You can tell a lot of those critics really had no idea what they were talking about. All of the barbie movies promoted confidence, courage, selflessness etc, all while being glamorous. They’re just associating high femininity with vanity.
Right? Like where were these folks getting the idea she only ever cared about shopping & looking good? The actual stories Mattel sold her with were always about adventure, learning, creativity, having fun with friends, caring for others & trying new things. She just so happened to do all of that while wearing hot pink & makeup! Ig you could argue that barbie promotes the whole girlboss idea that smart/strong/independent women still have to be conventionally feminine & beautiful to be acceptable. But that idea didn't start w/ barbie, & making her less glamorous but still conventionally feminine doesn't challenge it.
As a tween I noticed they were often the same critics who went and complained that bratz dolls looked like "sluts" or whatever for tight pants and cheetah print clothes It all really just came off as low-key misogynistic and just a general hatred of femininity
Ikr? Even the original doll from Germany literally was dressing up in girly stuff, but refused to make an acception in her rights as a woman for a man. Like the entire idea of Barbie is being feminine and girly, but being an equal to everyone else that isn’t.
ikr? barbie and the three musketeers had her saving a prince and fighting for justice. it's my favourite barbie movie, and they all looked bright and colourful and glamourous doing it.
That's why Legally Blonde is such an amazing, empowering movie. Shes all feminine, pink, glamorous and a genius lawyer. Not ashamed of hyperfemininity nor does she need any "masculine" traits.
Using feminine and musculin is stupid because none of them exist it's about how do you react for example men can cook and be a chef and nurturing who love pets yet he can act musculin and women can be adventurous and successful ..mafia boss and she still can be feminine ... Because this stereotypes deosn't exist....at all
Exactly! I always loved Barbie as a kid for that. I had several of the career dolls and thought it was amazing that she could be so smart and be a doctor or a zookeeper and still be fun and stylish. I thought the adults around me were boring and I didnt want to be boring and give up wearing pink when I grew up to dress in bland tones of beige. I always viewed barbie as brilliant and capable before anything. If barbie could be a zookeeper and a lawyer and a surgeon and a dogwalker on the side, then what couldnt I do? And I could look cute doing it too!
I always get so sad when I hear the arguments about Barbie causing body issues. For me, my eating disorders came from the adults and media telling me that I was supposed to be comparing myself to her and that I should feel bad because I didn't look like her. But it was never Barbie who made me feel bad about how I looked, it was the other adults and media I was exposed to.
The studies about Barbie and body image are honestly mostly inconclusive when you really look into them. More thorough studies conclude that young girls are most likely to develop these types of issues from older family members (primarily their mothers) far more than anything else. I don't really have a conclusion to reach from that, but it's interesting to put it into perspective.
Im with you on this. The adults around us and the media played a bigger impact in body image issues, in my opinion. When I played with Barbie, and thought "I want to be like her" that usually meant "I want to be fab, and have all these cool clothes and cool careers and cool friends". I know some people did experience the issue with Barbie, but it was definitely not the case for me, my cousins and my friends! Telenovelas and movies on the other hand... oh and magazines! Those really made me feel inadequate, and nowadays social media, filters and the boom on plastic surgery are really affecting a lot of people. Barbie should be allowed to be girly 😢
Totally agree with this. When people say this shit it pisses me off. I personally think a lot of that “Barbie is unrealistic” didn’t come from kids feeling that way, but adults projecting their own insecurities onto their daughters (I’ve experienced this before except the woman slutshaming me and criticizing me wasn’t my mom and instead my friend’s mom- I was 12 when she started to do this by the way lmao). I’ve seen less children insecure with their looks than I’ve seen adults doing everything in their power to look like Barbie, even while criticizing her. I’m not saying Barbie HASN’T effected kid’s self image, however from what I’ve seen, it’s rare.
moms will complain about barbies giving their daughters unrealistic body expectations and then turn around and call their daughters fat or criticize them for eating to much. Certainly marketing for fashion dolls play into social body expectations, there's no denying that. But children are not being actively judged and monitored by their toys. Parents and other adults in their lives are responsible for making them feel that their body is normal and loved
I have never ever met a woman that actually blames Barbie for her self image issues. I think it's just adults projecting their insecurities into the toys.
Right?? When I was little I wasn’t thinking about barbie’s body or how she’s blonde and white I was just thinking about how I was gonna play with her and I did have dolls that looked like me (the monster high clawdeen doll which is black like me) but I wasn’t thinking about how much that empowers me…
Okay but listen, that isn't how this actually works, it's not *solely* barbie causing people's insecurity but barbie upholds a cultural standard of what a woman is supposed to be and look like, barbie normalises the idea that this is the correct way to look, it's how you're supposed to look, and because that is the same message sent by more or less the rest of society, that is what people internalise and it's internalising that which makes people insecure, they aren't necessarily going to be consciously aware of this or blame their insecurities on it but it is a studied and documented thing that this kind of propaganda (because that's effectively what it is) can influence people's perceptions of themselves and the world around them. So it is true to say that Barbie plays a role in it and that Barbie can also play a role in undoing it.
@immstarry7175 no, because you don't develop your sense of identity by consciously thinking about it, you develop about it by experiencing your place in society as deemed by the dominant culture which controls the ways you are allowed to be perceived. So you don't consciously think about it necessarily, but you see that there are many more white dolls on the shelf than black dolls, and importantly too most little white girls see that there are more white dolls on the shelf than black dolls, and so the little white girls learn that black dolls and by extension black people aren't that important, that they're a variant on white and that being white is default and normal, and little black girls learn that black people aren't as normal or as important, that they're secondary. No this doesn't permanently damage or ruin you necessarily, no you are not consciously thinking about it when you look at the doll aisle as a little kid, no you are not automatically going to believe that any of these things are your fault or that they're deserved or that white people are more important or whatever, but it just builds up as an underlying sense of rejection and a feeling of separation from the dominant culture, the knowledge that you don't belong in it regardless of how that emotionally affects you. The other problem is that little white girls grow up never seeing things from your perspective and never being asked to because it's seen as optional, so when they grow up and suddenly someone asks them to without making it about them they can't comprehend it and they might even get angry at the suggestion that their perspective (usually one of pity, or something akin to cultural tourism) is informed by racism and still perpetuates it. That's actually one of the great things about Clawdeen vs something like black Barbie, is that Clawdeen's selling point isn't that she's black it's that she's a werewolf and her own character not just an optional version of something else, and she may be part of why barbie being white didn't bother you, because you had other dolls to see yourself in so all of it was just a non issue which is how it should be and that is exactly why black dolls are important. Kids should play with dolls that don't look like them because it helps them develop social skills, but if none of their dolls look like them that can affect their self esteem, and there's no good reason that companies shouldn't make black dolls.
I totally agree. Hard to believe but kids, boys as well as girls, were well aware they were playing with a doll. They also don't think they are grownups when they play dress up in moms clothes Some of the extreme dolls were so unpopular they got discontinued and when they did a line 10 or so years ago called fashionista, all pink, pretty and glitter, mattel sales dropped over 20 percent and they dropped below number one in toy companies. Every era of Barbie responds to what the kids want
I think adults are not giving enough credit to children for thinking that Barbie would cause body image issues. Personally, I remember playing with Barbie (and other fashion dolls) and I projected on her what I wanted to be, but at the end of the day I understood that she is a doll, she is there for me to fantasize about some life or fantasy situations and be her personal stylist. I developed EDs bc of what society and adults told me I am supposed to look like and how I should eat as a child :( Barbie was there to be my friend who I could come home to and express my creativity on
Same! Barbie was my only friend for a really long time. She allowed me to escape. I would even play out scenarios where I would talk to people or snap back at bullies.
100%! I don't remember any point in my childhood where I associated body problems with Barbie because she was so obviously fictional, especially in her appearance. All of her proportions were exaggerated. What DID cause body image problems for kid-me in the mid-2000s were all the tabloids. This is who we should be blaming instead of a children's toy. Those magazines that littered waiting rooms, grocery checkout lines, etc always had body-shaming headlines front and center. You could never be good enough for mid-2000s magazines. If celebrities had an average body weight, they were fat and unlovable; if they tried to become skinny like magazines wanted them to be but had to resort to drastic measures (drugs, diets, etc), then they were pathetic and ALSO unattractive. The magazines told us that either you had to flawlessly appear skinny and beautiful or you would get mocked. They told us that unless you were one of the few who had the acceptable genetics of the time, you had to suffer in silence while you were trying to fit into the beauty standards. Now compare that to a doll who, while having unrealistic proportions, also went on fairytopia adventures and overcame her problems while remaining kind and being there for her friends.
I grew up with barbie and look drastically different from her. I always think she's pretty but I never wanna be her physically. I never have body image issues when I play barbie, but when I stop around teenage years and people around me (including parents and relatives) start commenting about every single inches of my body, only then the problem starts. It's ridiculous to blame barbie for creating body image related problems when for a lot of people they develop these issues way after they stop playing barbie.
I find it interesting that everyone who has commented here has said something about their experiences with food issues and Barbie, but refuses to acknowledge any link between them (like Barbie is your skinny friend who you can’t blame for being skinny, it’s not her fault, she just can’t gain weight) I find this defensiveness equal parts fascinating and disturbing. I, for one, can acknowledge that collecting and playing with Barbie dolls has had a profound impact on my beauty standards, expectations and my self image in my formative years, and therefore an impact on my relationship with food ever since.
And now is like "God forbid a woman looked like a woman, specially if its feminine and like girly things!". In conclusion, woman cannot win ever, either because of exterior factors or because of the same women that view feminity as less as masculinity .
The way people think they’re being feminists by bashing feminine things will always baffle me. They try so hard to “stick up for young girls” that they circle right back to being misogynistic lol. LET BARBIE LOVE PINK AND SPARKLES AND FASHION!!!!
its because they dont care about being real feminists or about a wide variety of women that dont fit into their preferred little box they just want to feel like theyre doing a good thing without actually putting in any real effort and theyre using it as an excuse to bully and manipulate the people around them to try to make them do the same
shatter the patriarchal ceiling by being as masculine as possible, and rejecting all things feminine and being as vulgar, crass, violent and aggressive as possible. Like...that isnt feminism, feminism is supposed to be about choice....being feminine is a choice, to reject all things masculine, to be strong mentally while still being lady like, graceful, elegant, and courageous. I think women in the 50s did feminism correctly, unapologetically woman without a speck of masculinity
@@sew_gal7340 Society and men already expect u to be feminine..... how is doing what society tells u to liberating women from the shackles of society? You are not challenging anything by being girly. Also ur saying feminism is about choice, but ur criticizing masculine women (who already deal with enough as is) for their choice to be masculine. Choice feminism is dumb and reductive, if every choice made by a woman is a feminist act then feminism means nothing
as someone who very much grew up during the "fashionista era" with hyperfeminine media and loved barbie at a very young age, it makes me sad. never once did i compare myself to barbie or did she feel unapproachable as a kid. its just sad and misogynistic, they're kinda sending the message that being a hyperfeminine girl is a bad thing when that was literally what barbie was proving wrong
This! But stupid people always exist. Just like now everyone is crying how kids will copy Kpop stars or TikTokers lmao If any of those parents talked to their children maybe they would realize that they aren't that stupid or if they were they could help them overcome the stupid conclusion.
