Made from wood, chicken wire, and paper-mâché, Galia Slayen’s life-sized Barbie is impacting the discussion about how women perceive their bodies during National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

The giant Barbie was built to human scale and is dressed in Slayen’s clothes from the high school years, when Slayen herself was battling with anorexia.

“She’s much bigger than the Barbie I used to have,” says the 20-year-old Hamilton College Student.  “My goal of Barbie is to create discussion. You can’t ignore her.”

If Barbie were real, she would stand 6-feet tall with a 39 inch bust, 18-inch waist and 33-inch hips.

Although Slayen doesn’t blame her Anorexia on Barbie — saying there were many contributing factors — she did say it would always come back to looking like Barbie, perfect.

What do think?  Did the way Barbie looked impact your self-image growing up?