Pigalle and Barbie

Once upon a time, my parents and I traveled to Paris France over the summer.  During our trip we strolled across an infamous district known as Pigalle.  While we were crossing the area, I saw the strangest, dirtiest objects in the world: naked female dolls, condoms, pornographic DVDs, extremely skimpy clothing, and even phallic slippers that were on display in sex shops.  (Pigalle is known for prostitution, sex shops, strip clubs, etc.)  The reason why I mention Pigalle is that Emily Prager's rhetoric in "Our Barbies, Ourselves"  reminded me of what I saw in Pigalle.  Even Prager's reference to how Barbie's "breasts are so out of proportion to the rest of her body" reminded me of the toys in Pigalle that were probably used for masturbation (Prager 353).  Anyways, Prager's use of her sexual references to Barbie's figure is meant to convey how women should not be treated as sex toys.  Personally, I do agree with Prager in how everyone should not perceive women as mere sex dolls; however, I do not think that Prager is trying to say that these portrayals should be illegal everywhere. She especially does not think that forcing women to cover themselves is a sufficient solution to prevent these portrayals.  She implies this when she says "Before Barbie, American dolls...represented the kind of girls who looked perfect in jodhpurs" (Prager 354).  In class, Ms. Valentino showed us a picture of one of these "American dolls", which was virtually covered in clothing.  We discussed how these "dolls" may represent how women in the past were taught not only to be an ideal wife and mother, but also to hide their physical characteristics from men.  Therefore, Prager's reference to the "dolls" symbolizes how she is also against extremely conservative views of women.  However, Prager barely makes any mention of pornography or prostitution.  She only refers to porn by saying "movies and videos are still filled with topless women" (Prager 355).  Unfortunately, I think this virtual neglect of mentioning porn may cause someone to interpret the article to say that porn should be illegal today.  I do not think that pornography should be banned for the reason of preventing Jesus from being dismayed.  I also do not think that people who make videos of humans making love to pink elephants should be punished.  But the thought of anyone interpreting these views against porn from Prager's essay frightens me very much.