I was born in 1983 and I was obsessed with Barbie. I had more Barbies than I knew what to do with! However, like you, I never aspired to look like her, nor did she affect my own body image. I actually never started having any type ofbody image issue until I was 14 and started comparing myself to my friend's bodies. Barbie was just fun to me. I loved her, but I never, ever, ever wanted to be her!
Yeah being super girly and feminine was "typical" and we were socialised to be that way... but then got made fun of for it. AFAB people can't win. If you were a tomboy you get made fun of, but if you were girly you get made fun of. I was super "girlygirl" as a child but I never saw myself that way. (Probably cause I'm not a girl lol.) I didn't wear dresses or skirts on the daily but I was obsessed with pink and nearly all my clothes were pink and all my interests were sterotypical girl interests. I felt like I had to hide my interests because there was something wrong with me liking them. Well now I am a masc nonbinary goth but I still love all my "girly" childhood interests with no shame! Femininity will always be a part of me and no one can take that way. Society just hates women. Misogyny is built into everything and it's so sad. I really feel that old barbie was making a push against that showing that it's okay to BE A GIRL and a sterotypical one and liking "girly things." Now it just feels like you have to be boring and average to be accepted and you can't like those things because theyre "misogynistic" somehow.
This reminds me of the argument that some people have about older Disney princesses (snow white, Cindy, etc…) about how they’re weak and bad role models. People don’t realize that kindness and patience can be strength. Same goes for Barbie. Being kind, sparkly or feminine does NOT make you weak and idk why some people think that
i've written essays about why snow white and cinderella are amazing role models. i think a lot of millennial women are just so focused on moving away from traditional femininity (and i completely understand why they feel that way!) that they forget the beauty in it and don't give kids enough credit for being able to make up their own minds
Anti-Disney Princess sentiment is so sad. It is especially sad how the people who partake are just pushing another version of sexism. I personally have been compared to Snow White because of my love and affinity for animals. I LOVE IT!! There is no greater compliment! Well, aside from being compared to Belle for her intellect and adventurous spirit.😍💛
These are the kind of people who have never seen or havent seen these movies in decades. Cindarella is a great rolemodel. Shes hardworking and kind. She doesnt go to the ball for the prince or any man and even has no idea he is the prince when theyre dancing. She wants to go to the ball to have fun and have a break from doing chores all day. While its coincidence that she and the prince fall in love and that fixes her abusive stepmom problem, I dont see how thats such a bad thing. Not to even mention the sequels! She is kindhearted and good natured fo a fault and also brave and intelligent!
And in turn, that exact mindset is inherently misogynistic. I’m probably looking too far into things, but I find it really off-putting that people believe that “good female role models” need to have stereotypically masculine traits and conflate kindness and compassion alone with weakness.
If mattel is smart they will use the movie to rebrand barbie because the reason why a lot of people are excited about it, is because of the unapologetic fashion that margot robbie is wearing in the film. I am choosing to stay optimistic regarding the barbie brand because there is definitely improvement (The newest wave of extra and looks dolls are pretty) so i hope that the renewed interest for "barbiecore" really pushes mattel to make the change
I'm sure that at the very least they will release a bunch of more retro "barbiecore" dolls and other merch to fit the aesthetic of the movie. it'll be interesting to see how that shakes out
Not just the unapologetic fashion, but the way it is unapologetically BARBIE (a specifically high level of camp!) - Note the way how the posters are all "Shes everything and he's just Ken" "This Barbie is president... Here's another Ken" which cements Barbie as being the empowered one, the main girl whilst Ken is just the accessory which totally flips the dynamic of most MF pairings. I put a lot of detail here because a lot of people are asking for things like the Barbie Girl by Aqua to be in the movie which completely goes against everything Barbie stands for as a role model and a feminist icon. - The inclusion of Midge and Allan! Specifically the pregnant Midge line that was pulled from shelves! Barbie is finally going back to its roots and realising so much of what has been said over the years by naysayers were just nonsense, and we have all grown up realising that as well. - The hair purposefully looking like bad wigs so they resemble real doll hair - There is a poster at the movie theater or near one of the buildings there, it's Barbie in a fairy costume.. specifically Barbie in A Fairy Secret - The foot scene both referencing the campus nature of her odd feet, but also paying homage to little girls by using the same heels we would wear during dress up! - The Barbie who is always in the splits having a bad haircut and crayons on her forehead paying homage to the horrible makeovers we all have our dolls -Even the dialogue between Barbie and Ken when he says "because we're girlfriend boyfriend" UGH writing GENIUS because this is clearly about Barbie becoming a woman, representing how girls come into womanhood you go from this huge amount of innocence where you say things like that.. to going into the Real World.. Ken and Barbie in the trailer are SO obviously not ready.
I hope so too! I hope they realize that people want the Barbie from the movie. Not basic Barbie. The brand can still be diverse and still be pink and glittery
I think it's been 7/8 years since they launched Millie and the vlogger canon, it's about time for a rebrand, not only they could bring back the glam and the old quality but also the Superstar logo since the movie is using that one
With the Barbie brand priding itself on diversity these days, it's worth mentioning certain groups like fat women and black women tend to be defeminized and seen as masculine. It matters to see them being depicted as beautiful, glamorous and feminine.
Very much this. It's a step forward to be more inclusive, but it's a very lukewarm kind of representation. Fat and dark skinned women deserve to live the fantasy too!
It's also been this many years and they still have not offered short+curvy or tall+curvy options, and their offerings for Ken bodies remain pretty standard. They have made three different muscular bodies (one normal-Ken buff, one more buff and another EXTRA buff), and one that is slightly thinner, but no "thick" or short Ken. I would buy the hell out of short thick Ken and tall curvy Barbie. Edit: apparently there is a short Ken and a "broad" Ken, but I've never seen them in stores.
Indeed! Also, my kiddo was SO excited about the fashionistas with more diversity and then BITTERLY disappointed that they had very limited articulation. She liked to make her dolls do all kinds of tricks and the lack.of articulation meant that this doll she was SO excited for lay un-played with after a week because her Draculara doll could be put into endless different positions. So, not only did it end up being dolls with terribly boring clothes, it ended up that the diversity took away the playability. It felt like a throw away effort.
As a kid, I LOVED walking into the Barbie isle in the store because it felt like I had been transported into a new world, so much more colorful than the rest of the store. I feel like this magical imagination has been stripped from kids toys in favor of being more appealing to parents, not kids.
You are so right. Thank you for putting into words what I've been noticing. I tried to look up toys and activities I could buy my younger siblings. Everything seems ridiculously educational to the point where it looks like homework. Parents buy these things to convince them selves that their kid is getting some educational edge. None of them look fun just for the sake of fun.
I'm not even a girl and I know that for sure. I would go sneak and see the barbies instead of the action figures. While the action figures looked serious and with desaturated colors (nothing wrong with that ofc), the dolls isle had color, brightness, actual careers and clothing you could see real life persons wear. They also looked really happy
I see a lot of people say that girls usually don’t play with dolls anymore, well maybe it’s because now dolls are cheap and simple. And they think kids can’t tell when something is good or bad.
Kids want fantasy, fashion what makes dolls fun is that you don’t see people in real life usually wear those clothes. But when you see dolls that are dressed like your aunt your not as amused. If they brought back the dolls from 2009 all the kids would buy them.
I was an 80s kid, and back then, there were Barbies, and there were cheap (and when I say cheap, I mean CHEAP) knock-off dolls. And you had better believe I could tell the difference.
Barbies hyperfeminine eras have always appealed to me more than the modern takes. It’s nostalgic and pure beauty to me. She gave me confidence in my abilities as a woman.
Yep. I learned how to sew for barbie. Which meant I learned how to sew and knit for me. Which meant basically in a small town, I was always different. When you make your own clothes, no one else has the same thing 😅. Same when you make your barbie clothes, she expands her wardrobe
My mom is a psychologist and she hates the idea that Barbie causes eating disorders or sets unrealistic expectations because, as anyone in her field will tell you, kids act out what they observe in the world. The people they take the most cues from are their parents, so if your kid feels like they have to have a body that looks a certain way, that call is coming from inside the house. But we're not ready for that discussion as a society, so we blame the toys instead.
I had a reverse entryway into my anorexia. Up until the first day of Kindergarten, I had never seen an overweight/obese child. It didn't help that my first experience with one, she was a huge bully to the other kids. I didn't want to be like her at all (mean or large), so I just didn't eat much. This relationship with my ED lasted 20 years on and off. I understand that I was irrational as a kid on that front, but I'll be darned if I wasn't a polite one, either. I am still little and kind, but because I work out for fun and thrive on being positive.
Barbie is just a piece of plastic after all. She's representing an unrealistic body shape the society expected women to have. Including fashion designers. It's not barbie making pants that only would fit and suit a Barbie, not a normal woman, but it's her being part of the fashion...
I have always found it annoying when women BOAST that they never played with Barbies, or that they liked to deface Barbies, in a way that implies that they're cooler or more feminist as result. There's definitely a way to state that you didn't really care for Barbie or liked other toys better without seeming holier than thou, but some people just really go all in. 😅
Coming from a household who couldn't afford to buy more than one doll every three years, the fact that kids could deface their toys and later on think that it's cool disappoints me.
I was that kid for a while. I went from being super into barbie everything in the late 80s early 90s to tying her to the ceiling fan to impress my only friend. But that's because my.neighborhood only.had a single boy to play with and I thought if I acted.at all like a " girly girl" he would never be friends with me. So I hated barbie andy beloved pink anything until he moved away. I was 16 before I touched the color pink again. And when I did it was like a flood gate opened. So I bet most of those women were influenced by their peers into believing they wouldn't be worthy of they liked girl things.
I never touched Barbie as a kid. Used to brag about it when I was younger. Then my partner dragged me into it in my adulthood and like I’m just like you, you’re just like me. It’s something anyone can see.
lmao that quote about barbie being cold and intimidating reeks of a mother who never got over their high school internalized misogyny. You can tell they still think all beautiful and popular women are mean. These adults don’t realize, or either choose to ignore, that there is a whole character attached to the doll. The children who play with her also consume the media and see that she has well rounded personality. the parents are the ones applying these superficial traits to her when in reality she’s always been shown to aspirational, intelligent, empathetic and humble.
By making her more “youthful” and “natural” they made her the woman men find attractive. Not the woman girls and women find inspiring, fun and magical.
Barbie was supposed to be something fun through a young girls eyes. That’s what made it so magical because it was playing with the toys and watching the movies through a “young girls” gaze. Now that she’s more “youthful” and “natural” like you said, it’s like the doll line is starting to be more for the “men’s gaze” and I never could put my finger on why I haven’t been liking the new wave of dolls despite appreciating the diversity. It’s just not magical anymore and what you see from every other male gaze made piece of media out there.
WOW, ok now hold your horses. I never liked the old Barbies. Thought they looked too... Well, old. You need to have some really traumatized veiw of the world to think that a younger Barbs is male gazed somehow. She's "more natural" cuz we're not in the 20's anymore and nobody's really into this over the top glam style. That's also the reason why she's younger, she's not a fantasy of being a hyper glam woman in pink anymore, she's more of a girl that you ALREADY are - a young girl that wears all colors, not just pink. Like come on, times change, if Mattel would continue selling same glammy pink Barbies people would be fed up with them and there will be no more Barbie. Now we have body diversity in Barbies and that's cool. You juat can't really appreciate it cuz newer Barbies are so much lower in quality.
