UA'S LIFE-SIZED BARBIE DOLL RECEIVES NATIONAL ATTENTION

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS "BARBIE" FEATURED IN GLAMOUR MAGAZINE

FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. - In a news brief about "The Campus War on Eating Disorders," the University of Arkansas' 7-foot-2-inch papier-mache replica of "Barbie" is featured in the October issue of Glamour Magazine.

Denise Dowden and Jan Bartlett, who coordinate a national Eating Disorders Awareness Program on campus, display "Barbie" during a week of films and discussions focusing on body image and food.

"People have all kinds of different reactions to her," Bartlett said.

The creator, art student Kent Perrodin, based "Barbie's" dimensions on a Yale study that extrapolated her measurements based on the hip measurements of real women. The 7-foot-plus doll sports a 40-22-36 figure.

"She was so top-heavy that she broke in half!" Dowden said in the Glamour article.

"Barbie" has traveled with Dowden and Bartlett to national conferences, as well as to events during the Eating Disorder Awareness week on campus in the spring.

"She generates a lot of conversation," Bartlett said. When students see her, they realize how unrealistic, and unhealthy, it can be to base body image on a doll or a model.

"It's a real issue for women on our campus," she said. As many as 70 percent of women on college campuses have body-image issues, college health experts believe.

The article can be found on page 132 of the October issue of Glamour.

Barbie is a registered trademark of Mattel, Inc. Which had nothing to do with this project.

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