In chapter Five of The Empire of Mind entitled Naughty Barbies and Greasy Clowns, Dr. Strangelove discusses the emergence of Barbie and what the toy truly symbolizes and represents. There was one part in particular that caught by attention and it states:
“Barbie plays a very specific role within the economic system—the eroticization of female identity and the socialization of each new generation of consumers.”
It immediately made me think of Jean Kilbourne, author of the trilogy Killing Us Softly by MediaEd. She doesn’t directly speak of Barbie and its eroticing elements, but she does however, talk about how women are portrayed in the media. And being eroticised is one of the many, roles women play. What Dr.Strangelove stated and goes onto speak about in this chapter and what Killbourne explicitly explains in her videos run along parallel paths.
In the third video of Killing Us Softly Killbourne states:
“Women learn from a very early age that we must spend enormous amounts of time energy and above all money striving to achieving this ideal beauty”
This can be related to a young girls introduction to her first Barbie doll. When young girls are given a Barbie doll they immediately want to imitate her down to the nail polish and clothing. Although the act may appear innocent enough, it won’t be long before the targeted demographic begin to get ideas of what is means to be a woman in society.
In fact alot of what Kilbourne says in Killing Us Sofly III can be related to Barbie’s shaping of young girls attitudes. Dr. Strangelove mentions symbols, and in this case it’s Barbie, carry the power to control a social order through implicit assumptions that they represent. And it is safe to say that Barbie not only represents capitalism but she also represents femininity, sexuality, and beauty. Thus, shaping young girls views of such issues and subliminally reinforcing conformity.
In relation to femininity, through Barbie young girls are shown that they are loved and given attention if they dress in a feminine manner, and have the latest fashion items. The fact that Mattel equates femininity with fashion is evidently a part of their marketing scheme in order to get girls to buy more, thus creating future consumer habits in the girls themselves. Instilling the idea that they need to buy fashion products in order to get attention and be shown affection.
Barbie’s roles in life were often quite rigidly feminine, such as pregnant barbie, babysitter barbie, ballerina barbie. The jobs that Barbie primarily held were type-casted as “feminine jobs” However, in the past years barbie has branched out to being a doctor, astronaut, and veterinarian. But I have have yet to see a CEO Barbie, and as Dr. Strangelove says ” Barbie’s diversity is less then liberating and empowering”
In terms of beauty Killbourne states:
They[advertisers] surround us with the image of ideal female beauty, so we all learn how important it is to be beautiful and exactly what it takes…and feeling ashamed and guilty when we fail. And failure is inevitable, because the ideal is based on absolute flawlessness. She has no lines or wrinkles, no scars or blemishes, indeed she has no pores.”
It is true that while young girls will try to imitate this look, the look itself is unattainable because she is flawless. Barbie, truly doesn’t have any wrinkles or scars or pores! And this is their role model? A woman that doesn’t and by biological standards cannot exist. This brings us to Killbourne’s idea that the media puts greater emphasis on how women look, rather than their personalities or qualities.
With sexuality, young girls are taught that heterosexuality is normal, with the introduction of Barbie’s counterpart the Ken Doll. The Mattel brand makes it clear that Barbie and Ken are exclusive and belong to each other, this then deems heterosexuality as normal to young girls and therefore putting homosexuality in the “abnormal” category.
Basically as women we’re told that we are limited in terms of what we can accomplish and what we should be working on accomplishing. When speaking of the role of women in society Killbourne mentions that :
”We’re told that women are acceptable only if we’re young, thin, beautiful, carefully groomed and polished. And an deviation from that ideal is met with a lot of contempt and hostility.”
This is evident with Mattel banning certain images of Barbie in roles that don’t fit the social constraints that they’ve created not only for Barbie, but for women as well. When in fact women have had an array of social experiences in society. However I do agree that young girls should not be playing with a prostitute Barbie, and I see no harm with a girl playing with a Feminist Barbie or a Sorority Barbie.
What Mattel needs to realize is that there are a diverse range of women in society today, and by boxing them into a category and feeding it to young girls isn’t satisfying everyone. Yes, there are a range of different ethnic Barbies, but all portray stereotypes created by the media, and lack authenticity.
I think its time for barbie to go back to her pink drawing board and rethink what she should represent for young girls everywhere. A positive, self-fulfilling woman.
