JUNE 2018 | The Australian Women’s Weekly 127
Pop culture
convention said it would never sell. As we
know, she proved them wrong. Named after
Ruth’s daughter, Barbara (Barbie’s full name
is Barbara Millicent Roberts), the doll showed
that women could have a role in the wider
world. She became a nurse (1961), an
astronaut (1965) and a surgeon (1973). In
recent years her manufacturer, Mattel, has
sought to further amp up Barbie’s colourful
resume and feminist credentials by
immortalising trailblazers like aviation pioneer
Amelia Earhart, artist Frida Kahlo and Aussie
environmentalist Bindi Irwin.
Mattel’s 2017 annual report stresses that
success in the competitive toy market relies on
correctly predicting social and media trends.
With Bratz dolls and Disney Princess igurines
nipping at Barbie’s plastic heels she’s had no
choice but to evolve and Mattel is plainly
making a bid for the daughters of fourth wave
feminism. Will it work?
Author Monica Dux has not bought a Barbie
for her daughter. She dismisses Barbie’s
100-plus “careers” as merely accessories that
are not fundamental to her personality and is
concerned that she perpetuates rigid gender
roles. However, she has also observed that
most girls defy them. “Children make a really
big effort to make something epic with Barbie
and they do engage in a lot of different play,
and that’s a really good thing,” Monica says.
Author Emily Maguire says the hysteria that
surrounds Barbie is misplaced, and infantilises
the girls who play with her. “I don’t see Barbie
as any kind of feminist icon or hero, but
I certainly don’t think she’s the sort of demon
she’s been made out to be,”
Emily says. “Obviously
she’s an unrealistic igure
but I don’t know how you
isolate that from all the
other inluences we have.”Growing up, Emily was a self-described
tomboy but she can still recall the exciting
moment her mother took her to the toy aisle to
purchase the Loving Hearts Barbie. The tactile
pleasure of the velvet hearts that adorned
Barbie’s gossamer-look gown remains a vivid
memory. “We really coveted those dolls,” she
says. Her desire for the doll was, she agrees, a
little bit about schoolyard status but Barbie’s
enduring appeal lay in her versatility. Emily
and her sister treated their Barbies like actors.
“It didn’t matter which ones we had,” Emily
says, “what their outits were or their
professions – we just made them what we
wanted. We were always cutting or colouring
their hair or tattooing them. When we were →10s
Barbie was given
her most radical
makeover yet with
Mattel releasing
three new body
types. She also
got her own
iPhone in 2014.00s
In 2008, a Barbie in
fishnets provoked
outcry from
Christian groups
who said she was
too sexualised.90s
In 1992, Barbie’s
first words,
including “math is
tough”, were not
well received.