In defense of Barbie

Check out this review from Bookslut:

Some recent books highlight girlhood’s splendor, and with them comes an increasing awareness surrounding two very important facts. The first is that our preparation for womanhood and the formation of ideas about being female begins long before its actual onset. The second: Barbie is an absolute slut.

Wait, so my Barbie wasn’t the only one who slept with Ken and never married him?
Having been raised by decidedly non-feminist parents, Barbies were a major part of my childhood. And even though there are a slew of reasons for feminists to detest Barbie, I really don’t think I was warped by her. Sure, my Barbie wore bikinis and miniskirts. But she also wore Ken’s sweaters sometimes. Her red convertible was one sweet ride. And she liked going out with both Ken and Derek (who played backup to her lead guitar in Barbie and the Rockers).

According to Sharon Lamb’s The Secret Lives of Girls, Barbie’s been dry humping Ken and even dabbled in some soft-core S&M for years now: “Barbie dolls help girls express what they don’t have words for yet, chiefly their sexual interest, which helps them to distance themselves from it at the same time. They can remain good girls while Barbie is the slut.

Ok, I haven’t been through enough therapy to know if I was acting out some sort of virgin/whore thing with my dolls. But I do know that Barbie was probably my introduction to sex. When my friend Dana– who was two years older and had a big sister– put Barbie and Ken in the missionary position, it was my cue to ask all sorts of questions. By the time my mom sat me down years later to tell me where babies come from, I’d already learned everything from Barbie. (Well, from Dana. But you get the idea.)

Now Barbie serves as a cerebral landmark along our path to womanhood, an object we can recall when we need to remember our own history.

You can make lots of convincing arguments about the ways Barbie’s unattainable physique plants seeds of self-hatred in young girls. But Barbie did OK by me. I chose her over baby-dolls every time, because she ran the show. There was no one telling her to pick up her toys or eat her peas. I loved Barbie because she was a grown-up, even if I didn’t understand anything about adulthood yet. Least of all, sex.

Join the Conversation