I’m a Ruby girl
One of my favourite images of late this Body Shop advert from many years ago; it really does make me feel better about my own body, and I don’t consider myself someone who is bothered by such things. And oddly I’ve only recently become aware of it – some fat-bird feminist, I am 
(yes, my tongue is firmly in cheek!).
So what better place to share this image, which was banned by Barbie back in the day – seems an odd thing to happen these days and I’m sure it would not get away with such a strop these days, indeed since then they were unsuccessful in stopping the pop song “I’m a Barbie Girl” and it seems are told to “get over themselves” now.
Anita Roddick recalled the time:
“They sent us a cease-and-desist order saying that our generously proportioned plastic doll was making Barbie look bad. Well, duh; that was the point. Barbie is an unnatural creepy creature: if she were scaled to human size, she would be 7’2″ with a 40″ bust, a 22″ waist and 36″ hips. Come to think of it, maybe we should feel sorry for the poor thing.”
Quite why Barbie was made with these odd proportions defeats me. Was it some government directive to encourage healthy eating and exercise – that did not work, obviously.
I look at Ruby and can see myself and I feel less unattractive. I know that is ridiculous, that my self-image issues are something to perhaps work on (now if I just had the time for that…). And I do still want to lose a few stone, but that is for my health rather than to look more attractive (but I’d be glad to lose this tum, I have to say). So I certainly am not saying that Ruby is a shape to put on a pedestal and desire, but she is what more of us look like than Barbie and the advertising everywhere, the skinny models.
And while curvy women are more celebrated these days, it seems (sometimes – how do the Daily Mail choose who is to be supported and who to be vilified – I can’t work that one out), are we going to ever reach the day when it is the person we admire and not their shape?
What do you think?
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I think Ruby is far more attractive and realistic than Barbie. My girls don’t have Barbies, They have Bratz which could be seen as being just as bad but the Bratz have different hair, eyes, skin color – they are more diverse than Barbie.
The other day we were talking about J-Lo and Demi Moore. Demi is twig thin and J-Lo is healthy and glowing (and married to Marc Anthony), who would rather look like Demi? Not me I would rather look like J-Lo any day of the week.