Barbie brought beauty and glamor into little girls’ lives. As Shane said, a gun is only as good or as bad as the man who uses it. A Barbie is a pretty little toy - developed along the lines of the 1950s ideal of beauty. Just because the culture has denigrated into depravity is no reason to blame this harmless toy. Personally, what makes me worry about modern womanhood is the emphasis of classless soccer practice over ballet, piano and ice-skating lessons.
not exactly ... to quote the article ...
She was copied from a German prostitute doll name Bild Lilli, who was a character in an “adult” cartoon. The prostitute Lilli doll was sold, not to girls, but to men in bars and tobacco shops. Unaware of her prostitute background, Barbie’s American creators used the prostitute Lilli doll as a prototype for the first Barbie doll.
that begs the question ... Unaware?