Even saying the name Barbie brings up all sorts of mixed emotions for me. The hours of ecstatic play I had, the obvious impact it had on my perception of beauty, the luxury, the racial limitations, the beauty, the impossibility of her body. Barbie is so much more than just a toy to thousands if not millions of women and girls who have played with her. As with many things in childhood, Barbie helped fashion our perceptions.
A few short years ago Barbie's world consisted of motherhood, bride, babysitting, nursing, and if you were lucky perhaps a pediatrician. I won't go into the specifics of why all of the afore mentioned are sexist, but obviously Mattel had it decided that a woman must marry or nurture and anything else was out of the question. But now, the doll industry has realized that little girls have just as much imagination as little boys - and perhaps both boys and girls can be interested in the same things. Mattel has released several dolls who are now scientists and engineers. Perhaps we can have Barbie Freight Driver in the upcoming years, or a stay at home doll for boys who are more domestically inclined.
While Barbie has made leaps and bounds in her career options, I'm afraid that Barbie still has some length to go. Thankfully, Mattel has actually made dolls with black, latina, and asian features. Not just the same face with different skin tones (which I remember from my childhood). And, I about died and went to heaven when I saw that black Barbies are being featured with textured hair. However, I'm perturbed by Mattel's "African American Doll" section. Do they have to be separate? Are black people too impatient to look through dolls of both races? Or, are white people upset that they have to sift through black dolls? And, why is it that there are no other ethnic dolls offered? There is a very large hispanic population in America - but they don't get to have a section of dolls? It seems much easier to group all the dolls together featuring an array of different skin-tones, with small text underneath reading "click for more colors." This is how most online shopping is done... doesn't seem so difficult. What's more, going to the Barbie homepage the entire flash add is white-blonde Barbie. With the many colors (yes even unnatural ones) of Barbie skintones why don't marketers jazz it up a bit with some Barbies of color? I understand that the white, blonde Barbie is iconic, but I also understand that when Barbie was created whites and blacks couldn't share a drinking fountain - I'm hoping we've progressed since then.
And then these are just fucking awesome:
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