Anyone who hasn't been living under a rock since 1959 will know who Barbie is, but Mattel's fashion doll might not be such a great role model for little girls. Critics suggest that playing with Barbies can give children a skewed view of beauty, as her proportions are genuinely unattainable in the real world. So now might be the time to make way for a new alternative to Barbie. Enter the Lammily doll. This doll, which was created by Nickolay Lamm, has the proportions of an average 19-year-old girl and is much more relatable for children to play with, as she looks like their aunties or big sisters. What's cooler still is that packs of removable and interchangeable stickers are included with the doll, including features such as freckles, acne, scars, stretch marks, and tattoos. The idea is that these add-ons will help to emphasize what being a woman is really like; that nobody is the same and nobody is perfect.
Website: Lammily
Looking at the Lammily doll next to Barbie, you can really see the difference. If Barbie were a real woman, she would be 5'9", have a scarily tiny 18" waist, and have size 3 feet for which she wouldn't be able to buy any adult shoes. By contrast, the Lammily doll's proportions are based on CDC data for the average 19-year-old girl. She would be 5'4" tall, have a 31" waist, and have size 7.5 feet.
Lammily's stickers allow her owner to full customize her, so that she is more like them or simply so that they can create more believable stories for her. Here she is sporting some lovely freckles.
These stitches could help children come to terms with having an operation.
It's not uncommon for girls to get stretch marks when growing, and this could help to normalize them.
Lamm funded his project on Kickstarter, and the first 19,000 dolls will be going to his backers, but a further 25,000 Lammily dolls will be ready before the holidays. What do you think of these dolls? Do you think they're better role models than Barbie dolls?
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