Barbie: An Essay In Feminism

Barbie has been a source of discourse for years and without leeway for grey areas she has been the subject of many a fight within my household, if my mum won't back down on her hatred, I won't back down on my love. To attempt to have any answers, to provide a middle ground for us, to decide on what Barbie means for feminism we need to approach her from an informed perspective, so let's take a walk through the history of barbie.

The First Barbie

The Beginning

Barbie came into existence in 1959. That was a while ago in real time and in feminist time, we hadn't even seen the rise of second wave feminism. After years (14) of pitching a fashion doll, Cofounder of Mattel, Ruth Handler finally got the go ahead from her business partners and made Barbie.

The doll was one of the first of its kind and definitely the one who rose to the most success. Until then the popular dolls of choice were all baby dolls. Obviously women (who weren't lower class) were only ever expected to become mothers, what else would they want to be. And of course the nuance will come, but to give young children something that isn't a baby to play with is pretty great, and a pretty solid step in the right direction.

The first doll was a model, not the most feminist of roles, but a role with agency. A doll that could inspire young girls to pursue a life where they are in charge is a positive thing. And I must remind you that this is happening in 1959! And of course it isn't only girls who play with dolls but they were the target audience. They were the ones who Handler hoped to influence.

Ruth Handler

Ruth Handler

The Career List

While Barbie may have started life as a model she has gone on to do so much. With a career list as long as your arm it would be nonsensical to dive into every single career Barbie has ever had, she's really done it all. I'm going to take a focus on the roles where women are statistically underrepresented to show the ways in which Barbie can be a positive influence.

With a staggering 61 dolls with a career in medicine ranging from art therapist to zoo veterinarian Barbie could inspire the next generation of medical professionals easily. The most important dolls to stand as role models are Dentists, Doctors, and Surgeons. Today less than half of all dentists are women, but the number is on the incline. At the time of the first dentist barbies release only 37% of dentists were women. Doctors, like dentists, also have a percentage of women sitting at just below half. And with the first doctor Barbie being released five years earlier than dentist Barbie, in 1988, the percentage of female doctors at the time was less than 20%. Surgeons are the worst of all, with the number of women in the profession sitting at a mear 27%. And the total when the doll was first released in 1973: less than 5%. On these stats alone the value of Barbie as a role model could be upheld, but I will continue as these are technically all caregiver roles which women are typically pushed towards, albeit at a lower level.

Barbie is also a beacon for the ‘Girls in STEM’ movement. Having careers in areas of STEM that typically have issues with creating spaces for women. Without looking back at the times the dolls were released seems pointless because the gender gaps today are incredibly pronounced. So without a do, here's a list: astronaut (12% are women), astrophysicist (20% are women), computer engineer (25% are women), renewable energy worker (32% are women), robotics engineer (19% are women).

The two final careers I want to mention are possibly the most feminist. Barbie has been a pilot for 9 whole dolls which is around the same number of real life women pilots. Which is only slightly an exaggeration with around 5% of pilots being female. And a less popular set of dolls were the race car drivers. Four were released and I'm not exaggerating when I say that there are only 11 more women who have been race car drivers. 15 whole women have ever been mainstream race car drivers.

The Aspirational Doll

You cannot understand the goal of Barbie as an aspirational doll without seeing the issues that arise. Or maybe you can because Mattel did not work on their countless issues until they faced blowback or loss in sales. In the beginning this may have been forgiven, there was only one woman in the 50s creating a doll with a much less lofty goal. But the company became big fast, and with that comes moral responsibility. I am going to break this section down because I believe each issue deserves it.

Kitty Black Perkins

Kitty Black Perkins

The Lacking Representation

This got off to an exceptionally rocky start in 1967 with their first “black” doll, she was called "Colored Francie ''. I'm sure you can see the first issue that comes with this name, but it's lazier than that. The doll was just a previous doll “Francie” with a different skin tone. Of course this was made clear to Mattel that people wouldn't just accept this, and in 1968 they released Christie who is regarded as their first african american doll. They still had a long way to go before they did anything well though because they continued to produce dolls with eurocentric features exclusively. While under creative control of Kitty Black Perkins, who I would argue is the reason Barbie managed to stay as relevant as they are to this day, Mattel created a focus group to create a whole new set of moulds that were genuinely inclusive. This work resulted in diverse facial features, skin tones, hair, and names.

