Plastic Barbie Poem by Paula Glynn

Plastic Barbie,
How a little girl learns to be a woman,
Lipstick and powder to paint the face,
War paint the norm,
And like a uniform.
Barbie wears her beauty,
Like a supermodel in those magazines,
That teen girls aspire to be,
And skinny Barbie is where it's at,
Her stereotype body the fashion,
A little girl learning the pain,
And comparison of the beauty industry,
Few regular women on camera,
But beauty is in the eye of the beholder,
And we are all beautiful:
Even plastic Barbie,
For those that have her body,
Anything and everyone is beautiful,
And we can all change the Barbie stereotype,
And teach our daughters & sons self respect,
In the face of a judgemental beauty industry.

Beauty is not white or black,
Long legged, short legged,
Cheekboned or non-cheekboned,
It is all colours, all faces,
For every face is a work of art,
No matter the image of plastic Barbie,
Not all women are top-heavy,
And not all women are a perfect 32B,
But we are still beautiful,
The beauty industry wrong,
When they say we should be a size 10,
You are you, I am me,
They are them, and there's nothing,
You can do about it,
No matter your jealousy,
For genetics travel across the world,
The gene pool is vast,
And no two people can ever be the same.

You're as beautiful as you'll ever be,
And as beautiful as any supermodel,
See your world: see real women,
Go to the mall: go swimming,
See real women with real bodies,
Don't let those who are jealous tear you down:
Be your own person, and be wonderful,
Don't feel hurt or blame yourself:
Heal yourself and you'll heal the world,
So teach this to other women,
And to those little girls,
So that when they grow up,
They'll see a world in living colour,
And with beauty from within,
For it is the soul that needs the surgery.