@@dumdum8538 you clearly dont keep up with the doll community or what children want the point of dolls is the fantasy aspect do u really think a childs dream toy is a girl wearing jeans and some random shirt that look like she works at starbucks u really just came here and said we hate fun and kids want barbie to be as boring as their parents and their lives no child should have the privilege of escaping to their fantasy anymore cuz fuck that ig
I think the two biggest problem with the hysteria of anti-Barbie is that it went too far in the opposite direction and (most importantly) absolved parents from bad parenting decisions. As for the second issue, if your child is acting spoiled and bratty because they want to be a princess, that tells me that you the parent are contributing to the problem. I and millions of other girls around the world desperately wanted to be princesses but not because we were brats but because princesses were cool and wore fluffy dresses and were kind, fearless, and loved by those around them. Any behavior that was out of line got nipped in the bud. So I don't blame the princess culture, I blame the parent. As to the first issue, I'm a black woman! It was a nightmare finding Barbies that looked like me as a child. But you know what would have hurt worse than not having a Barbie that looked like me? Having a *boring Barbie*. Why should diversity mean that we can't be luxurious and fashionable and over the top? If anything that sells the idea that *diversity is boring* and that's not a lesson we want to teach to kids. While I have a few issues with LOL and Rainbow High, props to them for demonstrating that all types of women can be over the top and glamorous! If Barbie wants to continue to survive, it needs to be the best of both worlds. A hyperfemenine pink fantasy... *that everyone can be a part of*
What's wild is that even back in the early-2000s I'm pretty sure they released black dolls that were equally as luxurious as the white dolls more regularly. I owned a black Annaliese from Princess and the Pauper doll, and I'm pretty sure they did the same thing for most of the other earlier CGI Barbie movies.
@@RariettyC They did! One of these days I'll get my hand on one of the dolls but they were too expensive/hard to find in the middle of nowhere Missouri as a kid
I'm with you on the princess thing, I always wanted to be either a princess or a queen as a kid and I loved my princess costumes so much back in the day. I was never spoiled or bratty (aside from the times as a toddler when I'd draw on the walls, but that's a whole other story lol), I just loved princesses and their aesthetic and roles in their stories, I grew up on Disney princess movies after all, Sleeping Beauty is still my favorite to this day ffs. Folks of all races, sizes, and looks should get the chance to have a glamourous pink doll that looks like them. Makes me wish I had the time and energy to learn how to sew, because if I were to buy any of the current dolls, I would love to make some custom clothes for them. Maybe even learn how to make more elaborate clothes for them like what Mattel made in the 80s.
In conclusion the 'death' of the quintessential Barbie we all know and love boils down to a) (internalized) misogyny and b) major budget cuts. It's so upsetting.
The image of femininity is an artificial societal construct that has been forced onto us. So I don't understand why moving away from it and freeing ourselves from it should be considered misogynistic. I see it rather the opposite way, that it's misogynistic to always be telling women they are obliged to follow very specific and rather silly standards of looks (often unpractical/uncomfortable, e.g. high heels, or requiring a lot of time and money compared to what's expected from men and their looks, e.g. make up, hair dyes, various cosmetic services).
Exactly. For me the lack of diversity and 'blond girl being the most important character' syndrom have been awful and the most detrimental. But diversity and inclusivity don't mean there shouldn't be glamour and fashion.
As a femme teen, I wanna mix old and new . Newer diversity in race, skintone, disability, and sizes with hyperfemininity . Not all the dolls have to be “Barbiecore” but I miss that era. As a plus size disabled Black teen though, I love seeing dolls that look like me.
my aunts would constantly point out how fat i was growing up, even my dad. kids use to fall down whenever i walked by because i was so fat i would cause an earthquake. barbie helped me escape into a magical world, where i could be anyone I wanted to be. Barbie helped me become the person I am today ❤
Loving this video! It's so frustrating that people still think that if a female loves pink, fashion, make-up, stereotypical "girly" things, she's stupid and has nothing to offer society, as if femininity is a bad thing. That itself is extremely misogynistic. I went through a phrase where I hated "girly" stuff, but now I'm embracing my femininity again - collecting dolls and "girly" toys, enjoying pink, make up, growing my hair out, and I'm doing all that while being a working professional running my own business. Also, girls toys are for ANYONE! You don't need to be female to love Barbie.
I agree! I actually bought some bright pink skate shoes for myself the other day. I'm making an effort not to shy away from the things that I love just because someone else says I can't enjoy it, and comments like yours on videos like these really help a lot.
It's interesting you say this because at one point people thought liking feminine things and women being into girly things is misogyny because it sets harsh standards etc . I guess things have changed lol
SAME! Throughout junior high and high school I told myself that I hated pink and colorful clothes, etc. I only wore earthy tones (which I love) and never pink. Now as an adult, I love wearing pink! I truly love it.
I still have a weird relationship with pink. I don't like wearing skirts and dresses. I recently got back into wearing makeup and it makes me happy. I like embracing my femininity in my own way. It's interesting because my boyfriend wants me to be more feminine. He likes when I wear dresses and he wants me to wear pink.
i feel like the backlash against Barbie and the subsequent rebranding of her by Mattel can be understood by looking at the two different types of misogyny: 1. the first seeks to put young girls and women into certain boxes, including hyper-femininity, what a woman "should" be- in order to mold them into a proper woman, a good wife and/or future mother, and all else that comes with that. it pushes them away "boy things" and towards what is deemed appropriate- enter Barbiecore Barbie 2. the second believes that hyper-femininity is inherently stupid, vain and frivolous & scoffs at the idea of a woman wanting to be taken seriously in pink. it takes young girls & women aside and tells them in a roundabout way that if they want to be taken seriously, they must act "like men", or at the very least how men are "supposed" to act- enter "normalcore" Barbie honestly, it feels like the woman who wrote "Cinderella Ate My Daughter" (and everyone else w/ the same mentality) experienced the first type of misogyny as a child... and graduated into perpetuating the second. they hold a lot of resentment towards hyper-feminine Barbie and what she represents because of how the adults in their lives pushed her & other stereotypically girly things onto them. it definitely comes out in how the author refers to Barbie as "slutty"... but Barbie is not to blame here! it's the bad parents that tried to force their kid into a box, *_using_* Barbie. she's innocent! instead of addressing their resentment though they let it simmer into internalized misogyny and unintentionally paint femininity in general as something to be mocked and looked down upon. in reality, these "more real" Barbies and Barbiecore barbies can coexist!
Speaking of the author of “Cinderella Ate My Daughter” (and bloggers wrote similar articles like her book). I feel like people fail to realize that this sort of mentality can lead to children(especially young girls coming from someone who’s 15) to believe that girls who love stereotypical “girly” stuff are dumb, shallow, or less deserving of respect. And I also believe that could lead them into entering the second box like you mentioned.
I do think it's worth addressing the misogyny of expecting women to be "feminine" or otherwise conform to limited beauty standards, which is something I don't feel we've progressed that far from despite claiming we have (at any rate I don't think the social media age as made it better than the early 2000s, for instance. I've found some really disturbing subreddits perpetuating it in a way that I can only describe as toxic femninity.). Even within the notion of women having to act more masculine, I think there's an expectation for them to appear groomed and stereotypically 'atattractive' to get ahead (I'm thinking of this in the workplace or academics specificIly). I don't agree with choice feminism personally, which is described as believing anything a woman does or chooses is inherently feminist because a woman has done it. I think there's too much nuance and discussion around these issues for that. I think you can love pink and be girly and smart, but I think it's still important to unpack the gender roles and beauty standards which DO have negative impacts on individuals and society. But what I see happening in all facets of our culture way too often is we pendulum swing hard from one extreme to the other. We go back and forth like this and get no where. Speaking from my personal point of view: I love pink and glitter; I also love many other aesthetics. I'm a cis woman and I generally dress more "feminine" I suppose but some of my features do not look like what I see being presented in the media as a so called "feminine" woman (ie I have a large nose). I absolutely will never cut myself into smaller pieces to conform to that. Therefore, I feel excluded from hyperfeminity. But I want the representation of diversity of all styles and beauty more often; I think if people see more varied standards then they will become more opening and accepting of it, and if they see less, we'll, we're stuck making no progress. I don't want hyper femninity to be exclusive, judgemental, and damaging. But since we are trying to counter act the notion that being girly is bad so hard, I'm worried we're just going to embrace hyper feminity along with all its misogynist baggage without critiquing it and without nuance. It's a big topic. And I like many here never would blame Barbie directly for it. Kids understand the difference between reality and fiction more than adults give them credit for. But there are negative influences to blame, and those need to be adressed.
@@novembercrust this is a really good way of putting it! I think another layer to it when looking at this stuff as adults, the issue stems from that larger problem that women are pressured into thinking that the *only* Correct Way to Do Things is to perform femininity and how that *is* something that does start at such a young age. Like little girls feeling like they can *only* play with Barbie dolls or *only* like the color pink (which! not Barbie or the color pinks fault at all but). when you're an adult, liking pink or liking dolls is not a pressure typically put on you on the daily, so deciding those things are fun and good actually is totally fine, but. that pressure to perform femininity is still there in more subtle ways, like the pressure to wear makeup (but make it look like you aren't wearing any), or to wear trendy clothing or to maintain a certain "attractive" body weight (which yeah, things like makeup and and clothes are also deemed as frivolous and stupid because women literally cannot win either way it's so great so fun). and honestly I have seen a trend of people circling back around to unironically saying that women who *don't* want to perform hyper-femininity are just "pick me" losers. Like there absolutely is a lot of internalized misogyny going on in the sort of attitude of people like the Cinderella Ate my Daughter author, and a lotttt of misplaced anger at the wrong things, but like the first comment stated, I think it absolutely came from a place of frustration in having that specific brand of misogyny that pressures women into performing femininity. it's an extremely complicated issue that like you said, isn't going to be fixed by making an individual choice one way or the other
The second point perpetuates the idea that a woman in pink make up and hair done and high heels is “asking for it” and deserves whatever happens to her. So much for feminism…
My (significantly younger) sister had one of those Lamilly dolls a year or two after the initial release. She never played with it, called it "the ugly one". Once she told me "mom likes her, so we keep her". My sister loved Monster High back then. I'm sure no one is surprised by this information.
@@Nermadethis I remember seeing commercials for the Lammily doll on TV when I was 7 or 8. I was (and still am) more interested in Barbie dolls and almost forgot that Lammily even existed until I read your comment. Something I particularly remember about those Lammily commercials was the fact that she came with acne stickers (which I could've easily just drawn onto my dolls with a red marker anyways).
in my opinion, the issue with the Lamily doll is that she doesn't really bring anything to the table. I guess she can be a character in any pretend game with dolls, but Monster High dolls and Barbies kinda come with a story for you to play off. My sisters and I would play doctor becaue one doll had the accessories, pretend they were going to prom because the doll/outfit was sparkly and glamorous, or create a whole vampire universe just because one doll was supernatural and, according to us, her duty was to transform all other dolls. Lamily can be there too, I guess, but we would have never picked her at the store because she didn't do anything fun for us to play pretend and use our imaginations.
