Slums in the Venusberg

Aphrodite and Apollo return! However, gone are the Hellenic marbles, the Etruscan sandstone and classical nudes - this aesthetic obsession is cheap, cheerful and corrupt. Toy companies create the perfected human figure, with dolls that are terribly thin or wonderfully muscular; mannerism gone mad, perhaps? Or is it simply a reflection of the modern, idealised portrayal of a human being.

The beautiful features, the flawless plastic complexion, the blonde hair streaming down tanned shoulders... Barbie and her beau Ken, among all others, stand resplendent as representatives of the decades old quest for eugenic perfection. However, this blue-eyed paradise can only be destructive - children are introduced earlier and earlier to a neurotic preoccupation with superficial beauty; a search which will consume most of their adolescent lives.

Perceptions of beauty change rapidly, modified from generation to generation. Beauty through different eyes cannot only reflect erotic desire but also the appearance that typifies an era. From golden proportions to Reuben's sensuous canvas; the cover of Vogue and the shaved eyebrows of a Priestess to Hathor. Men are by no means excluded; the physique appearing in Body Builder's magazine and that of the early 1930s Wrestler photographs shows just how different our standards have become. Muscle must conform to aesthetic requirements as assiduously as the creases in a pair of Oxford bags.

Yet, amidst all the furore, fair Barbie remains a best-seller. She is crowned and sceptered, in/famous all over the globe and marketed in over 130 countries. Hers is the title - Queen of a Plastic Paradise. Pop culture, by turns, glorifies and debases her, from songs by Aqua to New York poster art. Barbie, the eternal "teen", has crossed the 40-year mark but not a blemish appears on her faultless figure.

"Barbie is a worldwide phenomenon. Barbie was, is and always will be a material girl. She is an upper-class female who doesn't have much to do but shop, swim and date. Recently, Barbie dolls perform more real and upbeat activities with less emphasis on shopping and dating and more emphasis on sports," says Cornelia Otnes, of the University of Illinois.

Barbie has broken a sweat and her glowing limbs look all the lovelier for it.

Why not relax and emulate the beach blonde heroine? Adult life is all shopping, dating and a little soccer on the side. Out of countless advertisements from the past four decades, only two show a blue collar Barbie struggle in a working environment. The usual routine shows her caught up in a fantasy that most, if not all, girls will never be able to live up to. In these powder pink footprints has the feminist movement steadily gathered momentum, leaving a trail of challenging questions that shake Barbie to her silicone core - that the toys young girls play with reflect an impossible idealisation that, from so young an age, will remain with them forever.

Dolls, and all toys, have a great impact upon a developing child's self-conception, not only due to interaction but also the social priorities placed on play as a means of learning. Perhaps what is being learnt during these play sessions should be placed under more strenuous scrutiny. Mattel, Barbie's creators, have planned to widen Barbie's body size, thus diversifying her appeal and showing that not everybody is amazingly thin; the doll, it is hoped, will have a strong effect on youths when she is shown to encourage children to be intellectually, as well as socially, active. A brain may be detected in her otherwise gorgeously empty head (but wouldn't that detract from her otherwise flawless appeal? After all, the greatest beauty remains unchanged, unchallenged and unaware of its own static perfection. Perhaps blow-up Barbie would find a wider audience than her pre-teen counterpart).

But wait! The Get Real Girls are giving Barbie a run for her money, by presenting personalities girls would like to befriend and paths they would like to follow. Barbie is, was and always will be, well, it must be said, a little, rather bland. Beauty only gets you so far. There is little substance behind her passive smile and those vacant eyes have more to do with a dying deer than a Manhattan socialite/prom princess/babysitter... the endless permutations! The avatars of unchanging youth!

Julz Chavez, the former Mattel employee, is the creator of the Get Real Girls. Why did it take so long to start the revolution? Why have girls been victimised in their "harmless" games by the unattainable ideals and impossible beauty of a doll? Barbie, beating all her competition since 1959, it must be admitted, has in some way contributed to our perverse ideas surrounding female physical perfection (as have Ken, G.I. Joe, Action Man etc with boys). Perhaps the Get Real Girls will help stop not only our pursuit for this illusory perfection but stem the real problems now faced, influenced, in part, by these ideals.

Weight loss, and with it a changed perception of "self", can be induced by diets, exercise or, in some cases, the use of pharmaceutical aids under the supervision of a doctor. Popping pills can produce profound improvements. Yet, the true changes occur when our behavioural patterns are given new scope, released from the peer/parental pressure, stress and negative self image we so often impose upon ourselves.

How can we have the power to improve our self-confidence and the way we regard ourselves if we cannot stand to look in the mirror? In the end it is all a matter of just how far you are willing to go in order to be accepted by the amorphous, fickle sway of society. Succumb to the desire of the mass or just embrace your own individual "perfection". At the end of the day, Barbie's just a doll and Action Man is an action figure (Action figure? Doll? Both move... both have a phenomenal number of add-on accessories... both can be stripped down to their underwear...). They've only got the power you choose to give them - the life you should think twice about placing at their little plastic feet.