Girls destroyed their Barbies, so what

[DollyKim]

I think the article from Yahoo is a bit brief https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/mutilat ... 48302.html and read the comments at your own risk but it does bring up some things to think about.

Did you interact with your Barbies in a way that could be considered destructive? Did you take them apart? Did you do things that might be considered morbid? Answers for other human(oid) shaped toys will be accepted. I feel the core of the issue is definitely a toy with a human form.

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I grew up poor, so I didn't have many toys especially new nice ones, had many dolls 'borrowed' from me to never be seen again, and in the era where all the Barbies had the Superstar face. The only outliers, until I got the Heart Family, would have been the Steffie face AA Crystal Christie, and a Darci.

I didn't intentionally harm any of my Barbies and would play with them until they literally disintegrated. I did however use paint and markers to do new make-up on some. And I'm quite sure I inflicted psychological damage on certain victim dolls to deal with all sorts of issues. I know when I was in middle school I had a time of preferring the dolls without my hair and eye color which I now see as a reflection of the unhappiness with my existence at that time.

Any taking apart of a Barbie on my end would either be to do a head swap or a repair. I didn't achieve financial stability until 30 and the only destruction I still seem to do would be cutting off hair to reroot. But I also started trying to make ball jointed dolls at that time and sculpt my own heads and have no issue smashing those I am unhappy with. I will also tear apart any cloth doll I've made that went stuffing up and if I can't unravel a crochet doll I will cut it in to tiny pieces.

[Kirahfaye]

I doubt I had any authentic Barbie dolls when I was little and I wasn't interested enough to know what knockoff or whannabe version I got at any given time. I was a bit of a "tom boy" so my dolls did what I did - got a lot of outdoor time, played in mud and sometimes fell out of a tree. I have a vague memory of burying one "Barbie" and not being able to find her later. I don't remember cutting hair or pulling off limbs - unless it was to see how they were put together. We lost some stuff during a move and I think some of my toys disappeared, too.

Now, my daughter, who has neurological and mental health conditions, used to want ALL the Barbies - not for the doll but for the stuff that came with her. To this day (in her mid-twenties) she still love miniatures. If Barbie got any attention it would be getting her hair "styled" with safety scissors, her "makeup" touched up with markers or limbs "tattooed" with the same markers.

[Kattriella]

I never went through the phase of destroying my Barbies. It was decided FOR me when I was "two old" for toys, and they would mysteriously disappear while I was at school. (Joke's on my mother, because I never grew out of dolls, and now all I ask for at Christmas and birthday time is dolls and doll clothes. She hates it, but she's gotten tired of me giving away all the useless knickknacks and clothes I'll never wear that she buys for me instead, so now she's finally caved.)

[victoriavictrix]

My parents were very frugal. They never would get me a Barbie. The one I got was from a friend whose dog chewed the hand off. I loved the fact that she was an adult and I could (attempt) make historical and fantasy costumes for her. Because I had only one, I had to take care of her or I would have none.

I suspect that this is nothing more than a reflection of the fact that Barbies are now so disposable that anyone can walk into a thrift store and walk out with a box of Barbies for under ten bucks. When things are that cheap and common they are no longer valued.

[DollyKim]

Having read a book titled Made to Play House about the social history of dolls in roughly the 19th to mid or so 20th century it wasn't unheard of for some girls to be morbid with their dolls. When childhood death was more common they'd play funeral along with tea and wedding. I have another similar book I can't remember the exact name of.

The different ways people played with dolls and other toys meant to represent humans fascinates me. Who among us that acted out elaborate scenarios with our toys became writers of some sort? Did your doll destruction lead you to a path of customization? Were your dolls a welcoming shelter from a cruel world? Did you play alone or with friends? Were there major differences in how you played alone or with a group?

More commonly I'd get paper dolls over plastic ones, those I treated with kid gloves and still have all of them. One of these days I might figure out how a couple of dolls went from like the Only Doll to the one who can go swimming and I don't care if I don't see you for a week. I still have both but purged a handful of dolls that came after them but before I had much more say in which ones I got.

[Jobee]

No, I did not destroy my Barbies. Never. Between my sister and I as children, only one doll ever lost their head, and she and I were both very distraught about it. We did not chew on dolls, or chop off their hair, or draw on them with marker. We didn't mutilate our dolls in any way. I remember being mortified at the very thought. We roleplayed some insane shit, but never damaged the dolls intentionally. Most of them were gifts, after all, and we never wanted to seem ungrateful. In my mind, they were tiny plastic people, and I needed to care for and protect them.

[Tealove]

I don't remember being deliberately mean to Barbie. In general, they belonged to my little sister who gathered up any unattended doll. I preferred toy horses and ponies. I think she took care of Barbie as best as a little kid could. Hair got brushed too hard, clothes never matched. Shoes went missing. My much younger brother eventually inherited all the toys and I think all the Barbies descended to the bottom of the toybox. I don't know what happened after that.

[victoriavictrix]

My handless Barbie did also have a split at the back of her head that meant the head came off really easily. I will admit to playing "The Death of Mary Queen of Scots," "The Death of Jane Seymour," "The Death of Mary Antoinette,"--basically re-enacting everyone who got beheaded!

[Stormlight]

I never deliberately destroyed my dolls. I imagine they wore out over time because of normal, rough childhood play, but I never did things like draw on them or cut their hair. The one doll whose hair I did cut was my Cabbage Patch Kid (which I regret doing years later). I also took out her braids to discover that she wasn’t rooted all over her head, only around the edges and down the middle of her part so the yarn covered bald head. I understand the aesthetic of it as an adult but I was mad about it as a kid because I couldn’t “brush” her hair like a normal doll. I managed to get them back up into ponytails at least, but I cut them shorter. I don’t remember why. Thought they were too long maybe?

Anyway, the Barbies had it pretty good with me. I had a lot of them because I had aunts and uncles and grandparents who would buy them for me for birthdays and stuff. My grandmother especially tended to spoil us. And I’ve always tried to take care of gifts. Eventually they all got donated to goodwill or passed down to my little sisters.

[Kirahfaye]

--basically re-enacting everyone who got beheaded!

"Off with her head!"