I think Lamily is ugly. The “averageness” of her is purely mathematical and therefore uninspired and ended up being just odd. They took the stats of young women and came up with a sum of strange features and body parts that don’t even look normal. Her torso is so long compared to her limbs and she has absolutely no waist or hips. Most women don’t look like Lamily anyway. No woman is “average” everyone is unique.
I remember working in a department store and seeing this constuction barbie in a little hard hat and hi-vis vest and being so excited. My family worked in trades for generations, and though this barbie wasn't in the stained work whites i grew up around she was clearly supposed to be a woman in trade, which i had never seen barbie do before. I guess it's fair to say that there is an element of classism in barbie's glamor. She's a feminine power fantasy, sure, but some little girls dream of being garbage collectors or any number of other decidedly unglamorous jobs. That said, my mom would tell me about how her dad spraypainted all his drywall tools hot pink so none of the other contractors would try to steal them, so barbie in a trade job with hot pink tools is not that illogical
@@Eyeball44 Was, he unfortunately died when i was little, but from what my mom tells me he was quite a character. He'd let my mom and uncles put curlers in his hair when they were little, laughed just like Jabba the Hutt, and slept both with a gun and completely nude, so two reasons not to startle him awake
I love that! 🤣 When I was growing up and even a younger adult in Scotland (born 1975) it was rare to see girls going into practical outdoors jobs.If a woman went into a trade, it was hairdressing or catering. Now it's slowly becoming more common. Heck we might even get overalls or work trousers designed for women's figures😆(and yes, I would love it if they looked slightly 'girly')
Reflecting on Barbie as an adult, I more and more notice how actually not stereotypical feminine she was. Especially as someone who loved the movie franchise, it's wild to notice how extremely influential Barbie was in encouraging me to be strong, independent, and not just someone's toy. I believe strongly at this point that the hate directed towards Barbie's "negative" influence was because she was empowering young women. From Barbie's beginning to the present day, she has always reshaped and questioned the definition of "woman". Maybe people don't all knowingly realize that's why they're upset with the icon, but it all just makes so much more sense imo
This comment made me think back to Barbie ans The Three/Four(?) Musketeers. The movie based off of three heroes have these women being strong and feisty while being fabulous. It was awesome. I was a big fan of the dresses.
"there's nothing wrong with wanting fashion dolls to be fashionable" please print that out and mail it to everyone who works for a doll manufacturing company, hang a copy of it up in their break rooms, spray paint it on all the company buildings, burn it in big letters across the lawn at hq, idc. truer words have never been spoken
It’s fascinating how all this talk about how hyper feminine Barbie was somehow terrible for kids, not once were actual kids opinions on the brand are really brought up. It’s always about what parents want and whatever made up agenda they want to yell in the clouds about to justify taking things form their kids. Its never about the kids, it’s always about the parents and their need to force their kids to be anything but themselves. It’s also just incredibly sexist that we can’t have a hyper feminine career woman, at the time, a lot of feminists completely lost the plot in what women’s rights was about: choice and Celebrating all forms of women. Women and girls don’t all have to be the next door every day woman, they can also be hyper feminine and girly and both should be valid, for too long women were designed to that one feminine role but was also never treated as valid for being feminine, then we have a toy that embraced taking girly fun serious and the first response was to treat her not seriously? Thank god we have returned to girly dolls again, shocker that as much push back as these dolls got, girls still want fashionable cool like dolls. Yet Barbie has remained unchanged but hopefully this new movie will get Mattel to realize they can do both diversity in body skin and fashion and still be creative and embrace femininity.
👏👏 I couldn't have said it better! As a hyper-feminine, pink wearing, sparkle loving woman, I too have felt like many feminist have forgotten that the point is for us to have a voice, and to make our own choices, and that includes being hyper-feminine if we want to be!
I know it’s like they haven’t even seen legally blonde bro 🙄 but on the real it is intresting that they never took into account how actual children felt, thoughts and their actual preferences. I would say how others commented on my real and other people’s real body often formed my opinions about my own. The only thing about Barbies I remember my friends and I talking about is that my black and Asian friends said none of them looked like them and eventually they didn’t have as many trendy clothes. As a brunette Barbie didn’t really look like me either so we ended up playing more with Bratz because they looked more like us and they followed the trends of the age closer due to our lower socioeconomic class it was usually one toy a year at Christmas or birthday and Bratz was the choice but you could find Barbie at yard sales. Basically the hyper feminine appealed just fine the thing that aged them out was simply lack of diversity and then even as they branched out with new lines specifically for that they often were not carried in rural stores in the south where many girls would have really benefited from seeing it. It’s just like making 80 foundation shade and having only 15 actually avaliable in stores. You can have a great range but if the customers can’t reach it, it doesn’t matter. I remember during the black Barbie episode I was shocked at how many never reached us because one of my friends was an avid collector of the 90s Christies because it was the first Barbie like her she had ever found. Her sister and her would always fight over who got to play with her until our Dads found another one in Atlanta on a business trip and wanted to surprise us. So there was a market for these dolls and yet? So now years later we are getting representation that, while limited, I can actually find in my hometowns toy aisles and they’re dressed like my meme going to corner store to get some damn virgina slims 😂 cmon now. Let the girls feel the fantasy! You owe it to them!
Companies need to stop listening to parents, since listening to them is the kiss of death for the product. Besides toys it also ruined cartoon shows I loved as kid. Have the feeling a lot of the complaints towards fashion dolls comes from the complainer's own insecurity. They are unhappy and bitter and want to drag down others to be us unhappy and bitter as they are.
The fact parents had more of a problem with Barbie being pretty but not boys toys focusing almost exclusively on action and violence really tells something, I'm not saying these types of toys are bad but society really doesn't want boys to play with anything that isn't action oriented, I remember when Tamagotchis were for everyone and now they're marketed only to girls because of the nurturing and social aspect, God forbid boys can be caring...
I miss how fun and silly and floofy barbie was in the 90s. i do really like the extra line even if not every doll is a winner just because they usually have fun pieces and nice articulated base dolls, if only they'd let curvy dolls wear heels more often though. one thing that bugs me about barbie being like, depinkified is that they still very much lean her into a feminine standard anyways, she's still feminine but in that safe, wholesome way. she's feminine in a traditional podcast girl way 🫠 they're just putting another feminine standard onto girls, just a different one, one that appeals to the conservatives who call women slutty for having makeup. those same people would have suddenly switched it up and started screaming crying and throwing up about "let women be feminine!" and "why can't girls be feminine AND strong" if barbie was butch lmao, which is a shame because more masculine fashions for barbie herself could have been fun and interesting too and could lend themselves well to interesting mix and match options
I really wish they would bring back characters. Like, the Fashionistas line is fine for having a bunch of nameless 'Barbies', but even if we get a masc Barbie or a fem Ken, it's just a one-off doll with no real impact. Having a recurring female character with a more masc style would be awesome. I think it's okay if she's not THE Barbie. They're all Barbies to parents anyways.
@@DarlingDollz Interestingly, the Fashionistas line did have recurring characters from 2009 - 2014. Then in 2015, it changed into the nameless one off characters without the articulated limbs that we still see today.
As an Asian with black hair, dark skin, zero curves, and short height, I want to say that classic hot pink Barbie didn't make me feel any less of a girl. I actually admired Barbie's proactive, hardworking, kind, optimistic attitude. *Empowering females isn't all about looks. Mostly, it's about encouraging young girls to develop positive character traits.*
Also I’m glad you pointed out how they dress the curvy body type as to me as a fat person it just reminds me of how clothing companies often give those with a bigger body type the most blendest and ill fitting clothing, I appricate how mh g3 actually allows dracualura and Abby to wear nice clothing that aren’t ill fitting (even if I’m still not a fan of Abby’s outfit) , yet with Barbie it seems they still resort to blend I’ll fitting clothing-I hope they could fix it and give them more fashionable outfits
i think a lot of the reason why i grew up hating pink and forcing myself to dislike anything feminine was because of this cultural movement. i felt like i had to hate all these girly things or i would be seen as dumb or lesser-than. it was stressful, really limited my self-expression and made me feel really insecure, which are all the things people were saying were what barbie did to kids. i'm really glad to have popped that bubble because fashion dolls and bright colours bring me a lot of happiness and collecting them now feels like making up for the years of fun i could've had if i wasn't told it was wrong of me to like these things
exactly!! i saw how the boys in elementary school would treat the girls who liked 1D and stuff so i forced myself not to like it-years later when i watched “gone girl” the “cool girl” monologue she does struck me like lighting that this is what i had been striving for BECAUSE OF SOCIETY not bc of a goddamn doll. like she’s thriving in a patriarchal world with her bf as her accessory. the pick-me-girl middle schooler that i was definitely didn’t absorb the messages of the barbie movies as i should’ve :/ but in recent years i’ve been making an effort to fight against the internalized misogyny and let my inner little girlie girl express herself❤we’re healing
I kind of went through the same thing, my root problems were kind of all over the place, but I used to LOVE everything pink sparkly and just as girly as possible, and I went through a big phase where I dressed very dull and didn't wear makeup and was just super afraid of being sexualized I guess. I strongly disliked women for a while and had a very toxic view on the way they dressed or acted, but I learned that I was very wrong and I am back to loving all things fabulous and sparkly ✨️ lol I'm grown and I mix up my formal neutrals and my early 2000s pink sorta style 🍓
What I find fascinating how it seems that it is always fashion dolls that receive such hate and yet toys aimed for boys do not. So far I have not seen anyone complaining about all of those hyper-masculine buff action figures. It seems boys are allowed to have exaggerated wild cartoony adventure/action toys, while girls must be reminded of the dull reality. When I played with Barbie I rather saw her as fictional cartoon figure. Also making Barbies average or looking realistic, takes away fun and fantasy. Sometimes we want some escapism.
Action figures made for the “boys market” are always impossibly muscular and competitive. Nobody gives a 💩 If dolls look glam and girly , then all the slut shaming starts to come from women most of the time , it’s always the “too pretty and into fashion = bad manipulative fake dumb woman” stereotype. It’s always the “do not trust the pretty girl who looks good because she is evil inside”.
I also feel what a lot of critics ignore is the idea of "escapism". We need to escape from the "real" world once in a while to stay sane. And that goes for adults as well as for children. Dolls do not need to look like the people you encounter every minute of the day. Let children and adults "escape" into make-belief scenarios (and yes these options should also be diverse!).
I think this way about a lot of media and I feel there a lack of escapism based media all together and I think that it can be very unhealthy for the human mind at times.
True, escapism goes even further than only girl toys and that's something they don't realize. We all need to escape to a fantasy like a book, show, movie, etc from time to time and there's nothing wrong with that
When kids are playing with Frozens doll characters, do these same weirdo parents believe the kids think they can freeze everything 😮. They can't separate the fashion from barbie, because fashion is evil to them. But fashion is fun, or it should be. The oversize t-shirt barbies are stupid.
the quote about the girl scout collab is insane to me. I was a girl scout from kindergarten to 12th grade, and girl scouts specifically has the same message as barbie???? like girl scouts focuses so much on feminity and ""girl power"" in the same exact way that barbie does. these people have never talked to young girls before.
