Plastic Surgery for Barbie App Removed After Outrage Over Sexism

[Alexander Kirby]

Are people really stupid enough not to see the real message this game has? It's a parody of Barbie and her super-skinny looks (who according to a lot of people is good role-model for small girls). Who would honestly feel the need to get liposuction after seeing the gory details of how its done. If I were a 9 year old girl I'd be put off it permanently!

This game is, through parody, actually giving the same message that these Everyday Sexism people are. Maybe you don't agree with the method of delivering that message, but Barbie is the one who's presenting young children with so called 'everyday sexism' when it comes to the pressure for girls to be super-skinny and wear pink at all times. This is clearly intended for adults, and the way it appears to be aimed at children is to hammer home the point that this is the stereotype that little girls look up to. The joke is that this game may as well exist as a fully accepted part of society.

 

[Alexander Kirby]

I mean really, the description even comes with 'she's worth less as a human because she ate a cheeseburger'.

While a 'Surgeon Simulator: Plastic Surgery Edition' sort of thing could potentially be interesting, the app here is just plain messed up. And that description; "Barbara's fat! Isn't she awful and inhuman for it?" is just plain messed up. And it's targeted at children?!

Normally I find the whole calls to get rid of video games ridiculous, but this should be taken down immediately.

Yeah, and you don't see the joke in that, with it's stupidly over-the-top description? This game isn't sexist, it's a mockery of the stereotypes that Barbie feeds to small girls.

 

[Kroxile]

Really.. is there anything that social justice warriors won't leave alone?

This is ridiculous. It is BAD to be fat and I'm not convinced that the fact that I *like* chainmail bikinis and good looking women on my screen is somehow bad, especially when men are just as hyper-sexualized as women but that's somehow a non-issue. The only thing I can see thats wrong with this is that they supposedly marketed to children, but other than that.. all I got to say is give it a fucking rest people.

 

[1337mokro]

How is performing surgery on a plastic doll sexist?

It really has become the all purpose outrage buzzword hasn't it.

"Dracula kills an entire family leaving only the woman alive to feed. THAT'S SEXIST!!!"

It's an undead inhumane monster who is supposed to be the villain... how hard did your mother drop you when you were a baby because that is some severe brain damage you are suffering from.

Why not actually raise concerns about marketing a game centred around unironically correcting self image issues with surgery to children? Why does sexism need to enter the picture at all when you have about a thousand other legitimate reasons you could bash this game for? Because it's a female character? Would you still have raised such a stink if it was a game about giving fat people liposuctions?

 

[Therumancer]

Well, I'm apparently in the minority here yet again (surprise) but I really fail to see any big deal here on any level. Face it, plastic surgery exists, people want to be attractive, and billions are spent on cosmetic surgery and things like liposuction every year. It does provide an option for people who want to artificially do things like adjust weight and/or remove blemishes or change their features in some way.

The way I see it is that this just like any other "doctor" game, and looking at the examples and pictures it seems to be being fairly "honest" when it comes to the bruising and such involved in the procedures. What's more the examples involved here like "some fattie with self esteem issues comes in and wants to have extensive liposuction and cosmetic reconstruction now that they have hit the lottery" is pretty much the kind of client a cosmetic surgeon is going to attract to pay the bills. The cases where your doing reconstruction after an extreme accident are going to represent the minority of your typical practice. I suppose if they chose examples like "Joe, the 300 pound Ex-marine and career trucker has just completed his transgender surgery and completed his lifelong dream of becoming 'Stephanie' he has come to you to make him beautiful in his new life as a girl, within a budget of the eight hundred thousand dollars that represent the remnants of the funds from the second and third mortgages on his mother's house, try and make his dreams come true using these centerfolds as a guideline for the results he wants..." people would complain too.

All kidding aside, plastic surgery being almost entirely frivolous the jokes almost write themselves here, but it's not a bad idea for medical simulator. You have to understand though it's by it's very nature going to be pretty "silly" or "sexist" or whatever with people coming in to secretly try and have years removed, melatonin levels adjusted, weight sucked away, noses straightened or changed, and similar things, and to someone something negative can ALWAYS be inferred from this which is why it tends to be so secret and most cases, there does tend to be a stigma attached to people who have gone under the knife, especially in Hollywood.

Once you more or less acknowledge it is a field of medicine, and shouldn't be simply omitted as a game subject for that reason, one has to ask the question of how exactly this would be done without it being offensive to someone given that a lot of the procedures get attention to begin with as I pointed out. For example a lot of people complain about plastic surgeons lightening people's skin tones, something a lot of black models and actresses and such have been accused of doing for years, with accusations about racism, arguments for ethnic pride, and everything else being made around it, but that's still the kind of job a plastic surgeon is going to take to pay the bills.

 

[MCerberus]

I mean really, the description even comes with 'she's worth less as a human because she ate a cheeseburger'.

While a 'Surgeon Simulator: Plastic Surgery Edition' sort of thing could potentially be interesting, the app here is just plain messed up. And that description; "Barbara's fat! Isn't she awful and inhuman for it?" is just plain messed up. And it's targeted at children?!

Normally I find the whole calls to get rid of video games ridiculous, but this should be taken down immediately.

Yeah, and you don't see the joke in that, with it's stupidly over-the-top description? This game isn't sexist, it's a mockery of the stereotypes that Barbie feeds to small girls.

