I’ve never thought of so many ways to destroy Barbie dolls in such a short period of time. Put her on the oven coil and turn it on. Hold her hair over the flame of my grapefruit scented soy candle. Fill her head with catnip and give her to my cat. I never found Barbie to be offensive or promotional of negative gender stereotypes. On the contrary, I saw her as a role model while growing up. But, last night that little twit really pissed me off.
On the way home from Borders, John insisted that we stop at Targhetto (the Target between Borders and our house is dumpy and in a shady neighborhood – hence “Targhetto”) so I could pick up a sparkly Christmas tree to cheer me up after being so stressed out all day. Usually, there’s nothing like Christmas to make me really hate humanity; however, a pink Christmas tree with high-heel shoe ornaments seemed like just the thing to quell my Yule Rage.
Metallic pink tree in hand, I wandered off to the toy section while John went in search of a reasonable price on Justice League Unlimited. I kinda like checking out the toy department lately because the toys I had in the 1980s are coming back – it’s fun to reminisce about the times my brother decapitated my Barbies and hid their heads in weird places (the medicine cabinet, his lizard habitat, the flour jar).
Remember those old Barbie commercials? The “we girls can do anything!” commercials? My friends and I loved those commercials. We’d run around the playground shouting that slogan at boys who wouldn’t give up the baseball bat, wouldn’t let us in on the dodgeball games or told us to go play jumprope.
When I was growing up in the 1980s, Barbie really was a role model for me. The only adult women I knew then were my teachers and my friends’ moms, all of whom were stay at home moms like mine. I didn’t see women doing anything else, so I actually thought those were my only options in life: be a teacher or be a mom.
It wasn’t until I was 8 years old and got Astronaut Barbie and Business Executive Barbie (OK, she was Day-to-Night Barbie, but to me she was all business) that it even occurred to me that I could be something other than a teacher or a mom. I could be a business woman and have my own secretary. I could be a doctor. I could be a astronaut. Eventually I settled on being an archaeologist because I wanted to have Indiana Jones types of adventures.
In the Barbie aisle at Targhetto, the only things that kept me from yelling obscenities aimed at the Mattel company were two little girls who were fawning all over Island Princess Barbie and were reminding their dad to tell Santa that they wanted her.
It wasn’t Island Princess Barbie that I found so offensive (I actually thought her dress was rather pretty and I wouldn’t mind having one like it to wear when I’m feeling poopy – there’s nothing like a twirly glitter skirt to brighten up your day).
It was the Barbie “I Can Be. . . ” dolls and playsets, which according to the official Barbie website, encourage girls to try out different jobs for when they grow up. That’s great, but Barbie is giving girls some lousy options:
I can be. . . an Art Teacher!
I can be . . . a Baby Photographer!
I can even be. . . a Pet Sitter!
These playsets come with little puppies and babies for Barbie to teach and photograph and care for. Luckily, that’s not all girls can be. The other “I can be. . . ” playsets are:
I can be. . . a Cake Baker!
I can be. . . a Ballet Teacher!
I can be. . . a Baby Doctor!
Sure, working as a cake baker or a pet sitter might be fun for a second income in a situation where hubby brings in a six figure salary, but otherwise these are passive options and they don’t really allow girls to explore possibilities.
And they’re so gender stereotypical. Pet sitter! Baby photographer! Are you kidding me? Barbie used to do stuff! In 1990 she was a diplomat. In 1973 she was a surgeon. Even back in 1965 she got to be an astronaut.
In 2007, she gets to be a pet sitter.
Have we really reached a point where we don’t have to encourage girls to try achieve great things? Where we just assume they’re going to grow up to be independent and successful? Is it really so common for women to do things that are traditionally male dominated that we’d rather encourage girls to take a gender step back and explore more “feminine” fields?
I have to wonder if we’re seeing Baby Photographer Barbie and Pet Sitter Barbie because the mothers of today’s little girls grew up to be executives or attorneys or financial analysts and found out it wasn’t as awesome as they thought it would be when they were 8 years old. Now they’d rather be pre-school art teachers or cake bakers.
[nms:president barbie,1,0]
Maybe it’s because of where I live or the demographic of kids I work with, but I think girls still need the role model I had in Barbie. It’s not just about the way she looks – it’s what she does that’s important. So, here are my more ambitious revisions of the current “I can be. . . ” Barbie playsets:
Cake Baker. . . . World Class Chef
Pet Sitter. . . . Champion Dog Trainer
Baby Doctor. . . . Pediatrician (seriously, Mattel. Call it what it is)
Ballet Teacher. . . . Choreographer
Baby Photographer. . . . Photojournalist
Art Teacher. . . . Artist (or comic book artist, animator, children’s book illustrator. . . )
And here are a few new “I can be. . . ” playsets I’d like to see:
I can be. . . a Kung Fu Master
I can be. . . a Robotics Engineer
I can be. . . a Manga Artist (or Comic Book Artist)
I can be. . . a Global Adventurer (she could be an archeologist or adventure travel professional – “Global Adventurer” just sounds more like Indiana Jones)
I can be. . . a Pioneer on Mars
Girls still need to be able to dream about what they can be. Sometimes their parents aren’t able to show them that, and that’s OK. My parents always told me I could be anything I wanted to be (yes, even a cowgirl that one year), but it really helps a kid to see it, too. Even if it’s only in a doll.
[nms:astronaut barbie,1,0]
I didn’t grow up to be an archeologist. After looking up to Astronaut Barbie and Business Executive Barbie and shouting “We girls can do anything!”, I became a high school teacher. I love it, I’m good at it, and I was able to make that decision after exploring other things.
But, if I were going to be an astronaut, I would totally have a shiny pink spacesuit.
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Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
LOL – great article! I feel the same way about Barbie (except I would wear the pink skirt). I think Mattel has done a pathetic job with Barbies in recent years. I’m surprised we haven’t seen a Paris Hilton or Brittany Spears Barbie. My girls want the Mylie Cyrus/Hannah Montana Barbies for hristmas. The jury is still out on those…
Hey, they are in competition whith the Ho Bratz. So the fact that Matel give any carreer goal other than being a Ho, can be seen as a positive. KILL BRATZ!!!!
The Bratz dolls kind of freak me out – even the Bratz Babyz look oversexed. They’re like the Powerpuff Girls got a couple years on them and wound up in Heavy Metal magazine.
I believe I have ranted about this series in my own blog. In my latest rant, I complain about Barbie-esque Disney Princess dolls being ballerinas and on the one hand that’s all pretty girls can do is be dancers. On the other, it’s nice to see them have careers outside the castle.
Apparently Barbie can’t be anything that doesn’t have pink in it. Hence why she can’t be a judge, activist, or professor of women’s studies.
That space suit makes her look like Miss Piggy from “Pigs in Space.”
The weirdest thing about Bratz to is that their feet come off.
Hi, i just thought i’d post and let you know your blogs layout is really messed up on firefox browser. Anyways keep up the great work.
Im not the only one that hates that commercial OMG it pisses me off so much and i'm a guy. would never by my daughter a barbie… don't believe in what mattel is selling with their commercial.
Barbies a S***! and kids now are growing up way to fast and maybe its because of stuff like barbie? YOU CAN BE BARBIE TOO!!! yea lets be fake plastic… seriously does an 8 yr old really need to be told she can be what she wants to be from an ad? it doesn't tell the little girl a danm thing.
its the parents job to tell their kid they can be what they want to be when their older.
And for the commenter's bratz girls are the reason 10 year olds are having sex….