It's the battle of the dolly birds: Barbie V Bratz. The good news is the future of Bratz dolls, probably the most inappropriate toy a young girl can have, is looking very uncertain at the moment. Bratz, the pornified version of Barbie – all big lips, short skirts and sexualised bodies – lost a massive court case to Mattel, the manufacturer of Barbie. The four-year court battle ended last week when a federal judge ruled that Carter Bryant, the creator of Bratz, came up with the toys' design and name while he was working for Mattel, not MGA Entertainment who up until recently owned the rights to the 'sexy' dolls. Mattel has won a massive $10m in copyright infringement and $90m in breach of contract.

It will probably mean the end of the line of the dolls, the scourge of parents, and the inspiration for tweens to dress like extras from a porn film, which largely contributed to the sexualisation of young girls. Since 2001, Bratz have made billions for their parent company, as well as spawning an empire that includes several different kinds of dolls, including male versions, make-up accessories, video games and an online community.

But while one doll has been evicted from the dollhouse, another one, Barbie, is thriving. Along with winning this massive victory in court against a competitor that was eating into Mattel's sales, Barbie has now reached a platform its makers would have never believed possible 50 years ago, when the first Barbie was manufactured. Mattel has signed a three-year deal with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), effectively meaning Barbie will be a sponsor of New York Fashion Week until 2011. If there was any further proof needed that the purpose of women in fashion is for them to be treated as dolls, then this is it.

Barbie has a lot to answer for. She effectively created the 20th century aspiration of female body image. Blonde hair, a small waist and big boobs were all perceived to be what a girl needed and wanted. With legendary measurements of 36 inches (chest), 18 inches (waist) and 33 inches (hips) Barbie monopolised the template for hotness, never mind that these measurements would render Barbie probably anorexic, unable to menstruate, and let's not even talk about back problems. There have been some epic Barbie gaffes during her reign across the toy chests of Western culture: the 1965 Slumber Party Barbie which came with a book called How To Lose Weight advising, "don't eat", or, more recently, the 1992 Teen Talk Barbie who spouted phrases like "Will we ever have enough clothes?" and "Math class is tough". Endless women followed in her plastic footsteps: Pamela Anderson, Jordan, Jessica Simpson, Alex Curran and the rest of the Wags, endless Playboy playmates, the cast of countless pornos, and the millions of women who bleach their hair and enlarge their tits around the world on a daily basis.

Now this distorted reality is being applauded by the fashion industry, as Barbie will get her own catwalk show with 50 world-famous designers mucking in to make the dresses, a make-up range called 'Plastic-Smooth' is set to be launched, and the House of Barbie flagship store will open in Shanghai where girls are encouraged (according to Mattel) to "nibble on truffles, smear on pink-tinted mud masks and shop for clothes for themselves and their dolls".

Since the inception of Bratz, Barbie became the lesser of two evils, but with Mattel's new plans at integrating the pursuit of an impossible body image firmly into real-life high fashion and make-up, she's back in the bad books. Is this an outrage? As The Simpsons' version of Barbie, Malibu Stacey would say, "Don't ask me, I'm just a girl."