When I was growing up in the 90s and 00s, playing with Barbies (and my mom's old Barbies), boys like my older brother told me pink was stupid, Barbies were stupid, girls were stupid. Like kids do, away from the ears of our parents. I rebelled, of course, Barbies in hand. (My brother is now the proudest dad of a little girl. Character growth.)
There's something so gratifying to me about a 2 hour celebration of pink, of the way women and girls play with Barbie, that beat the best box office estimates. When the film's Mattel CEO (Will Ferrell's character) said they used pink sparkles to keep girls down, I felt that. The feminists I knew told me often that I had to dial back my femininity to be taken seriously by in male-dominant spaces. Yet, as I meditated on what the brand meant to me growing up, I realized that my cast of Barbies and their tiny clothes taught me that I could be whatever I wanted--astronaut, doctor, Dorothy Gale--without looking less feminine to make men comfortable. I don't dress for them. I dress for myself, like I dressed my Barbies for myself.
All that being said--why aren't there thinkpieces about how Hot Wheels makes teen boys notoriously bad drivers, or things like that? Why are we picking on Barbie from a grown-up's perspective while ignoring the way little girls PLAY with Barbie? It's so patronizing to little girls to tell them what messages they are getting from their toys, without entering into their world and seeing what messages they make in imaginative play.
When I was growing up in the 90s and 00s, playing with Barbies (and my mom's old Barbies), boys like my older brother told me pink was stupid, Barbies were stupid, girls were stupid. Like kids do, away from the ears of our parents. I rebelled, of course, Barbies in hand. (My brother is now the proudest dad of a little girl. Character growth.)
There's something so gratifying to me about a 2 hour celebration of pink, of the way women and girls play with Barbie, that beat the best box office estimates. When the film's Mattel CEO (Will Ferrell's character) said they used pink sparkles to keep girls down, I felt that. The feminists I knew told me often that I had to dial back my femininity to be taken seriously by in male-dominant spaces. Yet, as I meditated on what the brand meant to me growing up, I realized that my cast of Barbies and their tiny clothes taught me that I could be whatever I wanted--astronaut, doctor, Dorothy Gale--without looking less feminine to make men comfortable. I don't dress for them. I dress for myself, like I dressed my Barbies for myself.
All that being said--why aren't there thinkpieces about how Hot Wheels makes teen boys notoriously bad drivers, or things like that? Why are we picking on Barbie from a grown-up's perspective while ignoring the way little girls PLAY with Barbie? It's so patronizing to little girls to tell them what messages they are getting from their toys, without entering into their world and seeing what messages they make in imaginative play.
I feel all this!!!
Thank you so much for this article. It really helped get my thoughts together. 🩷