The Scientific Fundamentalist

A Look at the Hard Truths About Human Nature

Satoshi Kanazawa is an evolutionary psychologist at LSE and the coauthor (with the late Alan S. Miller) of Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters. See full bio

October 12, 2008, Evolutionary Psychology

Comments on "Barbie: Manufactured by Mattel, Designed by Evolution IX"

Barbie: Manufactured by Mattel, Designed by Evolution IX

By Satoshi Kanazawa on October 12, 2008 in The Scientific Fundamentalist

The big irony: Why men are fooled

So men like women who look like blonde bombshells, or Barbie, and women want to look like them, because each of their key features (youth, long hair, small waist, large breasts, blonde hair, blue eyes, and large eyes) is an indicator of youth and thus of health, reproductive value, and fertility. There is precise evolutionary logic behind the image of ideal female beauty. By now, astute readers who have been following the posts in this series may have caught on to the irony of it all. None of what I have said in earlier posts in this series is true any longer. Read More

Have you seen Farrah after

Submitted by Donald on October 12, 2008 - 3:58pm.

Have you seen Farrah after 1990?

LOLz!

This articles is stated as

Submitted by kyle on October 12, 2008 - 8:22pm.

This articles is stated as fact but is actually mostly assumption and gross generalization with no room for subtlety and distinction. Its tone suggests the author is frustrated with her own interactions and relations with men.

The author to this article

Submitted by Anonymous on October 12, 2008 - 9:14pm.

The author to this article appears to be a male.

Please, do not be a

Submitted by Laurence on October 13, 2008 - 5:46am.

Please, do not be a hypocrite, and explain your own assumptions: why is it mostly assumption and gross generalization? What makes you think the author is frustrated with interactions with other individuals?

Thank you.

i strongly think that the

Submitted by farouk on October 13, 2008 - 2:31am.

i strongly think that the media hypes a certain product (a certain woman's look) and then all women start to buy the product (change their looks accordingly to be like the product they saw)

Media poisons people's minds, first by letting them buy things they didn't need before and secondly by making those who fail to look like models have low self esteem

when did it become

Submitted by Travis on October 13, 2008 - 2:19pm.

when did it become acceptable to blame the media for everything? the media did not cause women to want to be as attractive as possible. the media did not define what a beautiful or sexy woman looks like, or for that matter, what a handsome or sexy man looks like. the media did not poison anyone. if you want to point fingers, then look at who the media panders to: the viewers. they have to show what the viewers want to see or face going out of business. maybe the problem is not with the media, but with the people in our society. maybe the media acts as a mirror for the problems that we insist on ignoring, perpetuating or projecting onto a whipping boy. so you can keep yelling at the mirror if you want, but you are only giving yourself an excuse to not fix the problem.

There is one problem with

Submitted by Anonymous on October 17, 2008 - 12:33pm.

There is one problem with assuming that the "ideal" image for a woman can be blamed on the media. Well at least only one that i can think of with any relevance to the original post itself. To sum it up, without a base created by what has been spoken about through the progression of all of these the media wouldn't have the "ideal" to be advertising.

I greatly have to agree that the media cannot be blamed for the low self-esteem of women. Most people in general i come across with low self-esteem themselves wouldn't attribute the media as a main factor.