Crosley, Sloane. "Barbie." Smithsonian 41.7 (2013): 78-83. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
c. 1959 • American History Museum
Wildly popular with girls, a new doll irked the women's movement
She's wearing entirely too much eyeliner. When the Mattel company introduced Barbie to the world, in 1959, she wore a
black-and-white striped one-piece bathing suit, black heels, white sunglasses and … entirely too much eyeliner. The makeup
was no doubt applied because Barbie was meant to be older than traditional dolls marketed to preteens. Here, at long last, was
a modern gal who could hold down a job, date and drive. Of course, despite these life skills, Barbie's most consistent feat
turned out to be stirring up controversy.
One Barbie doll is sold every three seconds somewhere in the world. No one that popular is universally adored. Barbie has
long drawn criticism for her unrealistic -- nay, fatal, if applied to any human counterpart -- proportions as well as her role as
Forewoman of the Gender Stereotype Factory. In addition to plastic combs and hand mirrors, she comes with a litany of
feminist faux pas. As recently as 1991, Barbie pronounced, via a small speaker embedded in her abdomen, that "math class is
tough" and "party dresses are fun." The following year brought the best-selling Barbie doll of all time, Totally Hair Barbie.
Hair she tied back when she appeared in the exercise tape "Dance! Workout With Barbie!" This, even though Barbie, being a
doll, has little need for cardio, and impressionable preteen girls already dying to look like the models they see in magazines
have even less for it.
But 20 years later, is Barbie really such a menace to society? Or is she an institution of plastic Americana, a blank slate on
which we've superimposed half the population's challenges? As an American woman (a child of the mid-'80s, I was weaned
on Barbie and the Rockers), I have officially decided to cut Barbie a little slack. Terrible makeup and all. We live in a world
where Barbie is no longer forced to shoulder the burden of American female self-esteem by herself, just as G.I. Joe can no
longer be faulted for promoting youth violence when there's a computer and an Xbox at hand. Good old Barbie seems
relatively harmless compared with, say, the entire catalog of reality television.
There is something incredibly appealing about Barbie's size (not her proportions, mind you) to the animated hand of a little
girl during playtime. You can get a real grip on Barbie, safe in the knowledge that she won't slump over as you bob her back
and forth in conversation. And those conversations, especially concerning Ken, can get heated. I remember getting so irate
with a friend's Barbie during a play date that I had my Barbie march off, jump into her Barbie Corvette, put her webbed foot
on the gas pedal and drive straight to the living room. Try doing that with an American Girl or a Polly Pocket. For all of
Barbie's girly reputation, she's built for real emotions, for backyard adventures and roughhousing.
Also to her credit? Math wouldn't always be tough. The woman has managed to hold down over 130 careers. Besides the
aerobics instructing and lifeguarding, she has also been an astronaut, a presidential candidate, an architect, an engineer, a
doctor and a paleontologist. Sure, her longest-standing career has been that of fashion model, but you try having the same job
for five decades and see if you don't start dabbling in firenghting and dentistry. Ultimately, half the fun of Barbie is
imagining her as a single woman with all these careers, a filter for the changing desires of girls, even if Barbie's progressive
accomplishments are just as unrealistic as her antiquated ones. No woman has those hips and that rib cage, and no woman has
designed an airplane and piloted it while simultaneously serving drinks and snacks in the main cabin.
Barbie Doll
by Marge Piercy
This girlchild was born as usual
and presented dolls that did pee-pee
and miniature GE stoves and irons
and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.
Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:
You have a great big nose and fat legs.
She was healthy, tested intelligent,
possessed strong arms and back,
abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
She went to and fro apologizing.
Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.
She was advised to play coy,
exhorted to come on hearty,
exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.
Her good nature wore out
like a fan belt.
So she cut off her nose and her legs
and offered them up.
In the casket displayed on satin she lay
with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on,
a turned-up putty nose,
dressed in a pink and white nightie.
Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.
Consummation at last.
To every woman a happy ending.