I'm about 99% sure this isn't a case of Poe's Law

 

[MrHide-Patten]

There are people out there that think that a game entitled; Sugar Daddy , isn't mysognigistic and thinks that women would love an endless runner where uyou play as a cartoon Paris Hilton clone picking up old men to pay for shoes.

Why do idiot's have money?

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

Why are people claiming that this is supposed to be a 'ironic' game, or one that's supposed to have some sort of hidden anti-surgery message? From the links given, what I see is that you are given a fat girl and told to make her thin. She is described as ugly because she ate too many hamburgers and that "no diet will help her, only surgery will make her slim and beautiful". You even get to compare the original patient and the result after you're finished, FFS. How is that not wrong? How can you claim that there's some ironic message there that nine-year old girls of all people are supposed to understand?!

I'm loathe to jump on the "BAN THIS SEXIST SHIT" bandwagon, but these programs clearly don't promote a healthy way of thinking, and at best the content contains shameless fat-bashing. I don't really care that it only contains women patients and is marketed towards girls: this is a shameless POS that un-ironically creates the idea that you're less of a person just because you ate a few too many hamburgers. Please stop pretending that little Suzie is going to understand some imaginary deeper meaning BS behind this game.

Oh right, using Barbie's image without permission was just plain daft as well. Nicely done, morons.

 

[Sofus]

Just rename the game and either make it genderless or add a male... problem solved.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

Just rename the game and either make it genderless or add a male... problem solved.

Implying that the only thing wrong with this debacle is that it's a woman getting the treatment in the program...

 

[AldUK]

What really disturbs me about the plastic surgery business is just how many intelligent women consider it to be simply another completely normal beauty routine. I'm sure a lot of you have heard of the TV show, The Apprentice. The last winner of the original (and way better) English version was a young A* student woman who wanted to go into business with Sir Alan Sugar to... open a plastic surgery chain. And she herself looked like a barbie doll despite fantastic grades, being well spoken, etc.

That kind of thing terrifies me. Girls, you don't ever need to go under a knife for anything. If you're not happy with your weight, eat a little less and move around some more. Don't like your nose? I guarantee someone will find it cute. Oh and for Christ's sake, leave your lips alone.

I am not at all surprised that these apps existed, simply because of how prevalent this is becoming. Worryingly, I'm pretty sure there are thousands of mothers out there right now who have undergone plastic surgery and are encouraging their daughters to also.

 

[Alexander Kirby]

That concept could make a good game suitable for people to experience and learn from, but these aren't those game. This isn't the Spec Ops: The Line of plastic surgery. It delivers it unironically with no sense of self-consciousness or with any tone that plastic surgery is a negative thing. Moreso, its directed at such a young audience that I don't think they'd come away with that kind of message, and that they'd take it at face value.

I understand your point that children may get the wrong impression from this game, but as I said, I honestly think this is intended for adults. Have you played the game, because you seem pretty sure of its tone. While I haven't actually played it, if we look at quotes from its description such as "she's worth less as a human because she ate a cheeseburger" it's pretty obvious to me from just how over the top it is that its taking the piss. Would a plastic surgeon wanting to indoctrinate children use language such as that? How many 8 year olds do you know who would even understand what being worth less as a human means?

 

[Robert Marrs]

This is pretty terrible but I fail to see the sexism. The people who made this should be ashamed of themselves but where exactly is the discrimination? If you ever wonder why people don't take real claims of sexism seriously anymore its probably because we give anything we don't like that has anything to do with women a sexist label. The word is starting to lose its meaning. All of that considered I still don't think the app should have been taken down. I don't want to live in a world that tries to eradicate everything simply because people who are basically career complainers it offensive. If you don't like it don't use it.

 

[Robert Marrs]

Just rename the game and either make it genderless or add a male... problem solved.

Implying that the only thing wrong with this debacle is that it's a woman getting the treatment in the program...

Except that really is the only reason we are even hearing about it. It would still be wrong if it was a fat guy getting liposuction and it was marketed to young boys but nobody would be able to claim sexism and get everyone up in arms. The fact that it using Barbies image to tell young girls that being fat is the worst thing ever is why this group spoke up. So no the fact that it is a woman is not the only thing that is wrong with the game but its the only reason we are here talking about it.

 

[GundamSentinel]

As fucked up as this is, I'm not exactly sure how it promotes sexism of all things.

How is a game about how a Barbie like character is resorting to surgery to make her look better, thereby implying that if she doesn't look perfect she has less worth as a person, not sexist?

When all the while Barbie has been promoting exactly that. Worthwhile qualities: beauty, a career, a rich handsome boyfriend, all that jazz.

Honestly, you can put a spin on everything being sexist. If a woman is portrayed as beautiful and has feminine qualities, it's reinforcing stereotypes. And if she has traditionally male qualities, apparently she's not feminine enough to count as a proper fictionalized woman. Seriously, you can never win against a determined feminist.

That said, this app is pretty fucked up, to be sure. I wouldn't say sexism is the problem, but age propriety certainly is.

 

[Sofus]

Just rename the game and either make it genderless or add a male... problem solved.

Implying that the only thing wrong with this debacle is that it's a woman getting the treatment in the program...

I can't see there being any other reason for why anyone has a problem with the app. I don't think anyone is stupid enough to actually think that plastic surgery is just another beauty makeover or something anyone would do just to improve their looks if it wasn't actually necessary.