos, though, Barbies have faces, and that's a large part of their appeal.

For a while, Stephanie kept one of her collector Barbies in the box. But then she decided to break the plastic and free the doll, not worrying about the effect on the resale price.

"For me, her value went up because I was able to interact with her," she said.

Barbie, said Kirsten Holston, taught her important lessons in friendships. When she was younger, the North Central High School senior had a "rainbow" of Barbies — Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic.

"That made me more open-minded about how I view people because I considered Barbie my friend," said Holston, 18. "The goal was never to look like Barbie. When you go out into the world, you see that no one looks the same."

In retrospect, my brushes with Barbies as a child left no impression other than how easy it is for plastic shoes to break when you bend them.

But I learned a lot from the girls I met.

And those girls could teach the plastic princess with the perky breasts a lot about self-esteem and self-confidence — even when you're not wearing impossibly high heels or a mini skirt.

Call Star reporter Shari Rudavsky at (317) 444-6354. Follow her on Twitter: @srudavsky.