Mattel introduced their first asian doll in 1981, with The Oriental Barbie. Much like Colored Francie she didn't have her own name, simply an outdated term followed by a white doll's name. Unlike with black dolls there is less pressure on Mattel to create asian dolls. That's not to say there isn't demand or that it's less important to have the same representation for Asian kids. Instead it's to say that Barbie's main competitors are the Bratz dolls who have very clear and prominent black dolls.

The first asian character to have both a name and a country of origin instead of the generic “asian”, was Reina. Reina was a Japanese doll released in 1999.

As I write this there are no South Asian Babies who aren't dolls of real people which is a major failing on Mattel's part.

The Body Problem

My mum always makes the argument that Barbie is a black mark on anything feminist and she deserves to be burned to the ground. This is all because she's a physically impossible body. I don't disagree that her body is a problem for people, but I think it's only a small part of the Barbie universe. To argue that the way Barbie deals with weight is okay would be to directly ignore the facts. Even Mattel has made a move towards a more body positive brand, possibly to cover up horrendous blunders, possibly to appease the market.

The biggest blunder that comes to mind is the Slumber Party Barbie. Alone she is fine, but her accessories are another story. She came with a bathroom scale that was set to a weight of 50kg, underweight for a 5”0 woman. She also came with a booklet titled “How To Lose Weight.” And the inside of the booklet reads, “Don't Eat!”

Outside of the textual evidence of Barbie's problematic view of weight there are the people who are affected. Enough people that there is a name for the mental disorder that affects people who are willing to put themselves under stress (think surgery, think starving themselves) to achieve the Barbie look, Barbie syndrome. With such strong societal effects Mattel did eventually take small steps. In 2016 they released their first “curvy” Barbie, Harper Villa. Now to say she is even midsized is a stretch, let alone fat, and it took them an embarrassing amount of time to do it but it's a step. The problem we are likely to see following this is that fatness is villainized. To normalise truly fat bodies through a Barbie doll would be a taboo. Even the movie, which cast Sharon Rooney as Lawyer Barbie, treated fat bodies differently, giving Rooney's character a full coverage outfit and all the other Barbies more run of the mill beachwear.

Sharon Rooney

The Movie

I never expected much from the movie, I enjoyed it, I had fun, but I never expected depth. That doesn't mean it doesnt deserve to be analysed and critiqued, and between you and me, I think something can be good and have bad traits. So let's start with the good. This movie allowed women all over the world to connect, especially connecting young people to older generations in a way that made people feel seen across the board. It proved that films centred around women can and do perform well in the box office. This will hopefully pave the way for women in film across the board. It's pretty solid entry level feminism for young people and folks who maybe got left behind by feminism.

Now onto the bad. As I mentioned before, the movie doesn't treat fat bodies with the same love as it does thin one's. Lawyer Barbie is cool, competent and beautiful but she isn't allowed to have her arms out and her trousers need to be past her knees. More so than the dolls, who can have the excuse of production, the movie cast real people with real bodies. Those bodies deserve more than they've been given.

It's not just fat women who are let down by Barbies feminism, it's everyone. The cast is diverse and interesting, but most of the Barbies got little to no depth of character. But the Kens all got fleshed out, the Kens were all complete characters.

One character who the film could have given more time is President Barbie, played by Issa Rae. Issa Rae is pretty widely beloved by all the kids who saw the movie, and of course she's stunning, she's powerful, and she steals the show. And yet she only had 9 lines in the entire film. For a movie about Barbies they spend a lot of time sidelining Barbies.

You'd think that the star of the show would be our titular character Stereotypical Barbie, but while she does spend the most time on screen she's crying for most of it. Instead it's Ken who gets the most utilised screen time and the most complete character arc. It's Ken who is the one who is given space to grow and change. While Barbie is only allowed to undergo physical change.

The End

All in all, if you want to understand the brand of Barbie the film is the place to start. It's got flaws, and many of them, but it's fun and it's trying at least a little to do something good for girls. While they have a long way to go, and maybe can't ever be perfect because at the end of the day, capitalism, Barbie can't be all bad if they make anyone feel like they could do something amazing.