Paris Hilton epitomizes what Barbie might look like if she was a living girl: long, platinum blonde hair styled into cascading waves and curls, shimmering tan skin, bright blue eyes, and pouty, pink lips. She also comes with the unlimited pink wardrobe and matching larger-than-life jewels as accessories. She changes designer outfits about seven times daily. Forget Ken...remember how many times Barbie broke up with him? So many men and so many sports cars to choose between!

Welcome to Barbie’s real life incarnation. What I have come to think of as:

The Bad Barbie

Paris captures our attention just like Barbie did, with a great figure, style, and flair. But like Barbie, she seems at best vapid and superficial, and at worst, mean-spirited towards her friends and sexually promiscuous.

Just the reasons that we disparage our daughters from fixating on fashion over substance, and consumerism over character.

Why is Paris (aka Barbie Paris) so notorious? Her day job could be described as that of a club promoter and socialite. She was reportedly paid $1 million just to show up at the opening of a club named after her. (Barbie always seemed like she would love to dance and party as she jumped out of her sports car!) Paris also gained pseudo-reality show fame through The Simple Life, based around her wealth and completely pampered and rarefied lifestyle. And then there is that ultra un-Barbie like sex video of her and a former boyfriend. Let's not forget the continually public rifts with former best friend Nicole Richie and fellow female stars like Lindsay Lohan and Shannon Doherty that keep her newsworthy.

The hotel heiress is only twenty-five years old. Young girls see Paris as a powerful, sexy, popular, glam girl worthy of emulation. She runs with the crowd of young Hollywood “it girls” which includes Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie and Jessica Simpson. These girls seem to be getting in an increasing amount of trouble. Lindsay reported to Vanity Fair that she was bulimic, Nicole confessed to anorexia, and Jessica Simpson is just trying to stay out of the limelight in her short-shorts while her divorce blows over. All of these stories of young Hollywood flood the news with their eye-catching antics and outfits. And not much else.

Paris’ wealth, boy-flings, and juvenile behavior seem to be getting a bit much, even for a Barbie-incarnate.

I am not saying Paris has to do a 180 degree reformation like Angelina Jolie and start adopting children, but some depth in values would be worth pursuing. In the meantime, we are left with Paris emulating Barbie to the extreme, acting more like a toy of the media than an individual worthy of the respect of our tweens and teens.

Image from usmagazine.com

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