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Researchers find Barbie is often mutilated
A
line of Barbie dolls sit on a shelf, in this July 19, 2004 file
photo, in a toy store in New York.
Barbie, beware. The iconic plastic doll is often mutilated at the
hands of young girls, according to research published by British
academics.
"The girls we spoke to see Barbie torture as a legitimate play
activity, and see the torture as a 'cool' activity," said Agnes
Nairn, one of the University of Bath researchers. "The types of
mutilation are varied and creative, and range from removing the hair to
decapitation, burning, breaking and even microwaving."
Researchers from the university's marketing and psychology
departments questioned 100 children about their attitudes to a range of
products as part of a study on branding. They found Barbie provoked the
strongest reaction, with youngsters reporting "rejection, hatred
and violence," Nairn said.
"The meaning of 'Barbie' went beyond an expressed antipathy;
actual physical violence and torture towards the doll was repeatedly
reported." she said.
While boys often expressed nostalgia and affection toward GI
Joe，renouncing Barbie appeared to be a
rite of passage for many girls, Nairn said.
"The most readily expressed reason for rejecting Barbie was that
she was babyish, and girls saw her as representing their younger
childhood out of which they felt they had now grown," she said.
Nairn said many girls saw Barbie as an inanimate object rather than a
treasured toy.
"Whilst for an adult the delight the child felt in breaking,
mutilating and torturing their dolls is deeply disturbing, from the
child's point of view they were simply being imaginative in disposing of
an excessive commodity in the same way as one might crush cans for
recycling," she said.
Manufacturer Mattel, which sells 94 million Barbies a year worldwide,
said the doll remained the "No. 1 fashion doll brand."
Mattel U.K. said that despite the findings of "this very small
group of children, we know that there are millions of girls in the U.K.
and across the world that love and enjoy playing with Barbie and will
continue to do so in the future."
(Agencies)
芭比娃娃，小心点。
根据英国研究人员公布的调查结果，这只塑料娃娃经常受到年轻女孩的虐待。
英国巴斯大学研究人员艾格尼丝·奈恩说：“我们调查的那些女孩都认为虐待芭比娃娃没有什么不对，而且还觉得自己这样做挺酷的。”虐待芭比的方式多种多样，而且很有创意，有的把芭比娃娃的头发给剃了，有的把她的头给斩了，有的烧它、把它的身体折断，甚至有人把它放进微波炉里。
巴斯大学营销系和心理学系的研究人员对100个儿童进行了调查，调查主要是针对他们对一系列产品的态度，这也是品牌研究的一个部份。调查结果表明，孩子们对芭比娃娃的反应最为强烈，据奈恩介绍，“排斥、厌恶和暴力”是被用的最多的评价字眼。
她说，“芭比所遭受的已经不仅仅是孩子们的反感了，暴力和‘酷刑’对于这个娃娃来说已是家常便饭。”
“当男孩们对于‘美国大兵’念念不忘时，和芭比娃娃说再见则是很多女孩告别童年时代的标志。”
奈恩说，“女孩们不喜欢芭比最直接的一个原因就是，觉得芭比太孩子气，就像自己童年时的样子，而她们觉得自己已经不再是小女孩了，芭比娃娃已经不适合自己。”
奈恩说很多女孩都觉得芭比娃娃死气沉沉的，没有一点生气，根本不把她当成宝贝。
她说，“在大人们看来，孩子以虐待、蹂躏玩具娃娃为乐实在是太不正常了，但是站在孩子们的角度想想，他们觉得自己只是在处理一个多余的东西，这就和把铁罐压扁以便回收的道理是一样的。”
芭比娃娃的生产商麦特尔公司介绍，芭比娃娃仍然是时尚娃娃的第一品牌。她每年的全球销售量达到9400万。
麦特尔公司说，尽管这个调查发现有一小部分孩子不喜欢芭比娃娃，但是我们知道在英国乃至全世界，有几百万的女孩都很喜欢芭比，她们把她当作自己的朋友，而且会一直对芭比娃娃‘宠爱有加’。
Vocabulary:
rite of passage ：a ritual or ceremony signifying
an event in a person's life indicative of a transition from one stage to
another, as from adolescence to adulthood.（通过仪式；，表示从一阶段进入另一阶段转折点的仪式，如从青少年进入成年）
GI Joe : （美国大兵；也可称为GI<Government
Issue>）