@@sunshinet3058 im really sorry you had a bad experience! i was a girl scout until i graduated from the program, and i loved every second of it. were you not the outdoorsy type or was it a troop/leader issue?
Im so glad you brought up the 2010 trend of making "barbie real" I dont feel like people talk about that enough, maybe its because it was so recent or people didnt really see it enough but it was such a wild ride
The concept was really half-baked, because they came out with all these no-name dolls with different body types, but all separate fashions still only fit the standard Barbie body.
its also like. oh my god barbie was never supposed to be real. i definitely think more diversity in skin types and body types is a good thing for kids to be exposed to, but to be like “oh look now we have a REALISTIC barbie” and its still a skinny pretty girl?? you’re essentially saying “ok HERE is a ‘realistic’ standard you can aspire to instead of the ‘unrealistic’ barbie” KIDS SHOULD NOT BE ASPIRING TO LOOK LIKE DOLLS AT ALL!! DONT PUT THAT IN THEIR HEADS!!
It reminds me of the people who would photoshop disney characters to have realistic proportions while somehow completely missing the fact they're cartoon characters whose eyes are bigger than their hands 💀
I think the whole "anti-Barbie" thing is just an extension of the age-old problem; blaming the problems women have on things little girls like, instead of putting the blame where it actually belongs, on the patriarchy. As a child I was never under any illusions at all that I should grow up to look like Barbie. That was silly. I always knew full well I'd grow up to be a short, dumpy woman with a round face, just like my mum and my aunts and my grandmother. That didn't make me love and enjoy Barbie any less or feel bad about myself. Barbie wasn't a "real" person to aspire to, she was an avatar to dress up and act out scenarios with. I think the Barbie hate is just an extension of hating hyper femininity, which is just an extension of hating things feminine women tend to like, because you can only be respected if you perform masculinity. It's all just misogyny really.
It is, I was a black tomboy, nothing like Barbie, but I loved her, because she was a toy, it was simple. It is hard to deal all the controversy and patriarchal bullcrap as an adult tho. Also, thinking back to the whole "it's okay to cut black Barbies hair" rule in literally everyone's homes, definitely does not sit well.
I disagree. While I never explicitly wanted curvy barbies as a child, that was because I believed I had no reason to be represented and did not deserve it. If curvy barbies and other kinds of modern fat representation existed earlier I and many other severly bullied fat kids would have had comfort. I'm glad that's more available for kids nowadays, it's only a good thing.
@@colorbar.s Except, who WANTS to be fat... Fat isn't an accomplishment or anything anyone picks for an avatar, like Barbie is kind of an avatar, not a model for young kids to grow into... You wanna celebrate mediocrity, or actively harming your body? Why not a body builder girl toy instead? It's against the norm, but also an accomplishment?
Not many media criticise superheros for their extremely extremely sexualised and unrealistic body standard yet going for fashion doll, I wonder if there’s anything to do with Misogyny
Just good old sexualization of female bodies, the fact that the outfits are called slutty is literally self reporting on the fact they think seeing body = sexual
As a little boy that played with Barbies in the 90s and was obsessed with them I concluded as an adult the reasoning as to my obsession. You see I had the cars, the dream house, the camper van, beautiful clothes, everything was ideal in Barbie world. You could buy her friends. I said that “I was buying her a lifestyle I’d never be able to afford”. I maintain that stance, it was fantasy, it was play, I didn’t expect myself or anyone around to be literally be Barbie.
Something I want to point out in the argument that Barbie and princesses create “bratty, spoiled and entitled” is more a reflection of parenting. I grew up with Barbie, my mom nor dad stopped me from watching it but I still grew up to be kind, loving and supportive because my parents taught be to be that. If your kid becomes these things because of the media they’re consuming, then they’re probably neglected emotionally. Where are the parents in teaching their kids not to be this way?
I think it’s funny how mattel is trying to make Barbie into an educational toy with historical dolls and make American Girl into a fashion doll with no historical dolls. Like they want to average both brands into being nothing.
It feels sad almost how they really said "Barbie must be average." And took away all the sparkle and glimmer that she once had. Its like you said I wish we could meet in the middle, have the diversity AND the creativity/cute looks! I think when ppl try so hard to include everyone they lose the plot and it ends up just looking a bit...idk...I wouldn't say boring...maybe uninspired. I wish we got lines of the diverse body types all dressed up and glammed out. Doing any career but looking iconic while doing so, to me thats core Barbie.
i'm a trans guy who grew up with the most barbiecore, glamourous era of the line, and i still love fashion dolls. i couldn't agree more with your point on imagination and creativity; i think there's a lot of beauty and value in exploring hyper-femininity through play. princesses, frilly dresses, an overload of sparkles and glitter, it's FUN! there's a place for more down-to-earth toys that focus more on emotional intelligence and realism (ie american girl), but it shouldn't mean demonizing the campy, over-the-top fashion dolls, because they're just as valuable!
I think that’s a perfect way to put it! I love very earnest emotionally sensitive projects and toys as someone who’s very sensitive but I also love very high fashion, camp, cartoony, creativity toys like those delightful 90s Barbie’s, MH and etc. It’s two parts of what people consider traditionally “feminine” that is particularly divine that I keep hold to as a trans guy myself 💖
I'm a trans guy too and I was born in '99; I loved the glamour, the fairies, the mermaids, everything about barbie I loved(and I had a massive doll collection!). I used to feel ashamed by society and others for liking feminine and masculine things. That shame actually made it harder for me to understand and discover my gender identity because I thought "I'm a trans man, I *cannot* wear feminine things" Eventually I realized that it doesn't matter what anyone says or thinks about what I wear, I'm a man and if I wear a skirt or a pair of heels, I'm a man in a skirt or heels. Feminine objects don't make me less of a man.
(long reply incoming) im a trans guy, born in 05 but grew up with some of the more glamorous dolls and absolutely the life in the dreamhouse show. unsurprisingly, i was an 'ew, pink. ew, dresses' kid so id find any other outfit to put my barbies in. now that im a bit older ive come to terms with my femininity. im okay with wearing skirts and makeup now and not only that, ive come to really appreciate this era of barbie. im a HUGE fan of camp, the hyperfeminine, over the top barbies just look really fun to me now. i even plan on collecting barbie stuff again. being feminine is cool as hell, and it doesn't make me less of a guy if i collect dolls and wear a skirt sometimes. realising that made me so much happier and im really glad i now have a newfound appreciation for barbies
im also a trans guy + autistic as well meaning for a good few years the idea of ‘pink/frilly/etc = for girls and girls only’ didnt really hit me, nd when i had it explained to me it was so (and imo still is) bizarre. today i think i can kind of credit my love for all the girly barbies i owned to my eventual understanding that those kinda things dont meaningfully denote gender - if i know im a man, why would wanting to play with a doll make that less true? not sure if im explaining it well but the long and short of it is that barbie made me trans lol
as a fellow trans guy, i grew up playing with both "boys" and "girls" toys. like, my best friend had a lot of barbies, but once we got tired of them that day, we'd turn around and play call of duty of all things on her xbox360 haha
Skipper would have suited the social media influencer role so much better than Barbie imo, it would've been fun to see her more highlighted instead of changing Barbie's WHOLE persona. I'll never get over how dirty they did not only her but the whole generation of children who looked up to her feeling ✨empowered✨ thanks to her. These critics don't know shit
Barbie helped me escape into a magical world where I had friends and could be anything. Barbie helped me get through so many tough times and she still continues to. She taught me to be brave, kind, and smart. Playing with Barbies has helped me write stories, and honestly, my writing wouldn’t be where it is today without Barbie. Back in the early 2010s I would get a new Barbie and instantly be able to tell her personality just by the expression on her face. I loved the crazy makeup and overdone eyes because it was so expressive! I could create an entire character based just off of a doll’s face. Now all the expressions are the same. No more evil queens or Raquelles. Just nice girls with nice smiles. Also, why can’t we have diversity and glamour? I would LOVE to see more detail on the new fashionista line! Also made to move bodies. And give Ken real hair again!! I will say, I love the Barbie Looks series. I just wish their outfits were more interesting. And give us expressive Barbies with dramatic makeup! Also, I hate the new pixelated faces. They look so weird.
Reading this made me remember that i would do the same thing with my dolls LOL. Like if they looked “evil” i had this whole other voice and different mannerisms for them. It was so fun, thanks for helping me remember the happy memories i had 🩷
So basically Barbie is going through her “I’m not like other girls” phase like everyone I knew growing up. I don’t know if I should laugh at that realization or feel a little sorry about it. Either way love watching your videos
There's an artist I listen to call Jaxx. Her songs are pretty good. I really liked "Victoria's Secret" but she recently put out a song called "Cinderella Snapped" and it brought me back to the horrible days of the "I'm not like other girls" era of the early 2010s. Without going into too much detail, she implies that Tiana from "Princess and the Frog" needs a biomedical degree to be considered "strong" forgetting that she spent years raising money to build her own restaurant, and on top of being a businesswoman, is also one impressive chef.
Yeah I saw that song to and I was just confused as like it misinterpreted a lot of the princesses stories imho, especially Tiana like you said but since they are obviously going after Disney princesses as well, Rapunzel l feel was super misrepresented, she was in a abusive situation and was told NOT to cut her hair and she wasn't "saved" if I remember correctly (and it is my favorite Disney movie) she used Eugene to be her guide so she could see the 1 thing she always wanted to, she didn't want a prince to save her she just wanted to see the lanterns so the entire song rubbed me the wrong way from moment 1
lots of misinterpretation in the princess stories, i feel like the songs are just trying to cater to a very leftist ideology/lifestyle (which is fine of course, music can be catered to any audience) but does so in an almost empty “artificial” way. it’s kind of like how meghan trainor is catering to feminists who also internalize misogyny (one of her lyrics is “you know i won’t be no stick figure silicone barbie doll”, and then her recent song “mother” is almost abusive in a way..) but songs in general can be very openly misleading. there’s only so much you can sing in three minutes.
When you mentioned Barbie sales plummeting from 2012 to 2014, I totally understood!! There was definitely a shift in kids’ interests to electronics such as iPods, etc., around that time. 2010-12 was around the time I ultimately stopped “playing” with Barbies, dolls and toys. It was all because I wanted to buy iTunes cards lol
I grew up with the late 2000's, early 2010's barbies and never did I or my friends once compare ourselves to Barbie, or think that we needed to look like her. I feel like that narrative comes from the adults who are pushed to raise their children a certain way. Because believe me, us little girls during that time just thought the dolls were pretty.
