It has come to my attention that my revulsion of all things Barbie is "too harsh." Okay, I'll give you that I dismiss Barbies pretty out of hand, under the assumption that not much has changed since the 80's--when I had a handful of Barbies that lived naked under my bed and never got played with. I hated those stupid minuscule snaps, and didn't really see the point of playing with people who seemed to do nothing but get dressed in insane clothes with ridiculously small enclosures. And even as a kid, I thought their boobs were ridiculous. Apparently, Barbie has changed, physically, as well as her message. I was told that Barbie taught girls they could be whatever they wanted, and therefore I shouldn't discourage Sam from having them in our home.
**(For the record, Sam has exactly one Barbie, someone gave it to her. She plays with it on occasion, but I have no desire to buy more dolls or accessories. Sam has Disney princess dolls that are basically Barbies, and that is as far as I'm willing to go. Plus, the princesses don't look quite as sexualized.)
Hey, if I've been wrong about the blonde bombshell, I'm willing to readjust. So, I took a stroll down the Barbie aisle for the first time in, well, multiple decades.
Amongst all the "Fashionista" Barbies (and Kens!) that I found somewhat discouraging, I finally found something that looked promising. I found a section of Barbies called "I can be..." This is where they have different uniforms of different jobs that Barbie can do! Maybe I was wrong about Barbie, maybe she does have some substance about her these days...
Then I looked at the package. Personally, I've never seen a cop (female or otherwise) whose "uniform" consists of a mini skirt and a badge just to the right of her cleavage. Maybe I just live in the wrong precinct? Thumbs down for cop Barbie in my book. She's supposed to teach girls they can be policewomen, not that they can be strippers whose costumes resemble cops uniforms.
But, there's also "firefighter" Barbies! Female firefighters are pretty tough chicks, this must be empowering, right? Glad to report, no mini skirt here--which would look pretty silly in a burning building. Firefighter Barbie wears black leggings, and a belted red jacket that pretty much looks like a mini dress over black tights. In other words, nothing strong, flame resistant, or empowering here. Still looks like the "adult" section of the Halloween store. Looks more like she'd be getting sprayed with a hose in a frat house wet T-shirt competition than using one to douse a burning building. Forget running into a burning building with feet like that! In a word, skankalicious.
The third career in the set was "pet doctor" Barbie. I kid you not, her lab coat said "Pet Doctor Barbie." If I had a pet, I'm not sure I would take them to someone who thought the term "vet" or heaven forbid "veterinarian," was too confusing and referred to themselves as a "pet doctor," but that's just me being picky. I mean, my daughter is three, and she could grasp the concept that a doctor for doggies and kitties is called a "vet" so I would assume that the target demographic for all things Barbie could also understand the term "vet," but who am I to question Mattel? I'm also a little disturbed that in the picture, her clothing seemed designed so that the lab coat looked like she had nothing on underneath it. I haven't spent a day surrounded by sick animals and their bodily fluids, but I'm guessing something about the environment makes you want to leave the mini skirts and high heels at home. Unless you're hoping that the guy who just watched you put down his beloved golden retriever is going to be looking for consolation from a hot "pet doctor."
So, yes, Barbie does tell girls they can be whatever they want--as long as they look incredibly sexy while doing it.
Frankly, I don't see this as a step forward. Fifty years ago, Barbie told women and girls they should reach an unattainable physical ideal and look like Barbie, to get Ken and the dream house. Today, she still shows an unattainable physical ideal, but now, girls also need to be strong enough to do masculine jobs, smart enough to have advanced professional degrees, and rich enough to still have the dream house (and RV, and convertible...). So promoting an impossible self-image, plus the pressure for worldly achievement is a move in the right direction?
So to the people who tell me Barbie taught them to be whatever they wanted--I say maybe for you that's so. If you were raised in a home where you were told by your mother that you are capable of anything, maybe slapping a mini skirt, a badge, and a plastic taser on your Barbie doll felt empowering instead of intimidating. Maybe if you are raising your girls that appearance is unimportant, and they understand that Barbie is a fun toy, and not the norm or the ideal, they are harmless.
In the world we live in today, however, where too many women are trying themselves to be the next "Real Housewife" of [insert city here], and their daughters are seeing them chasing a fruitless pursuit of Kim Kardashian's butt, Pamela Anderson's boobs, and Angelina Jolie's lips, I have to ask if many girls out there are getting the balanced message? If incredible women I know personally, who are strong mothers, great wives, wonderful employees, highly educated, taught of their infinite worth by a religion that literally believes there is divinity in each of us, are considering tummy tucks, boob jobs, and other plastic surgery to feel "fulfilled," I have to ask myself if it really was harmless?
In pondering all of this, I just have to conclude that it isn't worth it. I'll leave those mixed messages in the toy aisle, I don't need to bring them into my home. There's enough out there to devalue our girls, I'm not going to pay my hard-earned dollars for it to come in a pink plastic package.
Sorry, Barbie. You're not the entire problem, but you're one I just don't need around my three-year old.
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