The real life barbie?

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/04/23/the-real-life-ukrainian- barbie-doll/

Every woman, in their childhood, owned at least one Barbie doll (If you try and say you didn’t then you’re lying haha). She could be whatever our imagination wanted her to become. A mom. A sister. A superhero. For me, she was my best friend that would keep me company. I have two older brothers that tended to only hang out with each other, and I would be left to my own devices, when we were younger. It was uncool to be seen with your little sister, apparently (still hasn’t changed). Barbie was the friend that would always be there for me. When my family life started to go downhill, I would hold her to my chest and stroke her long blonde hair, as my parents’ arguments became more common and violent.  If I had her, I knew everything would be okay. I never saw her as someone that I needed to look like.

That being said, when I first saw a picture of Valeria Lukyanova, you can guess that I was shocked.

I was positive that the image was an over edited picture of a girl wanting to see what she would look like with the measurements of my childhood friend (my dolls name was Sophie). Too my disbelief, the person in the photo is a 21-year old woman that claims to be 100% natural. No Plastic surgeries or photo shopping. In my opinion, she can claim whatever she wants. That’s not natural. It’s her Barbie like appearance that has made her one of the most famous women on the internet, in Russia.

Valeria is a prime example of societal expectations of what is considered beautiful. She was probably one of the little girls that envisioned herself as her actual doll. In her head, perfect were the abnormally thin waist and the out of proportion boobs that her Barbie had. This is just another example of how what we grow up seeing can influence how we interpret ourselves. Our body image.

Does beauty and fame insure happiness?

Marilyn Monroe was the epitome of beauty in the 1950's. She was viewed as a sex symbol and was known as the" dumb blonde" in all of her movie roles.  That is the Marilyn that most people know of. If that was all she was, then I would not look up to her like I do (I am borderline obsessive of her haha). It's all the crap that she had to go through, in her childhood, which makes me respect her as a woman. How she overcame her horrible circumstances and made something of herself is inspiring. Marilyn was born a bastard child to a mother who was schizophrenic, which left her unable to show emotions towards her daughter (That is what first got me interested in her. I find psychological disorders fascinating). At two weeks old, her mother was put into a mental facility, leaving Marilyn to be put into foster care, where she stayed throughout her childhood. The system didn’t do a good job at protecting her. At nine she was sexually abused, and at 16 she was forced into an arranged marriage by her foster family. Through all of these obstacles Marilyn still made a name for herself doing what her dream always was, acting (It takes a VERY strong women to overcome her upbringing).

Looking at Marilyn's childhood made mine seem so much better.

Growing up my family was always dysfunctional. Every other night I could expect to hear my parents fighting about God knows what downstairs. Their shouting voices always seemed to morph into one loud noise (As a kid, finances and adultery weren’t in my vocab). I don’t really have a relationship with my dad; he favored alcohol over time with me. My mom, we are too different of people (her obsessing over her looks while I just threw on some clothes on and called it a day). With all the issues that I went through with my family, I developed depression my freshman year of high school. Around this time my parents were getting a divorce.  It wasn’t until this time that I became able to understand the darker part of Marilyn's life. I had something that I could relate with her. A difficult upbringing. It's no secret that she was lonely and used pills to get by in life. Not that I support drug use, but seeing a role model of mine have dark times too was comforting to me. She had the fame, the beauty, and the money. She had the attention that she always craved. The one thing though, that she wanted more than anything, was love. The lack of this is what lead to her demise.

The questioned asked was does beauty and fame insure happiness? Looking at the life of my role model I can answer, with certainty that it does not. Your happiness comes from the love of yourself and those around you. It's what Marilyn's life did not have that encourages me, now. She didn't have the love of a family to get her through her dark times, like I do. Even if I may not have the best family life, I know they still love me. Suicide will never be a way out for me. Head my advice and keep your family and friends close to your heart, because without them who are you?

 http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/105847/the-inscrutable-life-and-death-marilyn-monroe