You really said it perfect. Pretty and girly ≠ mean, unintelligent, and exclusive. Being inclusive and aware of social issues ≠ simple, toned down and honestly boring. I DO think there’s a possibility for the movie to create a demand from children for a Barbie that resembles Margo Robbie. It’d be cool to have to repros or updates of older barbie cars, pools, and accessories we haven’t seen in a while or at all. I’m hoping this movie pushes barbie in a glamorous direction while still sticking to the new philosophy that she stands for. I’m also hoping we can get rid of the Millie face after this movie. Margo Robbie literally looks like ceo barbie mixed with an original fashionista
Someone said it! I didn’t realize it but you can also track this growth through the Barbie movies. The older they are, the more doll-like and stiff the animation looks (the animation also had more limits the older it was, but they managed to work around it) but also the more charm it had. You knew you were watching a Barbie movie and not a Disney movie or another franchise. The scenery was just magical. The point in time where I think the movies started losing their magic (to me, at least) was around the time Spy Squad released. Things just felt different around that point. And then the animation changed to the softer, more realistic Barbie that’s more prominent now, and I can’t help but dislike it. The older movies just feel better, even with the bigger limits in the animation quality. Heck, look at Swan Lake, the Nutcracker, 12 Dancing Princesses. The animation is comparatively bad, Nutcracker is positively primitive compared to modern animation, but that’s where the charm comes from. You didn’t watch for the animation quality, you watched because the movies told a story you enjoyed. And I kinda want that back
@@rosl. OMG yeah I'm an art/animation student and when ever a clip passes my way here on youtube or someone brings it up in classes it's like part nostalgia meets "apparently everything *IS* plastic"
I never once felt bad about myself or my body because of a barbie doll. I only ever felt bad about myself and body because of adults and peers telling me I should. Sure family members said "you're not ugly" but never made me feel better when the kids at school picked on me. It was never barbie. It was always the adults teaching me that fat isn't pretty and that I wasn't pretty because I was fat or because I have a cleft chin or big arms. I was taught that thin women with smooth faces and thin little arms were what was acceptable. I'm still so happy that doll makers are making curvy body types! Plus! Now little kids won't have their toys taken from them because of their mothers internalized misogyny as easily!
Don't ever be insecure about your body people. Chubby people get made fun of. Curvy people get made fun of. Flat people get made fun of. Skinny people get made fun of. Your body is not the problem. The people making fun of you are the real problem
I prefer cleft chins. But maybe that's because I have one. I'm a 46 yr old woman, and honestly, this is the 1st I've ever heard that cleft chins aren't feminine. Demi Lovato, Mila Kunits, Adele, Vanessa Hudgens, Sandra Bullock, Bridgett Bardot, Sanaa Lathan, Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain,..... I could go on.... all have cleft chins. We are in good company.
I feel like the hate of Barbies also came with the "I'm not like other girls" phase many young girls had, including myself. I played and had a ton of barbies, even the big mansion doll house up until I was around 10 or 11. That's when I decided I was too "cool" to have this big pink barbie mansion with a nice escalator and rooms more organized than my own and asked my mom if I could give it away (it belongs to my niece now lol). I think this all stems from media's (whether it be purposeful or not) misogyny towards anything feminine. If it represents a woman, its bad, its uncool, its basic. But if a woman acts all masculine, then suddenly she's "one of the boys" or "chill" or some bs like that. Flash forward to now, my room is decorated with light pink shelves, a pink bed, pink posters, and a cute pink Eiffel Tower to top it all off because 1.) pink is a very cute color and quickly became my favorite after 5 years of denial, and 2.) because I learned that femininity isn't something to be ashamed of, its something to indulge in and like if thats what youre into. Now I kinda regret giving away my barbie house because it looked very cool and it'd be very funny for someone to just walk in my room and see it lol. Society puts pressure on young girls to face a harsh reality that isn't even real, it makes them self conscious about playing with dolls or liking pink or dressing up, and thats not what dolls should be used for. I saw Barbie as a way to make up funny stories with her friends and to dress her up and do her hair, but most of all, I thought she was a powerful woman who could do anything WHILE being her cute hyper feminine self, and isn't that such an inspiring thing?
Oble thing that came to mind with the "I'm not like other girls" phase is that it was developed because the media was telling girls that this is all girls are and bring out all the stereotypes. I was in that phase and was very misogynistic. And it was all because of the disney Chanel shows that always portray girls being girly and I guess not relatable to me. They talk about being the hottest girl or going to prom and having the best hair and complaining about another girl wearing the same cloths as them or something. I'm not like that at all, but those tv shows seem to always think that. That developed a bad veiw on girls and made me think that all girls are like that. But not me, I'm not like other girls, I'm like one of the dumb crazy fun brothers like Spencer from ICarly or mileys brother who's name I forget from Hanah Montana or one of the brothers from Jessy who has passed away in real life. It's probably the reason why those guys are ny favorite characters in the shows. Though, I do like Sam and Trish from Austin and Ally as they seem to be the most believable girls there.
Despite all the criticism we all have for modern Barbie, dream house adventure was really good, I just wish we can still have the choices to have some of the glam back along with all the body positivities and inclusivity😢
Yeah dream house adventures I liked and I think Barbie now Brooklyn of other Barbie is a cool character I think renee could pass as Raquelle’s cousin and that’s one of my head canons
Modern barbie is the reason I will never bully a barbie extra doll no matter now abysmal sometimes the dolls are. I think barbie extra solves the issue of the other body type dolls lacking glamor by actually styling them accordingly and better than the fashionistas (the lowest bar ever). If anything, from the bottom of my heart, I absolutely hate the pets that come with them. I just don't care for them at all, they're taking up necessary shelf space. Anyways, awesome video!!
I only buy Barbie Extra when it comes to current Barbie. I can get elements I need like super long hair and separate clothing pieces that are not just potato sacks with slogans on them. The articulation is more to my liking than made to move with those ugly clips/hinges. They are my quick dolly fix when I don’t want to get expensive older dolls from ebay. But the pets…they are so unnecessary. Mattel could put that money in an extra skirt/pant or shoes or something.
There's such a hypocrisy when it comes to dolls and toys influencing childrens body image. Barbie is constantly dragged for "promoting unhealthy body standards" and being a bad role model, but I hardly ever see or hear anyone talk about how superhero action figures, with their huge muscles and 0% body fat, negatively affect boy's body image. I was a girly boy growing up, but I still felt pressure to be muscular with no body fat as a literal child. Am I saying that Barbie is perfect? No. I think that we need to reevaluate how children consume media and what media we let them consume as a whole
Ultimately proof that real feminism not only concerns itself with protecting women that both fall in line with standards and do not, but also men who are railroaded into ridiculous standards of masculinity. At the end of the day if the oppression of women's choice is upheld, men are hurt too. It's sad people don't realize this and focus on the wrong issue, that being attacking femininity uncritically without examining what could be problematic about it really. Because the same people who shamed Barbie for being too girly are probably the people judging women for not being feminine enough otherwise, and men for not being masculine enough. It's a vicious cycle truly.
I have to admit I find the newer Barbie doll fashions quite boring. I used to love the ballet themed dolls, like The Nutcracker ones with the sparkly tutus and pointe shoes. I was a girly girl in the 2000's and most of my friends weren't and I got a hard time for that at school being as it wasn't very cool. Barbiecore Barbie really felt like a friend to me
I was an 80’s kid and had a lot of the iconic 80’s Barbies. Barbie in the 80’s was fantastic! It was Christmas of ‘86 I think, and I woke up to Barbie and The Rockers under the tree, these dolls were fun, wearing crazy, bright outfits, colorful makeup, and wild hair, like Cyndi Lauper was made into dolls. The appeal of the dolls back then was that they weren’t wearing everyday clothes, they were wearing clothes we could only dream of wearing. She was glamorous and fun to dress and undress over and over. Even the more average style outfits were bright and ridiculous and appealed to kids. Anyone who remembers walking down the Barbie aisle at Toys R Us will understand the awestruck you felt trying to pick out which one you wanted, your eyes were assaulted with a barrage of pink boxes with dolls wearing gowns, party dresses, and pink cowboy get ups, maybe deciding on one was determined by what extras were packed in the box. Did she come with perfume, nail polish, a little plastic curling iron, or a watch, picking one out was one of life’s greatest challenges as a kid, I can’t think of a dud. Playing with Barbies wasn’t about seeing yourself in the dolls, I wasn’t thinking “ Barbie can be an astronaut, so can I”, she was just fun, glamorous, and dramatic, (well mine were dramatic at least 😂), while dressed as an astronaut. Flash forward, to when my daughters were younger and playing with dolls. They were not interested in modern Barbie unless she was a mermaid or had a sparkly gown. We went to a garage sale and found about 30 late 80’s to 90’s holiday Barbies in boxes selling at $3.00 a piece. We bought the whole lot. Yes, they would be worth a lot more than $3.00 a piece on eBay, but we gave them to my daughters and they loved playing with them! They had giant hair and giant dresses with bows, glitter, lame’, velvet, satin, and lace. I saw the joy in them playing with them that I had as a kid, something that the then modern Barbie wasn’t giving them. They eventually moved onto the more popular Monster High and Ever After High dolls because they were fantastical. They were wearing fun outfits for a fantasy world. Moral of the story, the real world sucks. I didn’t want dolls that reflect the real world because that’s boring, I wanted an alternate world where a doll can wear a frilly ball gown while she’s a teacher at a make-believe school teaching Barbie and the Rockers, or going shopping in a pink corvette and accidentally runs over Skipper and has to take her to a hospital with Peaches N Cream Barbie as the doctor. Barbie could do real world things, she just looked better doing it in a glittery dress in a child’s imagination. Give kids what they want, crazy bright over the top Barbie to spark their imaginations. Give them hot pink, neons, sickly sweet pastels full of sequins, glitter, chiffon, and satin, fake fur stoles and holiday dresses that look like a Christmas tree. Barbie doesn’t need to dress like the average shmoe, the world has enough of that. I hope the movie will bring create a rebranding at Mattel that makes Barbie the fabulous glamazon she’s meant to be.
i think the barbie movie is an amazing opportunity to usher in a new era of barbie. completely overhauling it starting from the head designer and entire team. a new face sculpt and a return of her emphasis on pink fashion while still maintaining her message that you can do anything. even if that doesn’t happen it’s bound to at some extent at some point, right? i rlly do hope so anyway
❤ I’ve love your content! I’m not a doll collector but hearing people talk about something they’re super passionate and knowledgeable about it is always so fun! Great work!
lammily feels kind of misogynistic. not in an intentional way. but how he creator said that barbie is cold, and how real woman are warm and comforting. it kind of seems like he believes women should cater to him in that way. woman can be high fashion and feminine, and be the sweetest people alive. idk i could be reaching
Yeah something about her definitely makes me uncomfortable. Almost like the creator doesn't like barbie because she's out of his league, and is scared she'll influence girls to be high maintenance when they grow up. But that is a conspiracy level opinion for me to have. XD but I feel like he'd definitely shame women for not being modest, both in the showing too much skin sense and in the being too gaudy sense.
I believe Lammily's creator is female, but that does not negate your point. Ascribing labels to any group of peoples is limiting in damaging ways: "real" boys are strong, "real" girls love to talk, "real" men are brave, "real" women are warm and comforting. When we use that type of labeling, we both negate those who don't feel comfortable wearing those labels, as well as excluding the opposites of those labels from those groups. If a "real" boy is strong, then a boy who doesn't feel strong must not be socially acceptable. This type of othering is what causes real damage both to individuals and to our society.
