Reactions to Kinky and BQA- The Barbie Race

 The poem "Black Barbie History" brings up the issue of Barbie trying to immitate all the races with one mold.
      "Black Barbies look exactly like White barbies.
       Identical molds, not unlike uniform squares
       of Nestle's Dark and Alpine White chocolate bars."  (p 20)
This poems is all about how Mattel's Barbie stands for all women being equal when their dolls portray a different message.  There is not a difference between Black Barbie and White Barbie- she comes from the same mold.  She has "tiny hands, flexed feet, and slight nose" (lline 6).  Mattel gives the impression to little Black girls that they are not beautiful like Barbie unless they have all the white features that Barbie portrays.
   
     BQA goes into more depth about this issue of the African American Barbie.  Rands discusses how the African American Barbie was introduced in 1980.  Matell claims that the doll is "realistically sculpted from head to toe to reflect the natural beauty of African American women" - "although all have long hair, which Mattel considers regrettably inauthentic but necessary for a totally fulfilling play experience" (p 68).

     This whole issue of the African American Barbie really interested me.  Thinking back to my play times with Barbie I never remember seeing a Black Barbie, or any Black Doll for the matter.  I wanted to see if these books that we were reading really did tell the truth that Barbies all look the same no matter what their "race" is.  So I went to Google to see what I could find.

1998 Bead Blast Barbie

2001 Princess of South Africa

1971 Black Barbie (First African American Barbie)

     This website was really helpful.  It shows many of the ethnic Barbies that were produced by Mattel over that past few decades.  This website also shows the change in the White Barbie over the years.  I can see a few on the discrepencies that these two Barbie books are talking about, but then I can see Mattel's side of the story.  I think Mattel did a good job representing the African American woman (no African American woman looks exactly like another either.)  There are Barbie's with wide noses and skinny noses, with American clothing and ethnic clothing, and big lips and little lips, short hair and long.  I see the books point that the majority of African American women may have different feautures than White women, but not everyone.  I really do think the Afircan American woman is just as well represented as the White woman-- everyone is super skinny.  I think that for the most part, the facial feautures are varied enough.  I think an exact representation of every single different looking woman would be really hard to come by.  I think if this was your aim as a parent for diversity and realness, then turn to the American Girl Doll collection.  These dolls have all different feautures, hair styles, elasticities, and a more realistic body shape.
     I think both of these books really bring up interesting social issues about the female ideal in our society.  I also beleive that some of these books go way to far in taking there aggressions out on Barbie.  If I didn't really look at the pictures I would have believed that Barbie was made all from one mold, but this simple is not true.  Mattel has tried to make their Barbie's ethnically appropriate while still trying to keep the "Barbie feel."  Whether this "Barbie feel" is ideal or not is a whole different issue.  It is a very complicated issue, and I am not saying anyone is right or wrong, I'm just looking at the evidence that these passages point too.

Midwife in the Middle East

      This week I read an article (Article Here) about Sharim who is a midwife in the middle east.  She is being honored this year by the UNFPA for her courageous work.  Sharim defied the odds and got her college education while working three jobs.  She defied her father, and became one of the most educated people in her village.
      Sharim has worked to diliver thousands of babies at times when there are bombs and pillage going on around her.  When a hostage situation took place in her hospital, she sneaked out in a car to get supplies to take care of her patients.  She is the exemplary model of what the courage and strength of a woman can be.
      Women in this area need an example like Sharim in order to gain the courage to change the circumstances that they have been put in.  Women in this area are constantly put down because of there gender.  In order to change the oppressive rules in their country, they need to take a stand.  Sharim is one of those women who has done just that.  She is an example for women everywhere.

Reaction to Bar Barbie in Mondo Barbie

      Bar Barbie was an interesting creative piece.  It is talking about how Barbie's life is just a repeat with no choices.  She has had the same man for 30 years with no choice to change.  She can't get off the the merry-go-round that she is on. 
      It is interesting to me that people get so worked up about Barbie.  They either would die to defend her or want to kill her for everything she represents.  I loved Barbies when I was growing up.  Can I say that Barbie made me feel differently about myself? Maybe.  I do remember cutting Barbies hair off because I wanted her to look like me.  She ended up looking like she had an afro.  Somewhere around that time I decided I wanted to grow my hair out.
      I like to think that Barbie was just a play doll.  Just like any other doll that I had growing up.  But then you hear the reports of studies (in previous blog) about how Barbie has been linked to girls with eating disorders.  I will admit that I definently had one in high school.  But would I ever link that to growing up with Barbie?  I can't say I would.  I think there are many things that cause girls to have eating disorders.  I think most of it is due to the media, magazines, and models.  I can't put all the blame on Barbie, I just think her 1lb. frame is an easy target.

Reaction #1

     This weekeng our class read Barbie-Q, a short cute story about a young girls "plastic desire."  She wants so desperately to have a Barbie with many outfits that she can change her into, but because of her family's money problems, she can only have one extra outfit, not including the makeshift sock-dress.  The last line is "who's to know?"  Who's to know she is poor? Who's to know her Barbie smells.
      This story about Barbie is one woman's dealing with her economic status growing up as it played out through her Barbies.  It was interesting to read because in my childhood, we had the same clothes/money delimna.  I always wanted clothes from Limited Too but they were too expensive to have my entire wardrobe from.  This little girl could care less what she looks like, as long as her Barbie looks good. 
      This story goes well with the story from Body Outlaws, "Shrink Wrapped."  That story spoke on women and their body image/wheight issues.  I see a deep connection between girls playing with Barbie, and those girls later turning into insecure women.  They base their value in childhood on how good their Barbie looks, if her hair is just right, how her clothes are fitting her.  One of the interesting things is that as we grow up, these are many of the same issues that adult women face everyday  in their lives.  Even the therapist because body conscience after workinig with so many skinny/bulemic/anerexic women.
       I wonder if we traced back the time of Barbie's invention and traced the prevalence of eating disorder/body dis morphia problems if there would be some correlation?

The Barbie Effect
I found this study that did find a connection between girls playing with Barbie and eating disorders later in life.  This is a scary reality.


Online Writing

      On a different note, writing can often be gendered.  What does this mean?  Writing can be geared to a specific sex.  Nicholas Sparks books, although written by a man, are often delicate, romantic, simple, love stories that are writing for a female audience.  On the other hand, Stephen King, also a male author, has a distinctly masculine voice.  His books are often scary, gory, non-romantic, hard, and fact orientated.  These are all masculine characteristics written for a masculine audience.
     We often find writing online to be very gendered.  Here are two websites:
cosmopolitan.com
menshealth.com
     The cosmo website is gendered for a female audience.  Most of the articles talk about how to please your man or how to just relax to take care of yourself.  The second website, Men's Health, talks about pleasing your woman, but never says those words.  It only talks about how to do certain things with a step by step guide, with the expectation that she will like it too.  Taking time for yourself for men means working out and getting bigger with your "personal trainer."
     It is interesting to compare and contrast these two very similar websites and how they are gendered for their readers.  I think it makes a huge difference in how they are written.  I know personally if I want to go and read up on one of these sites, I would feel a lot more comfortable knowing that Cosmos was written with me, as a female, in mind.

Introduction

My name is Allison Berry.  I am from Dayton, Ohio, but I currently live in Atlanta, Georgia.  I love writing about women and gender issues.  I also love reading funny essays but feminist writers.  I am currently an Integrated Language Arts Major in the Education School at Ohio University.  I love reading and writing and want to inspire young adults to feel the same way.