Mum paints stretch marks on daughter's Barbie - and urges Mattel to do the same
A British mum has painted stretch marks on her daughter’s Barbie doll - and has urged manufacturer Mattel to do the same.
Kate Claxton, 35, says she decided to paint on the stretch marks with nail varnish to show her daughter that they are perfectly normal.
Claxton adds that after she gave birth to her daughter, now 3, she originally hated her stretch marks and suffered from postnatal anxiety.
Read more: As first Barbie with Down's syndrome is introduced, how the doll's evolved over time - Yahoo Life UK, 8-min read
"My daughter has really started getting into Barbie's recently and I almost recoiled when I bought her first one," the Wiltshire mum continues.
"It was typically Barbie-like - perfectly proportioned, long legs, blonde hair. We've since brought other versions with vitiligo, prosthetic legs and fuller figures.
"So to their credit, [Mattel] do more inclusive dolls but I could not find one anywhere with stretch marks."
Claxton has written a children's book about stretch marks after research showed her that 80% of women get them during pregnancy.
While stretch marks aren't harmful and while they often fade after birth, the chance of them completely disappearing is very slim - something that a lot of women struggle with.
Read more: Stretch marks in pregnancy - NHS
"But there aren't any dolls representing how normal this is, so I thought I would do one myself," she adds.
"When you look up stretch marks it's all about creams and treatments to get rid of them and I found little evidence of people embracing them. And that's what I think mums need to do, accept they are perfectly normal and let their children know the same."
Claxton says she would 'love' Mattel to make some Barbies with stretch marks to "spread the message that they are nothing to worry about".
Claxton’s self-published book, My Mum's a Tiger, has sold 13,000 copies worldwide and is about a girl who learns why her mum has 'stripes' on her skin.
"This is already something which is an important issue to me having written the book when my daughter was three-months-old," she explains.
"Children who have read the book ask if their mum's have stripes and the feedback is that it has given a lot of women confidence to show their stretch marks."
Read more: Barbie manufacturer Mattel launches 'gender-inclusive' toy line - Yahoo Life UK, 4-min read
In 2016, Mattel released a new line of Barbies with diverse body types and ethnicities. It followed this up in 2022 with a line focused on disability representation and diversity inclusion which included dolls with Down's syndrome, a hearing aid, vitiligo, a prosthetic limb and a wheelchair.
Margot Robbie stars as the titular Barbie in the upcoming film by Greta Gerwig, but the actor said she wound’t have made the film had there not been a diverse range of Barbies featured.
"If [Mattel] hadn't made that change to have a multiplicity of Barbies, I don't think I would have wanted to attempt to make a Barbie film," she told Time. "I don't think you should say, 'This is the one version of what Barbie is, and that's what women should aspire to be and look like and act like.'"
Watch: The best dressed stars at the Barbie World Premiere
