Barbie is turning 50. Yes, she is an instrument of gender stereotype enforcement; she is almost exclusively marketed toward girls, and for these same girls Barbie is an unrealistic standard of beauty. Nevertheless, there are a plethora of tributes to Barbie’s fiftieth, most of them revolving around fashion. In an slightly unique approach, an MSN Lifestyle page takes a “nostalgic look back at some of the many careers Barbie has held — and remember how she helped us dream of the time when we would be ‘all grown up’ and leading exciting lives of our own.”[1] Apparently, Barbie is a role model for life beyond fashion.
The page takes the viewer through each decade of Barbie’s existence. It characterizes the eras in a typically nostalgic way and primarily through fashion. For example, Barbie’s 1961 profession is a nurse, not to demonstrate the casualties resulting from the United States’ involvement in Vietnam, but to showcase the “cat-eye glasses and peep-toe pump trends of the year.” Granted, fashion as a tool for gaining insight into history is not inherently illegitimate, but isolating fashion from the culture in which it was worn renders the perspective alarmingly superficial.
The superficiality in MSN Lifestyle’s history-telling easily slips into misrepresentation. In 1963, “Career Girl” Barbie is displayed benefiting from the Equal Pay Act; she “can rest assured she’ll remain a top-earning executive.” This presentation of the Equal Pay Act downplays the unequal pay women have historically received in the workplace and presents the Act as maintenance of the just status quo. And never mind the fact that, decades later, women's earnings are only $.77 for every $1.00 earned by men.[2]
Interestingly, there appears to be a slump in Barbie’s resume during the 80s. In the 70s she is a surgeon, a lawyer-philanthropist Miss America, and an Olympic Gold Medalist. After a brief stint as a fashion model in ’77, she survives the 1980s as an aerobics instructor, a rock star, and then a UNICEF ambassador. It won’t be until the 1990s that she fulfills a job that requires education or provides a legitimate salary. This may (unknowingly, I'm sure) reflect the backlash against the women’s liberation movement and second-wave feminism of the 60s and 70s.
And yet, as a consumer of Barbie in the 1990s, I do not recall any of my shapely, blonde dolls being career-oriented; perhaps they were occasionally a teacher or a babysitter, but for the most part my Barbies were either princesses or participants in leisure activities like surfing, playing guitar, or driving cars. The arbitrary selection of Barbies for this lifestyle page tells a very incomplete, if not at times misleading, story. Furthermore, the piece implies, if not extorts, the sweeping judgment that Barbie has historically been a positive role model for young girls. History is being employed in this lifestyle page, not simply for nostalgic fodder, but to infuse value into a material object of consumption.
[1] MSN Lifestyle, “Barbie's Careers Through the Years,” http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/just-dreaming/staticslideshowgh.aspx?cp-documentid=18253285&imageindex=1 (accessed March 9, 2009).
[2] National Organization for Women, “Women Deserve Equal Pay,” http://www.now.org/issues/economic/factsheet.html (accessed March 11, 2009).
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And still, the Barbie laptop comes with 3 CDs, labeled Music, Party, and Shopping. I'm serious. Wouldn't an actual career girl need a little more than that? Yeah, we returned that one before my stepdaughter even opened the box, and exchanged it for a LeapFrog laptop that allows her to play games that actually enhance reading and math skills.
I remember mostly having Bikini Barbies...but I think it was mostly because they were the cheapest haha.
I had a veterinarian Barbie and a Seaworld Barbie that came with a plastic squirting orca.
I had a dentist barbie. Then her batteries ran out and she got this really evil voice (like a voice of a devil in a movie or something, really slow and deep haha!)
Seriously though, she's just a hunk of plastic. She's what you want her to be. If little girls want to play princess, they're going to do it whether the box says "executive barbie" or "princess barbie". My barbies were olympic athletes, ninjas, models, hairdressers, dancers, and sometimes they pretended they were mermaids.
So I suppose "being a troll" is disagreeing with you? Explain to me how complaining about a joke t-shirt on the internet in any way corrects the perceived inequities that exist. It's very easy to make comments from the safety of your own bedroom, another to seek change and do things to bring that change about.Again, it's a joke and if you don't like it, do something about it like going to bedroom furniture a strip club and convincing young women not to lead such a destructive lifestyle...more trolling?
So I suppose "being a troll" is disagreeing with you? Explain to me how complaining about a joke t-shirt on the internet in any way corrects the perceived inequities that exist. It's very easy to make comments from the safety of your own bedroom, another to seek change and do things to bring that change about.Again, it's a joke and if you don't like it, do something about it like going to bedroom furniture a strip club and convincing young women not to lead such a destructive lifestyle...more trolling?
I had quite a few of Barbie's in a few different careers. I always kinda saw Barbie as a role modal, but msot likely because my Mom never bought me the more sexist types. ie pregegrs barbie and the "family" barbies