Mattel has been criticized for promoting poor body image via its Barbie dolls, but this year, the company has been taking steps to promote body positivity. In January, it launched a collection of Barbies that each come in three sizes — tall, curvy, and petite. And on Monday, plus-sized model Ashley Graham announced via Instagram that Mattel had modeled a new toy after her.
"Come on @Barbie, let's go party!!!" she captioned a video of herself with the doll. "Thank you to my new and incredible @Mattel family for this honor!"
The new addition is part of Barbie's Sheroes line. Lisa McKnight, Mattel's SVP for the Barbie brand, told USA Today that Graham "challenges the conversation around body norms, and we think that’s a really important message for girls."
Barbie still has a long way to go before truly representing people of all shapes and sizes. The "curvy" Barbie still has pretty mainstream proportions, as does Graham's. (Graham is a size 14, which is actually smaller than the average American woman, according to a study in the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology, and Education.)
But that doesn't mean Graham doesn't deserve her own Barbie. She's helped gain a lot of visibility for the plus-sized community, and hopefully, the doll will spread body positivity further to an even younger population.
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