Barbara Ann, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

January 30, 2016 Victor El-Khouri 2 Comments

Gather ‘round, children, and let me teach you history.

Mine was the first Barbie generation.  Before Barbie, almost all dolls on the mass-market were baby dolls, or toddlers.  They were intended as toys for girls, who would use them to pretend to be mommies.  There were also a few young-girl dolls who could be make-believe friends.  I had a Poor Pitiful Pearl doll that was my best friend and confidante for a while.

Barbie was the first mass-market adult doll.  Girls didn’t take care of her.  We envied her.  We aspired to be her.  We used her to dress up in grown-up clothes.  She was a fashion model.  She was glamorous.  She had gigantic breasts, little tiny feet, and permanent eye-shadow.  Her wardrobe choices included chic suits, lovely day dresses, and fabulous evening gowns.

Sure, her body was impossible.  So were her outfits.  No one any of us knew had closets containing such glory.

I suppose Caroline Kennedy, if she had a Barbie, would have found it realistic.

As a white child, I didn’t notice that there were no other skin-color options available.  As it was, I was miffed that the doll my parents gave to me had brown hair (like mine) and not blonde hair.  At age six, I had already absorbed the social message that blonde is the most beautiful.

Later on, Barbie started to have more different kinds of careers, and more houses and cars and friends.  She was available in different skin colors, as well as different hair colors.  At the same time, her environments grew increasingly pink.  The play these toys encouraged was less about fashion and more about careers.  Little girls could imagine themselves as doctors, astronauts, surfers and other professionals, all while staying reassuringly “feminine.”

As a feminist, these Barbie alterations worried me.  I thought they were quite restrictive, emphasizing how Barbie looked over what Barbie thought and what Barbie wanted.  At the same time, as a parent, I know how important it is to let children guide their own play.  For better or worse, I didn’t have a daughter, and that particular wrinkle of the gender justice issues didn’t come up.

Mattel just announced that new changes are in Barbie’s future.  She will be available in different sizes and shapes, as well as more varied skin tones.

In general, I think this is a good thing.  More choices mean more kids can find what they want.  In the United States, these girls are likely to have family members who are “curvy.”  They are likely to grow up to be “curvy” themselves.  It’s wonderful that they’ll be able to see their “curvy” dolls (and their tall dolls, and short dolls, and regular Barbie dolls, in all the available colors) as the stars in their play.

However, as this link and its comments show, girls who play with these new Barbies have already internalized the message that “curvy” Barbie is fat, and fat is ugly.

That’s the point of the protests over the #OscarsSoWhite.  We all want to see ourselves as the protagonist in our stories.  That’s what people like Billy Mumy don’t understand.  i love Billy Mumy but he hasn’t made movie since 1992.  To quote him in the link:  “The nomination process is not racist. Surely you realize that members of the Academy don’t get together in clandestine meetings to discuss who they’re going to nominate or not nominate.”

As Robert Chan said on Facebook:  “You don’t even have to be racist for the system to be racist! You’re probably just voting for works of art that speak to your personal experience. So is every other white voter in the Academy – all 94% of them. … (Y)our point of view is already represented. It has been since the beginning of Hollywood. For every one of those voices hushed, there are THOUSANDS being heard for the first time. Don’t think of it as losing a vote – think of it as a conversation. You’re not being silenced, you’re shutting your mouth for one goddamn moment to let the person you’re talking to get a word in edgewise. Listening is always more important than talking.”

It matters who plays the lead in our fantasies, whether these fantasies take place with our toys, on television, in the movies or in the pages of books.

Media Goddess Martha Thomases is always glad she doesn’t live in Iowa, but now especially.