@@thevirtualtraveler I mean, women *can* be misogynistic, tho I agree with everything else. Mattel never claimed Barbie to be *the* standard, much less to be used in a real life context as whole mf role model. Sure, she is insanely popular, hence why the diversity of the brand is by all means a good thing, however...Why did *adults* start to target a single fashion doll aimed to young girls for a systematic issue?, I think someone else mentioned it before, but it genuinely feels like hyperfemininity (or any sort of traditionally feminine aspect) was, once again, associated with being superficial and void (not to mention that this didn't even apply to Barbie, since the whole point was that she was a very capable and succesful woman), as if "falling into the stereotype" is something girls should be scared of (like society doesn't already ridicule feminine women that are very much capable and independent)
There’s nothing wrong with wanting a doll to be grounded in reality. I’m sure if I was a parent I would want my child to be surrounded by good roles and values. However from a child’s perspective, dolls and toys are a way to escape reality, to make up stories, to live vicariously though your imagination, etc. I didn’t have a lot of dolls growing up, but when I’d visit friends and play dolls with them, my favorites were always the “overdressed” and pink, frilly, sparkly, fun clothing and characters. Thinking back, if I were a child today, I don’t think I’d want to pick up a doll that looked like a “real person”. Maybe that’s just me. I hope I’m making sense.
I think Barbie gets this pressure in particular because she is so ubiquitous as *the* toy most young girls had for several decades. Because I think you made some good points in this video, but bare in mind that we're not seeing this "you must be realistic" criticism aimed at every single fashion doll the same way it is aimed at Barbie. That's not to say other fashion dolls don't get similar criticisms, but we're not seeing people point at Rainbow High the same way and go "these are too glamorous and unrealistic," at least not in the same volume. We're not seeing Equestria Girls get the criticism that "real girls are not really also horses :(" Barbie gets it bad because she is a) the most "real" looking doll and b) because she is a symbol. She is not really the problem, the problem is of course that these stereotypes already existed and that the pressure to look a certain way already existed and bombards women and children from all angles all the time. Barbie was just the messenger a lot of people first heard repeating these social expectations. So yeah I think the desire to see her toned down and normal was maybe an over correction in response to this, but probably still moving in a better direction than things were before, and hopefully we return to something more like the late 90s/early 00s where it's more about all the diverse body types and representations of "realistic" people getting to wear more fun fashions. Since Barbie has not been the dominating force in the market that she was for 40 years before the late 00s, probably in 5-10 years parents will not have grown up with Barbie at all and no one will care what she does, which should relieve some of that pressure.
Oh hell yeah it's the other lady who loves Pokemon R/S/E as much as I do 🐱💖 You make some interesting points here! I think you're right about Barbie being the sort of "face" to this amalgamation of unrealistic standards that women and girls were tired of being held to. As I've said elsewhere I also feel it is an overcorrection. I think you're not alone in not wanting Barbie to lose the realistic elements we see currently, but hopefully we can see more fun and comfortable outfits and looks that dolls of all races and sizes can be seen in. Maybe I'm a hopeless optimist, but I think we can only get better from here!
I'll be so glad when Barbie is out of her Girl Defined phase. The lack of imagination is so sad to see, especially since that's what was so fun about Barbie. And if anything, more diverse dolls should mean more opportunities for creative outfits and concepts. This was an awesome video
I really love how revolutionary barbie was when she was first introduced. While she may have come across as a bit shallow at times, I feel like the super glittery, fun barbie has circled back around to being revolutionary. It's exhausting as a woman to feel the need to constantly prove yourself and defy standards. Barbie is about having interests and hobbies no matter what you are expected to do. She's about indulgence. With modern work and "girlboss" culture I feel like we need classic barbie more than ever. I'm very glad that I've seen this happen a bit with the bimbo culture being on the rise, but I'd love to see Barbie return to all of her frivolous glory.
You can be inclusive and fashionable! I'm sure there are other examples but I'm not too well versed in the world of fashion dolls, but monster high is a perfect example of this!
Growing up in the 90s and 00s was tough, especially as a fat, awkward girl. I loved Barbie so much but could never see myself in those fantasies- I learned quickly to separate myself from fantasy and imagine just about everything as a bystander or viewer. Diet culture, lad’s mags, page three girls and the conversations around them, heroin chic and size zero models pushed me away from femininity until I decided to transition in 2009. It’s only recently that I have retransitioned back to female and been able to come to terms with what it means to be a queer woman in a disabled body. None of this was Barbie’s fault. A society that places value on masculinity above all else while fetishising and outright hating women who do not conform to narrow standards is the problem. I’m so glad that we have moved in better directions, despite so much more to go.
Full agree. I also just want to tell you that I know detransition isn't an easy thing to do at all and for that you have my full respect. Being both females of size we really survived an awful era that basically hated us. Barbie was never the girl I could be, but the cartoon character in plastic to witness. I really never saw that as a negative at the time, but that's because there was so much going on everywhere else that was determined to make sure people like myself and many others were self-hating consumers.
Barbie didn’t cause my body issues, society’s idealization of the heroin chic body of the 90s, constant adds for weight loss, and continued bombardment with media ridiculing fatness is what gave me body issues. Anyway I don’t understand why companies only go one thing and not the other, like high glam and every day can exist together. Also as someone who’s always loved fashion and didn’t ever have a budget for fashionable items Barbie was my outlet of creative dress aside from playing dress up.
I recently found your channel and the way you express yourself in camera is so soothing and nice. All the topics you tackle are interesting, specially for someone like me, who has stepped aside from dolls for years and now has an interest in them sparkle. Thank you so much for this content. Greetings from Mexico.
I wasn't a Barbie fan, but I LOVED to play pretend. And climb trees. Kids are kids, let the kid decide what embodies a happy childhood to them. We're all unique, we need to ENCOURAGE that.
It makes me sad and frustrated when people criticise pink things and hyperfeminimity to literal DEATH. Pink has its place. Glamour has its place. From what I've seen of the upcoming film, it seems to have a very cohesive style and it really helps it stand out. But the thing is, when "feminists" (I feel like some feminists aren't actually FEMINISTS they just bully people out of being a certain kind of feminime) and other people crtitcise Barbie for making impossible standards and all that, I see where they're coming from BUT I also think they miss the point. Barbiecore isn't the problem: the saturation of it that many of us grew up with is the problem. But like how dare Barbie be successful when other companies didn't add to the market! Anyways, it started off as a joke but now I'm seriously considering rocking up the the cinema demanding "One ticket for Barbie please" in my great big goth boots.
I'm so conflicted, i do really appreciate the Barbie rebrand but I hate the mentality surrounding it. I grew up with barbie and I loved her movies and the dolls, and the reason I got back into Barbie when I was older was because of her vlogs. I love her as a princess or a fairy but i also love her as a down to earth teenager. Something I remember strongly as a kid was that I was really noticing the hyper-femininity in barbie. I am not at all saying there's anything wrong with hyper-femininity, but as a kid i did genuinely feel pressured into traditionally feminine roles. my favorite doll ended up being this one like, runway model in a black dress with short brown hair. I loved her because I felt a little overwhelmed by the amount of barbies with long blonde hair and I was desperate for a doll that was a little bit less 'that'. She was still feminine and glamourous, but it was so refreshing to see a doll just with short dark hair. little kid me would have LOVED the diversity and the range of modern barbie, it's something i've wanted for so long. I never disliked the pink 'girly' dolls but I wanted something different. However! I hate that in trying to de-emphasize the bright pink and glam 'barbiecore' aesthetic, they just abandoned it. i really think kids want both, they want the option to choose. I hate that this trend of trying to add more variety of styles of femininity has resulted in this vilification of hyper-femininity. pink is my favorite color, i love dresses and sparkles and princesses! The 'problem' with previous barbies wasn't that it was feminine, it was that there was no variety (in regards to gender presentation). I hate how combatting gender roles has just turned into this anti-feminine propaganda. There's nothing wrong with traditionally feminine things, and these people fighting against pink barbie for being a 'bad role model' are still just telling girls how to look, act, and think. they're just doing it under the guise of feminism. and women do it too! it's all just internalized misogyny. 🙄
this is completely besides the point of the video, but oh my GOD you mentioning rescue heroes just dug up SO many memories! i loved them as a child, wendy waters was my ICON as a kid lol. thank you for bringing that joy out of the trenches of my brain
Women should be allowed to express themselves however they want. They should not feel pressured to conform one way or the other. That's why having a variety of different kinds of dolls is important
Now I want to see OOAK channels "Barbie-fying" modern Barbies. lmao But seriously, taking the new body types and skin colors, and turning them Barbiecore!
Personally I think there should be a middle ground, too often I see people fight whether or not dolls should be more feminine or more neutral As someone who thinks there should be more variety to dolls but also loves barbies look in the 2000's to early 2010's, I don't think we should be shaming people who like the more feminine side to barbie, to me it inforces the stereotype that if a person likes more feminine stuff like dresses or make up, then they are weaker then a person who doesn't
I like new molds but not new clothes. They're so flimsy and basic. Though I do like new face sculpt, fashionistas looked a bit too condescending for my taste. My fave face sculpt is and forever will be the blue-eyed one from mid 90s, cause that's the one I've grown up with, but I also have quite a bit of nostalgia for the late 90s-early 00s one. It had nice balance between sweetness and glamour.
Yeah the new faces make her look like she's about to quote anti gay bible verses at me to be honest. Or at least make a passive aggressive comment about my outfit because it's "over the top" or "immodest."
I remember my dad was so worried about me feeling insecure that bought me a barbie and dye her hair black (in the 90s latinoamerica it was imposible to find a dark skinned barbie) haha that was my favorite barbie for years ❤
What was so awesome about Barbie is that she was smart and capable, had all these jobs, but was also hyper feminine, kind, and true to herself. That's what I loved as a kid. They don't have to get rid of that to be inclusive
I really appreciate how you called attention to how the larger dolls are still dressed in bags. I almost cried happy tears yesterday when I saw a mermaid Barbie in the larger body type, because you're right, they don't have the imagination they deserve. Also, I really want a full Lammily video. There's a set where you can dress Lammily as a Native American in a racist, 1950s style, and it really upset me. When I commented on their Facebook about cultural appropriation being a bad thing and I got blocked.
