Bald Barbie?

So I have been half-heartedly following this story about a bald Barbie being put out by Mattel. Apparently the Barbie doll has quite an impact on little girls and what they aspire to, and girls with no hair feel less-than-pretty in comparison to the shelves full of painted faces and long blonde locks. Who knew? Well I have put my support behind the idea. Not only for girls in chemotherapy, but also for girls with alopecia, girls with friends who have no hair, girls with moms who have no hair, boys who walk down the toy aisle and see what "pretty" is supposed to look like, etc. etc. There is some controversy though. Some people feel that little girls who have cancer don't need to be pandered to with a plastic doll, while girls who don't have cancer don't need to be scared by seeing bald Barbies. I think we can look a little more broadly. I don't mean to say that the issue of children with cancer is too small--obviously, it's a huge issue that deserves a lot of attention. But the Barbie doll issue gets me thinking about the larger issue of how we see each other. Whether it's feeling scared by seeing baldness, feeling sorry for people who don't have hair, or telling a bald girl to "Rock it!", we recognize that there is an accepted, agreed upon standard of "beauty" and people who don't meet that standard are left to strive for it or desire it. When I think about it, maybe I shouldn't support the bald Barbie. Maybe I shouldn't support Mattel's Barbie at all! Now, I have family members who work for Mattel and I think any toy company has the potential to make a lot of children very, very happy. Nothing wrong with that. But the idea of the Barbie doll itself is what angers me a little. A doll with an impossibly proportioned body, designer clothes and gaudy makeup? For little girls? I decided to look into the history of the Barbie doll. From what I can see, the Barbie doll was and has been intended to be a reflection of the fashion trends of the times. But this is circular, because Barbie also sets trends. At the very least, girls see Barbie as someone they want to look like. So I think a bald Barbie is a step in the right direction. Let's get some different looks on the shelves so we can start to normalize the fact that standards of beauty are most often unattainable by the general public, at least without cosmetic help. Normalizing differences--there's a concept. I welcome your comments.

(picture found at http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/01/18/american-cancer-society-blogger-apologizes-for-bald-barbie-flub/)