Barbie as a Male, I\'ve

Barbie

As a male, I've never played with Barbies or really understood their appeal. However, I have given Barbies as gifts to younger female relatives on many occasions, upon their request. I had been told by my feminist friends that Barbie was supposed to be 'bad' because she projected an unhealthy and unrealistic image of female sexuality. However, while Barbie has her detractors, she also seems to spawn equally devoted female followers. It was not until I saw the 'Black Barbie' Vogue parody featured in Jezebel magazine that I began to question other aspects of Barbie's appeal, including her 'whiteness.' One of the striking features of the Jezebel photographs is their similarity. 'Black' Barbies all have the same features and look exactly like white Barbies, except for their coloring. Unlike real African-American women (and unlike real women in general) the Black Barbies all have the same skin tone and shape. And of course the idea that there is a 'Black' Barbie suggests that the 'real' version of the doll is not Black at all, but white.

Some of the images featured by Jezebel seem to merely replace images of white Barbies with images of Black Barbies, like the preppy, Ralph Lauren-style tennis game featured as image 11 on the website. Other online depictions show images of stereotypical but sanitized ghetto life, like the hip-hop Barbies featured in 19 and 20. These images echo the way African-American women themselves are often shown in fashion magazines. Either African-Americans are merely used to replicate typical images of white women, like a haughty, gaunt fashion model, or they are featured in highly exoticized advertisements. Of course, some people might say that African-American girls are 'lucky' (or unlucky) to have an alternative version of Barbie that even attempts to represent their lifestyle, however imperfectly. For example, there is no Asian Barbie and no Hispanic Barbie, except as part of Mattel's special 'collection' doll series for adults.

Mattel's actual website devoted to Barbie is striking in its whiteness. No Black Barbies are featured on the main page, in a manner that seems noteworthy after the Jezebel parody. Jezebel was attempting to satirize both fashion magazines' use of Black women and Barbie herself, but even its satire has more creativity and beauty, in comparison to the official Mattel website's blandness. Barbie's official website does feature an adult doll collection of "Dolls of the World" which has a slightly more diverse range of images, but even these dolls are fairly uniform in style: the Asian doll is decked out in a midriff-bearing sexy, sari, for example, but looks just like a 'regular' Barbie.

In terms of body image, the typical Barbie doll has branched out to slightly more diverse interests than fashion: Barbie now skis and surfs, and even rides dirt bikes. Barbie is athletic, as well as feminine, in the official image she projects to young girls, suggests that one can be outdoorsy and girlish at once. Barbie's "I can be" collection features a Barbie news anchor and computer engineer, the latter in plastic pink 'geek chic' glasses. Barbie's adult line now features less artificial looking dolls that are supposed to represent famous characters from film and fiction, including the recent blockbuster Twilight (the fact that adult Twilight vampire dolls like 'Victoria' look more 'realistic' than the real 'woman' Barbie is somewhat disturbing). Regardless, Mattel's attempts to respond criticisms about Barbie's artificial proportions pale in comparison to how actual consumers use Barbie in an ironic fashion.