The Barbie doll that is telling young children average is good enough, stretch marks, acne and cellulite are normal, and perfection is not what 19-year-olds should be striving for, is finally out on the shelves.

The Lammily Doll was released about a month before the holiday season, just in time for parents to get their children a doll that didn’t scream big breasts, tiny waist and skinny legs.

Nickolay Lamm is the creator of the Lammily doll. He created this doll to have accurate measurements of what most 19-year-old women actually look like based on statistical data. He wanted to show that reality is actually cool, not dreadful and ugly.

“The best aspect of this new doll is that it lets girls customize and create something that looks just like them. It makes it more personal,” said senior Tiana Vernon at California Lutheran University.

The doll shows freckles, acne, stretchmarks and cellulite, as well as having cuts and bruises on it. According to Lamm, some people felt that this was promoting domestic violence. But he wanted to make it apparent that everyone gets hurt from time to time but no matter how hard someone falls they can always find a way to get back up.

“I think that it is a good thing because there are people out there that are affected by the image that the Barbie doll represents and a lot of people get their ideas from the media alone. So it is good that some alternatives are now available,” senior communication major Ashley Kurtz said.

Kurtz said she never compared the Barbie Doll’s body to her own body image but for others it has been detrimental to their body image.

Vernon said when she was a child she always felt out of place. None of her toys looked like her.

“I was always bigger than the other girls and I had freckles and I still, to this day, look nothing like the traditional Barbie doll,” Vernon said.

People can also be extremely shy about scars that they have so Lamm created a sticker that has scars as well.

“This doll is actually really cool and much more realistic for children. It sends a better overall message about a women’s body,” senior communication major, Alyssa Armstrong said.

The Lammily Doll comes with adhesive stickers that prove no one’s skin looks the way that the Barbie does.

“The Barbie was a plastic, unrealistic woman that did not show what normal skin does, stretches,” Armstrong said.

“I remember when I first looked at the doll and said to myself, ‘wow, that doll looks weird,’ it took me a few seconds to register that the Lammily Doll doesn’t actually look weird, the traditional Barbie doll does,” Armstrong said.

This new doll will have a positive impact on society’s norms of beauty Vernon said. Children will finally have another viewpoint on what is beautiful rather than being ashamed for not looking “perfect.”

“I think that people are realizing that impossible standards of beauty are really having a negative impact on both men and women alike,” Vernon said.

The media is finally starting to reveal more plus size models in television and fashion by extending the body sizes Armstrong said.

However, in the past, the media has negatively impacted Vernon’s life as far as her appearance.

“I spent a lot of years wishing I had the perfect Barbie doll look. Recent changes in society’s beauty standards, however, have made it easier for me to be happy with myself the way I am,” Vernon said.

The Lammily doll was created to change the way that all ages of women feel they should look. Vernon said she hopes women begin to love themselves for who they are because it is depressing seeing children hold themselves up to impossible beauty standards.

Erin Chisolm

Senior Writer

Published December 10, 2014