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the university daily kansan
monday
3.8.99
twelve.a
Just another doll face
Barbie's birthday sparks discussion that the doll may create stereotypes. However, many say the doll debate is blown out of proportion.
story by jennifer roush photos by rachel marta orr
Larissa Augusto, 6,
Lawrence resident, presents a portion of her
Barbie collection. Barbie celebrates her 40th
birthday tomorrow.
Barbie Bits
After 40 years, a girl accumulates quite a bit of personal history. Here are just a few interesting bits of trivia about Barbie and her friends:
- Summit Barbies were introduced in the late 1980s to commemorate the end of the Cold War.
Barbie $ ^{4}= $ one blonde ambition.
■ The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps Barbies underwent revision by the Pentagon to ensure accuracy in the uniforms
Share A Smile Becky, introduced in 1997, was the first Barbie who used a wheelchair.
■ Placed head to toe, all the Barbles sold since 1959 would circle the earth more than seven times.
The first African-American and Hispanic Barbies were introduced in 1980. Freundschaffs (Friendship) Barbie was introduced in 1990 to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Barbie's full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts. She is from Willows, Wis. and attended Willows High School.
An original 1959 Barbari in mint condition is worth as much as $,000.
Source: Mattel
ordy, lordy, look who's 40!
Barbie, the forever-young princess of pink, will celebrate tomorrow.
The most popular fashion doll in the world today was first introduced March 9, 1959 at the Toy Fair in New York. Since then, Barbie has become a $1.9 billion business. Every second, two Barbies are sold somewhere in the world, according to Mattel.
The doll was named after the daughter of creator Ruth Handler, and the Ken doll was named after her son. Handler created the doll because she saw her daughter and her friends playing with adult paper dolls. However, the only three-dimensional dolls available to young girls at the time were baby dolls, which allowed to girls to pretend to be mothers, or toddler dolls that were the same size as the girls. Handler wanted girls to be able to act out roles that didn't necessarily involve just motherhood.
Although Barbie has become a symbol of a young girl's childhood, Barbie's beginnings were not completely wholesome.
In fact, Barbie has a few scantily-clad skeletons in her closet.
According to the PBS documentary, Barbie Nation, the doll was based on a German doll called Lili, which was
be modified to fit her idea of an adult doll for little girls.
Of course, Lillis's grown-up look didn't go over well with Mattel executives in the late '50s, and when Barbie was first introduced, mothers were mortified as well.
Handler modified the doll to make her appearance more youthful and her dress less provocative, and then marketed her directly to little girls as "Barbie, the teen-age fashion model."
Since then, Barbie has had 75 careers, including candy striper, astronaut, soldier, sailor and doctor. Barbie was even a presidential candidate in 1992 — appropriately enough, "The Year of the Woman."
Barbie's advertising slogan for years has been "We girls can do anything," and in 1999 Mattel will tell little girls to simply "Be anything."
However, of all the things that Barbie has done during the years, she never has been a mother. This fact is not lost on people who have an interest in Barbie's place in American culture.
"I'd like to know if Barbie is still a virgin," said William Tuttle, professor of history and American studies.
Tuttle said that he found it interesting that feminist mothers who grew up playing with Barbie dolls often swore that they would never buy them for their own daughters.
"Depending on their environment, girls may see Barbie as just a doll or as something to aspire to."
Kathy Rose-Mockry Program director for the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center
But little girls seem to love the doll almost universally, and people who vowed never to own one again often find themselves succumbing to her charms for their daughters, he said.
"My wife and I are both feminists," said Tuttle, "and we still buy our 5-year-old granddaughter Barbies."
Tuttle said that he and his wife and daughter all bought Barbie dolls for his granddaughter because it was hard to save no to her requests.
"She's very beguiling," he said.
Other people and biobased training.
"The Barbie image has been criticized as one more of the pressures on little girls to look like that," said Mike Cuenca, assistant professor of visual communications.
"Barbie has become a derogatory term for the women who do fit the stereotype of a beautiful blonde who may or may not have a lot in her head," he said.
Guenca said that Barbie herself had become a stereotype and was unattainable in reality for most women.
Another of the ironies present in Barbie's 40th birthday is that it falls in the middle of Women's History Month, and March 9 is International
Women's Day
Kathy Rose-Mocky, program director for the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, said that she found the coincidence funny.
She also said that much of what Barbie meant to little girls was determined by their parents.
Augusto, his wife, agrees with that approach to playing with Barbie
"I realize that she has big breasts and a little tiny waist," she said, referring to Barbie. "But I tell Larissa that she's just a doll. People don't look like that."
Go, speed racer, go! Barbie is a road warrior in her shiny pink Corvette.
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