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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/15/barbie-hollywood-film-role-model-girls-greta-gerwig>
"Crazy as this might sound, 10 years ago I honestly thought Barbie was
tottering on her tiptoes, ready for a well-earned retirement. A few years
earlier, my book,
Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism, had energetically
questioned why we not only assumed it was natural that girls would love dolls
but also why we expected girls to turn themselves into pretty objects in turn.
My questions coincided with growing unease in society with the way the
apparently innocuous doll contributed to harsh stereotypes for girls. Barbie
made girls less ambitious, psychologists said, or more prone to eating
disorders. Sales began to slide; “Barbie slump”, the headlines had it in 2016,
or “Barbie out of fashion”.
But just as we started to think it was time for Barbie to be consigned to
landfill, the manufacturer, Mattel, gave her a fresh look – or rather, any
number of fresh looks. In response to fading enthusiasm for the doll, with her
cookie-cutter skinny blonde looks, we’ve had a run of new Barbies. Black
Barbies with natural hair, Barbies in wheelchairs, with hearing aids and
vitiligo, and all sorts of role model Barbies from Jane Goodall Barbie to Clara
Amfo Barbie. And now, with all the glamour that Margot Robbie, Issa Rae and
Greta Gerwig can bring to the beach party, Barbie rises yet again. This time,
we’re told, she’s empowering. This time, we’re told, she’s actually funny. This
time, even if you hate Barbie, you’ll love Barbie.
So the release of the film
Barbie has cued a slew of commentators explaining
why feminists should learn to stop worrying and love the doll. To an extent, I
agree. I never banned the pink plastic ones from my children’s toybox. In fact,
Barbies seemed to wander into my daughter’s bedroom of their own accord as
gifts and hand me downs from friends and family. As research shows, playing
with dolls can stimulate empathy and imagination, and I enjoyed listening to my
daughter and her friends chattering away as they took the plastic people on
crazy adventures.
So I don’t want to overstate the pernicious influence of Barbie herself. I get
that she is just a doll, and most women can take or leave her, play with her or
bin her, and might even be inspired by her. Just as it isn’t Instagram alone
that fuels narcissism, or the Kardashians alone who enforce unrealistic body
expectations, no single brand, model or social media platform should be the
target for feminists’ concerns about why inequality and sexism are so damn hard
to shift."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
