West Virginia, Hillbillies, Barbie Dolls and More...

Hello??.. Is this thing on? Ok I just wanted to check my mike before I stood on my soapbox and sounded off..

As a West Virginian I just can't stand by any longer and watch all the bad press..

West Virginia is always making the news in a bad way. Let's see there was some controversy about that T-Shirt that said "Its all just Relative in WV" I believe it was Abercrombie and Finch that Governor Manchin scolded before having it taken off the market. Then there was Huntington WV being the fattest City in America, yippie..Last week we had an article in Newsweek about Appalachia on the WV Kentucky border that portrayed the state with all the lovely stereotypes that us toothless, shoeless West Virginians love to hear over and over again..

And then this morning....we have a politician, Jeff Eldridge, in our southern most counties want to put a ban on Barbie Dolls because it causes young girls to have problems with self image. This was just the icing on the cake. Someone who was supposedly educated and representing a portion of our state proposes a bill that is obviously a waste of time to our state. As a social worker I could think of multiple social issues that are more pressing.

Ok.. So Barbies are unrealistically proportioned and this has been a controversy nationally some years back. I just wonder what state this politician lives in because last time I checked we had an epidemic in West Virginia with obesity in children as well as adults. According to reports for 2008 the state of WV is number 2 in obesity. I am not trying to create any more bad publicity for my state but just make a point... I believe that body image may be a problem, but Barbie is not the cause!

Seems to me there are other ways to tackle the issues by creating programs for young girls in this state. There are so few programs in our state to encourage our youths self esteem..

Barbie is just a toy.  I myself never used to play with Barbies as a child.  I did however run over my sister's Barbies with my Tonka truck. :)  I always found Barbie to be way too unrealistic to me.  I never thought of success as having a pink jeep and a Malibu townhouse... 

The thing to think about is who are the role models? It should be the parents, not a plastic toy. As parents we have to think about all the things we do for our health that impact our child's well being. They learn from us, without us even know they are looking. It is up to us as parents to watch what we eat and how we exercise to encourage it our youth.

Children need to learn that beauty is not on the outside but on the inside. ( maybe some adults too) Self esteem needs nurturing and support in the home and the community.

Obviously we can't depend on our legislators.. who want to ban things instead of create programs to benefit us.

 As i mentioned above Huntington, WV was proclaimed the fattest City in the Inited States.  Well it seems that this has gotten the attention of the national media.  ABC is sending a news crew to film Huntington form October to Mid November.  A popular chef has been flown in to to host the show and perhaps get the kids school lunches up to speed. ABC is touting the  slogan that they are going to help the fattest city in the united States. I hope this does not bring West Virginia back under a negative light.  Only time will tell how West Virginia will be portrayed in this series.