Is Barbie the problem or is she a symptom? 'Barbie' is everywhere - the bottom sets at school where they dump my dyslexic/dyspraxic/dyscalculic son, the art class where creativity/self expression is judged and ordered rather than nurtured, the gods of money and food, celebrity and medicine - but these don't come out of nowhere, humans have always craved gods. I suffered anorexia as a teen - not because of barbie, but because i didn't fit and thought i was wrong. Anorexia morphed into insomnia then into a mental/emotional breakdown then a physical one. It took a great deal of anger to learn there was nothing wrong with me, i had just got swept up with the round pegs when i was a square hole. But there's no discussion with some people. Comfort in the familiar and all that. My own daughter is a tubby little thing . I tell her constantly that beauty is in the eyes - because that's the truth.