Beyond Barbie

My daughter plays with "Only Hearts Club Girls" dolls as well as some of the princess dolls. The only hearts club dolls are sold at Target. I don't recall if they have unreasonable dimensions but here's the link to the website--->http://www.onlyheartsclub.com/

...where they say "they are real looking dolls, with content that delivers a much-needed positive message to girls".

My daughter loves them and they have a lot of different styles/hair colors etc. Each doll seems to be involved in some activity like horse back riding etc.

I agree that Groovy Girl dolls are a good alternative. Polly pockets aren't that bad either.
I loved barbies growing up, and I completely understand not wanting your daughter's idea of how women should look to be skewed. However, in the long run I do not think barbies are such a big deal. TV shows, commercials and ads, magazines, and pressure from society/friends/family/peers will play a much greater role in giving her the idea that she should be the perfect woman and be sex symbol when she is older. There is no way of avoiding it unless you live in the woods with no technology or magazines around and don't let her play with other children. You can still educate her on the fact that while there are beautiful, seemingly "perfect" women out there, everyone is different and that is certainly not the norm.
She will probably get a Barbie for a present at some point but in the meantime maybe you can try to get her interested in cloth dolls, or animals, like the Littlest Pet Shop which is another girly plastic toy with tons of options and accessories

I've seen some cute Tinkerbell dolls at Target. You can get all the pixies too.

Ginny Dolls, a little more spendy but really nice quality dolls and clothes. Both my mom and I played with Ginny Dolls growing up.

http://www.voguedolls.com/

I agree. I hate Barbie and I hate Bratz even more. I never liked Barbies as a kid. I always liked the baby dolls instead. My almost 5yr old seems to be the same way so far. The closest thing she has are the Fisher Price Loving Family dolls that go with the doll house. They are nice "family oriented" dolls. But not quite the same as Barbie. Good luck -- and good for you for not buying them just because everyone else does.

i am sorry to say it may be inevitable that your girl may want to play with barbie...but if you look beyond the unrealistic body of the doll, she has a lot of great things about her: she is a multicultural doll and can teach a lot about other cultures and you can also buy her doing non-traditional jobs for women like a doctor, ecologist, astronaut, president, etc. here is a link to wikepedia showing all the careers barbie has been doing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie's_careers

Now, I am a mom that wont buy bratz dolls for my girls, so I understand your point about bad role models. But, I think if you fill your girls life with toys that encourage her to explore, learn and empower a few barbies will not hurt her image of what real women are about. Good luck!!

My daughter got her first Barbie for her 2nd birthday and has loved them since. She knows we don't look perfect like Barbie and she doesn't have the expectations to either. I've gotten her like wheelchair Barbie, and Pregnant Barbie, or Dr. Barbie there are some better ones.

They're are other dolls that are fun like Polly Pockets are a big hit, Groovy Dolls, etc.

There is always the UGLY Bratz dolls too LOL.. we have them all over the house.