Ever since Barbie made her debut in 1959, there has been a lot of debate about who she is and what she represents. Is she a good role model for little girls? Is she feminist? Is she just a patriarchal puppet that reinforces gender stereotypes and gives girls unrealistic beauty standards? When Barbie came out this summer, interest in all these debates was reignited. So, is Barbie a feminist icon, or is she just a pawn of the patriarchy to enforce gender stereotypes on young girls? Let’s find out!
Feminist: Barbie has held over 200 jobs
In Barbie’s lifetime, she has held a great many jobs, over 200 to be exact! Throughout the time Barbie has existed, she has been employed in a highly diverse range of careers, from registered nurse to rock star, veterinarian to aerobics instructor, pilot to police officer. In fact, Barbie has constantly been ahead of her time, sometimes even ahead of the men. For example, in the 1960s, as an astronaut, she went to the moon four years before Neil Armstrong! In the 1990s, Barbie ran for president, before there had ever been a female presidential candidate. Barbie has also consistently been inspiring young girls to work in male-dominated occupations, like doctor, astronaut, or computer programmers . The point is, ever since her inception, Barbie has been teaching girls that they can be anything they want to be.
Not feminist: her unrealistic body type
Barbie has long been criticized for her unrealistic body image. Barbie has unattainable proportions, with a tiny waist and long legs, and is one of the first children’s toys to have breasts. In fact, Barbie’s bodily proportions are so unrealistic that research has found that if Barbie were a real person, she would have to walk on all fours. She would also fit the weight criteria for anorexia and not be able to menstruate. Not only that, but studies have shown that playing with ultra-thin dolls, such as Barbie, can increase the risk of eating disorders in children. It doesn’t help that one Barbie playset, Slumber Party Barbie released in 1965, came with a book entitled “How to lose weight,” which literally said “Don’t Eat!” However, fortunately, in recent years steps have been taken to rectify this problem. In 2016, Mattel introduced new body types for Barbie: petite, curvy, and tall.
Feminist: Barbie’s creator made barbie to show her daughter and other girls they could be anything
Barbie was created because Ruth Handler, Barbie’s creator, noticed that her daughter’s choices when it came to toys were pretty limited. She could only play being a mom or a caretaker since baby dolls were the most popular toy for girls at the time. Her daughter would play with paper dolls that resembled adult women which could allow her to imagine her toys with educational opportunities and careers. Meanwhile, Ruth’s son could play with toys that allowed him to play as a firefighter, astronaut, doctor, and many more. This inspired Ruth to create a doll that could show girls like her daughter that they had choices about who they could be in life and that they could be anything they wanted.
not feminist: she perpetuates gender stereotypes
Another argument people have had against Barbie is that she perpetuates gender stereotypes. In addition to Barbie’s unrealistic body image, people have argued that she portrays girls as unintelligent and that she reinforces societal ideas about how girls should look and act. For example, in 1992, Mattel released “Teen Talk Barbie” which uttered statements like “Math class is tough!” Mattel ended up recalling this Barbie after the American Association of University Women brought awareness to the issue. Unfortunately, in a similar incident, in 2014, Mattel had to recall the I Can Be a Computer Engineer! Barbie book because it portrayed Barbie as constantly in need of her male classmates’ help. These both perpetuate the idea that women are not good at STEM, and in the case of the latter example, that women always need the help of men. Also, in an ad that aired in 2007, while the commercial says to “be who you want to be,” all the things Barbie and the girls in the commercial do are stereotypically feminine, such as participating in fashion shows and ballet. According to this article, Jessica D’Amico says about the commercial, “These production choices convey a message to viewers, whether they would be old enough to be aware of it or not, that girls are supposed to do things that are feminine, conventional, and polite.”
feminist: she shows that women can be attractive, Feminine, and still have a serious job
One common stereotype associated with women is the “dumb blonde stereotype,” which is assumes that blonde women “rely on their looks rather than their intelligence” and are “less serious-minded and less intelligent than brunettes.” Another issue women face is femininity being seen as weak, vapid, and “stupid.” This is where Barbie subverts that expectation. In the article, “The Forgotten Feminist Icon: An Argument for Barbie” Nicole Zhou says “It is ironic that people who shame the doll for (unattainable beauty standards) focus more on her body than her various careers.” Indeed, Barbie shows that one can be attractive, blond, and feminine, and still have a serious job and be successful in life.
not feminist: Barbie has not always been very inclusive
Another problem is that Barbie has a rather problematic history with inclusivity and diversity. For example, in 1997, Barbie released Share a Smile Becky, who is Barbie’s wheelchair-using friend. Which sounds great until you find out that her wheelchair was too wide to fit into the door of the Barbie Dream House or its elevator! Instead of making Barbie’s dream house accessible for Becky, Mattel simply discontinued her. In addition, Barbie has not had the best track record when it comes to race, either. Mattel didn’t make the first African American doll in the Barbie-verse until 1967 (her name was colored Francie) and they used the same head mold as the white Francie doll, so she doesn’t have African American features. Because of this, some do not consider her to be the first true black doll in the Barbie universe. The first true African-American Barbie doll was released in 1980. In 1997, Mattel released a Barbie doll in partnership with Oreo to create Oreo Barbie. The black version of the doll garnered controversy because “Oreo” is a derogatory term for a black person who acts white. Fortunately, in recent years, Barbie has improved in being inclusive and diverse. In 2019, Mattel released the Barbie Fashionistas line, which “aim to represent a wider depiction of beauty.” The fashionistas line introduced a prosthetic leg-wearing Barbie, a new wheelchair Barbie, a deaf Barbie with a behind-the-ear hearing aid, and a Barbie with Down Syndrome. While Barbie has not been very inclusive in the past, the fact that they are trying to improve is a good sign.
So…. Is Barbie feminist? The answer to this question, in my opinion, is more complicated than a simple “yes” or “no,” and it can change as your view of feminism and what it means to be a woman changes. For example, if you had asked me in high school if I thought that Barbie was feminist, my answer would have been a resounding “No!” “She’s unattainably skinny!” I would have said. “And she reinforces gender stereotypes!” Back then, my view of feminism was less complex than it is now. I didn’t understand that a girl could be feminine, like pink, like stereotypically “girly” stuff like makeup and shopping, and still be just as valid as a feminist.
Now that I am older and my view of feminism and femininity has become more complicated and inclusive, I understand that just because Barbie is girly, feminine, blond, skinny, unapologetically pink, and sparkly doesn’t automatically mean she’s not feminist. Heck, Barbie has been pretty feminist at several points in her history, with her 200 jobs, running for president, and even having her first Dream House before most single women in the U.S could earn their own home! She also was feminist by showing that girls who are feminine and have feminine interests can have successful careers and be taken seriously in life.
However, even though Barbie is more feminist than my younger self thought, that does not mean that she is perfect. There were and still are things about Barbie that are definitely not feminist. Her body type is one of the most famous examples of that. Even Barbie wouldn’t be able to attain it! However, despite all of Barbie’s flaws, I applaud Mattel for trying to learn from Barbie’s past and create more inclusive and diverse Barbie dolls that more young girls can see themselves reflected in. Barbie dolls with more realistic body types, for one, Barbie dolls with disabilities such as Down syndrome, and even a doll with vitiligo! I am glad Mattel is learning from the mistakes of the past, and I sincerely hope they continue in this direction in the future.