We all know her. The silky blonde hair, the perfectly, permanently arched feet, the painted-on sparkle in her blue eyes: whether you had a doll of your own or not, everyone knows Barbie. As much controversy as has surrounded her many incarnations, Barbie has remained an icon in society since her first appearance in 1959. Parents first denounced the dolls for inspiring sexual thoughts and have since claimed that Barbie promoted eating disorders and represented lack of diversity and ambition. Mattel, Barbie’s parent company, responded to the latter two claims by introducing dolls of different skin and hair colors and dolls depicting different career fields, such as astronaut and president.
Barbie’s body, however, has remained virtually the same. Until recently, every Barbie stood at a modelesque 5’9”. Parents and body positivity activists continued to rail against the impossible and unrealistic standard of beauty that the popularity of Barbie has reinforced for decades.
Then, Barbie responded.
Barbie now offers dolls of three different body types and “more overall diversity.” These body types are tall, petite, and curvy, and there is more diversity in dolls faces, which now depict more typical Asian-American, African-American, and Hispanic-American facial features. Barbie also has four new career Barbies coming out: fashionista, spy, game developer and president and vice president. Barbie.com is updated with information about the new dolls and their new campaign (#TheDollEvolves), along with a promotional video showing little girls’ reactions to the dolls. A similar picture circulated of “realistic body types” Ken dolls, depicting dad-bod, hipster and balding Ken dolls, but the picture was actually a press release by the clothing company Lyst, and these dolls will not be for sale.
These new dolls raise three important questions. First, why haven’t these dolls come out sooner? The body types they depict have been around forever, and the technology to create more realistic dolls has, as well. Has the new regime at Mattel finally jumped on the #bodyposi bandwagon, or has their recent drop in sales inspired this capitulation to body positivity activists?
Second, will girls want these new dolls? Sales have risen, and reactions to the new dolls have been overwhelmingly positive. However, the choice between the doll girls have been conditioned to think of as the pinnacle of beauty and a goddess-like icon and “normal” and “real” dolls is a tricky one. This situation is like a contemporary, real-life version of civil rights activists and psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s 1940s experiment in which white and black children were given the choice between a white doll with yellow hair and a brown doll with black hair. The children of both races predominantly chose the white doll, and the experimenters attributed this result to internalized racism and self-hatred due to racism. Will these results repeat themselves?
Finally, what do these new dolls mean for body image? For older girls, this change may be less effective because they’ve already been conditioned to think of traditional Barbie as the most beautiful. But for younger girls? It’s hard to tell. Either way, the sale of these new dolls means girls will be able to play with and idolize dolls that look more like them, and that is a huge step in the right direction for body positivity.