This is what the proportions of a life-size Barbie doll would look like.
Galia Slayen, who transformed the iconic Mattel toy int
o a life-size replica model, is an anorexia survivor. The Barbie stands 6 feet tall with a 39″ bust, 18″ waist and 33″ hips and wears a size 00 skirt that Galia used to wear when she was sick from her eating disorder.
This year, Galia displayedBarbie at her school, Hamilton College, during its first National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.
The goal in creating Barbie’s likeness was to start conversation. “Talking about eating disorders is taboo to many people, and this made people talk about it,” Slayen said. “It’s a shocking image. A lot of people have seen it, and it’s started debates,” she said, particularly after she wrote about it for the Huffington Post. “Her proportions are not 100 percent correct, but her look is not invalid.”
Galiasays that Barbie’s build helps accelerate “a drive for thinness,” claiming that the doll was one of many factors in her own personal struggle with body image and an eating disorder.
Watch the full interview with Galia below:
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