As a kid, I much preferred realistic fashions for my dolls - but "realistic" doesn't need to mean "boring." Just because an outfit is not a neon pink princess dress, doesn't mean it can't be awesome and distinctive. (And don't get me wrong, it's absolutely fine to have neon pink princess dresses - but it's frustrating if almost *every* doll is dressed like that.) As a child, I wanted to be able to tell a story with my toys, so I most valued posability, variety/diversity (it was a lot harder to find dolls that weren't blonde and female, but it's a pretty strange story where everyone looks the same) and realistic clothes and accessories that served a narrative. Sometimes my doll might be a princess, sure, but what about when she was saving the world from aliens, or slaying vampires, or being a secret agent/ assassin, or a superhero, or a sorceror, or over 9000 other things? I didn't want a pink diamanté astronaut, I wanted one that looked like she might actually go into space. There's nothing wrong with having the pink option, but it seemed very limiting when it was all that was available (and about 80% of 90s barbies I would say, matched this aesthetic.) It also felt kind of patronising to me, as a child, because it was like "yeah, boys' toys have realistic* accessories where they can actually imagine doing xyz, but *girls* toys have to be neon pink and simplified." *Obviously, not every boys' toy was a paragon of realism - some of the 90s Action Man accessories were objectively ludicrous, for example - but the choice was still better, for specific items. I'd rather have had a jeep with a missile launcher for example, than a bright pink glittery scooter, if I was trying to play "Barbie vs. the Yeerk invasion" or whatever. :) I do lament the lack of posability in modern playline dolls at lower price-points, but I'd have much preferred many of the fashions as a kid (yes, there's still plenty of room for improvement - some of the Monster High clothes, for example, were way, waaaaay cooler, and look closer to things I might actually want to wear, but I don't like the lollipop-style proportions that became so popular post-Bratz.) Many of the collector dolls now are simply brilliant: beautiful recreations of varied historical outfits, for eg, instead of just anachronistic 80s-style puff-sleeve dresses. The newest "barbie as a character" headscuplt is pretty damn boring, but then IMO Barbie herself has often had some of the worst head-sculpts anyway. They almost always do nicer ones for the other characters. Anyone reading this who disagrees - that's great, I'm glad you have a different perspective. :) The above is only a bunch of personal opinions. I think it's great to have very feminine dolls etc. available - I'm just glad that now they are not the *only* dolls available. Now, if only they could introduce the made-to-move level of articulation as standard, that would be awesome. :)
This is why I am personally on the the “why not both?” side. Give us the realistic, modern fashion, but also maybe throw in an evening gown once in awhile. I’m not really a fan of a lot of modern Barbie fashion due to the mismatched patterns and such (And because I buy the clothes exclusively for my Elena of Avalor dolls), but I understand why they’re on the shelves. I just want the glamour stuff AS WELL. Lately though, they do seem to be getting better with the pattern thing. I’ve bought a few sets with just simple shorts and tops and other pieces I can mix with my collection and I appreciate that from them.
Same. As a kid I never played Barbies with someone who wanted to be a princess. Princess dolls were for the shelf - still, we wanted cool clothes for our Barbie adventures! The My Generation dolls were my ideal at the time because they were gorgeous, cool and comparatively diverse. I lament that so many clothes are really “relaxed mom” look in current Barbies, though the body types and skin tones are extremely appreciated. Today I appreciate the pomp of retro Barbie but as an actual kid, I didn’t really like it.
It just feels like Barbie always has to be one thing or another, like these two versions of her can’t coexist. Barbie’s whole MO was that she could do anything and be anything; she could do any job, she could dress however she liked. I don’t get why we have to sacrifice femininity and creativity for relatability and inclusivity. She should be able to be all these things, or some of them or even none of them. By trying to avoid stereotypes, they’ve instead started adhering to different stereotypes that can potentially be just as harmful. Portraying femininity (or masculinity for that matter) in one specific way, no matter what that way is, is always a slippery slope towards cultivating an attitude of ostracizing in place of a sense of community and cooperation.
Personally, I'm stoked to see the pink-palooza that is Barbie return. Having been bullied at a young age by little girls in my class for liking "girly things" (a fact that continues to baffle me) I'm so ready to live my best life with other folks who live for aesthetic and sparkly shit! Bring it on! The 30 year wait is over!!
barbie being pink, sparkly and hyper feminine is what makes her so fun! she’s stylish and the dolls looked so good when they went over the top. dolls wearing a colour other than pink is very rare in my collection (maybe bc pink is my favourite colour but..) she had personality before. now barbie is just bland, like everything that made her special and fashionable has been stripped away and replaced with “depressioncore” lmao. this was a really interesting vid thank you 💖💖
Great video. I think because Barbie is such a cultural and historical iconic figure that she is given this impossible task of having to be everything to everyone - both the kids who would want her and the parents who would buy her - and as such is much more subject to being made to balance being a 'good role model' and approachable in a way no other doll line really has to. Ultimately she is the most subject to having to conform to cultural cues and consumer demand so can I blame her for not being as exciting or adventurous when those dolls weren't selling? Only by half TBQH - I do think she can balance being more relatable with being imaginative and dressing a little sharper but that will take time to figure out I guess.
I definitely agree here cause as amazing as the diversity of newer barbies is ...the fashion is just not there. It's bad. And I love the newer dolls... I even like the new face sculpt too! But they need to do something with the clothes... That goes for Ken too his clothes all look so cheap. I recently bought a brand new ken doll tux and first of all the material is sooo cheap. Also, the tux did not fit on an older ken doll. So, I put it on a slim ken and it fits him though it is a bit baggy in a way that makes it look like his suit isn't tailored lol. It's not really the worst thing ever but the fabric is such poor quality. And that's like all new Barbie and Ken clothes. I picked up a fashion pack of dresses for my little sister bc she had some Barbies without clothes. The dresses were okay but very crappy fabric quality and didn't look so great on the Barbies. Like they fit but the shape of the dresses was so bland. It makes me actually upset so I've been buying older ken and barbie clothes off eBay and Mercari..
Comparing newer Barbie clothes to 80s/90s clothes is so sad. 2000s too- even if the material quality wasn't great, they were tailored so nicely and fit her body so well. Newer Barbie clothes tend just... have no shape at all to them. Even ballgowns are just literal tubes of fabric with no definition to them.
Very true.. the clothes we had back then just fit her so much better. Also, I'd love to see clothes tailored to fit curvy barbie that look pretty too! Like you said, curvy barbie just has very bland outfits most of the time. Shapeless dresses that do nothing for her... It's a shame. Hopefully Mattel will hear our cries for better doll clothes and do something about it 🤞
The Curvy Extra Fancy doll is the only one I can recall from memory where I really thought, "wow, this curvy Barbie is styled so well." Baby steps, but I guess they're getting there.
I loved this video, pink and feminine isn’t bad! I love the inclusion but I NEEDED Barbie when I was little. She helped me like women, there was so much sexism around me and she told me it was okay to love being girly, she was unapologetic about her feminine energy and it made me embrace my own. I credit my love for Barbie for a lot of the self love I have now. It’s not bad to be delicate and sweet, in fact it’s wonderful!
I wish we could have both diversity and vintage-style quality. Modern Barbie is obviously waaaay more diverse in body type, skin color, and more, which is great, but vintage Barbie had much better quality.
You can tell a lot of those critics really had no idea what they were talking about. All of the barbie movies promoted confidence, courage, selflessness etc, all while being glamorous. They’re just associating high femininity with vanity.
Right? Like where were these folks getting the idea she only ever cared about shopping & looking good? The actual stories Mattel sold her with were always about adventure, learning, creativity, having fun with friends, caring for others & trying new things. She just so happened to do all of that while wearing hot pink & makeup!
Ig you could argue that barbie promotes the whole girlboss idea that smart/strong/independent women still have to be conventionally feminine & beautiful to be acceptable. But that idea didn't start w/ barbie, & making her less glamorous but still conventionally feminine doesn't challenge it.
As a tween I noticed they were often the same critics who went and complained that bratz dolls looked like "sluts" or whatever for tight pants and cheetah print clothes
It all really just came off as low-key misogynistic and just a general hatred of femininity
Ikr? Even the original doll from Germany literally was dressing up in girly stuff, but refused to make an acception in her rights as a woman for a man. Like the entire idea of Barbie is being feminine and girly, but being an equal to everyone else that isn’t.
If a child’s toy like Barbie is enough for some critics to lose their mind, they have no real problems.
ikr? barbie and the three musketeers had her saving a prince and fighting for justice. it's my favourite barbie movie, and they all looked bright and colourful and glamourous doing it.
That's why Legally Blonde is such an amazing, empowering movie. Shes all feminine, pink, glamorous and a genius lawyer. Not ashamed of hyperfemininity nor does she need any "masculine" traits.
Using feminine and musculin is stupid because none of them exist it's about how do you react for example men can cook and be a chef and nurturing who love pets yet he can act musculin and women can be adventurous and successful ..mafia boss and she still can be feminine ...
Because this stereotypes deosn't exist....at all
Exactly! I always loved Barbie as a kid for that. I had several of the career dolls and thought it was amazing that she could be so smart and be a doctor or a zookeeper and still be fun and stylish. I thought the adults around me were boring and I didnt want to be boring and give up wearing pink when I grew up to dress in bland tones of beige. I always viewed barbie as brilliant and capable before anything. If barbie could be a zookeeper and a lawyer and a surgeon and a dogwalker on the side, then what couldnt I do? And I could look cute doing it too!
And I love that fact that no matter how bad she was looked down upon she never gave up on her feminine personality.
Facts
This!
I always get so sad when I hear the arguments about Barbie causing body issues. For me, my eating disorders came from the adults and media telling me that I was supposed to be comparing myself to her and that I should feel bad because I didn't look like her. But it was never Barbie who made me feel bad about how I looked, it was the other adults and media I was exposed to.
The studies about Barbie and body image are honestly mostly inconclusive when you really look into them. More thorough studies conclude that young girls are most likely to develop these types of issues from older family members (primarily their mothers) far more than anything else. I don't really have a conclusion to reach from that, but it's interesting to put it into perspective.
Im with you on this. The adults around us and the media played a bigger impact in body image issues, in my opinion. When I played with Barbie, and thought "I want to be like her" that usually meant "I want to be fab, and have all these cool clothes and cool careers and cool friends". I know some people did experience the issue with Barbie, but it was definitely not the case for me, my cousins and my friends! Telenovelas and movies on the other hand... oh and magazines! Those really made me feel inadequate, and nowadays social media, filters and the boom on plastic surgery are really affecting a lot of people. Barbie should be allowed to be girly 😢
Totally agree with this. When people say this shit it pisses me off. I personally think a lot of that “Barbie is unrealistic” didn’t come from kids feeling that way, but adults projecting their own insecurities onto their daughters (I’ve experienced this before except the woman slutshaming me and criticizing me wasn’t my mom and instead my friend’s mom- I was 12 when she started to do this by the way lmao). I’ve seen less children insecure with their looks than I’ve seen adults doing everything in their power to look like Barbie, even while criticizing her. I’m not saying Barbie HASN’T effected kid’s self image, however from what I’ve seen, it’s rare.
moms will complain about barbies giving their daughters unrealistic body expectations and then turn around and call their daughters fat or criticize them for eating to much. Certainly marketing for fashion dolls play into social body expectations, there's no denying that. But children are not being actively judged and monitored by their toys. Parents and other adults in their lives are responsible for making them feel that their body is normal and loved
It’s mostly adults who project their insecurities on barbie
I have never ever met a woman that actually blames Barbie for her self image issues. I think it's just adults projecting their insecurities into the toys.
I would have loved to have a doll that actually looked like me when I was little and it would have gone a long way in helping my confidence
Right?? When I was little I wasn’t thinking about barbie’s body or how she’s blonde and white I was just thinking about how I was gonna play with her and I did have dolls that looked like me (the monster high clawdeen doll which is black like me) but I wasn’t thinking about how much that empowers me…
Okay but listen, that isn't how this actually works, it's not *solely* barbie causing people's insecurity but barbie upholds a cultural standard of what a woman is supposed to be and look like, barbie normalises the idea that this is the correct way to look, it's how you're supposed to look, and because that is the same message sent by more or less the rest of society, that is what people internalise and it's internalising that which makes people insecure, they aren't necessarily going to be consciously aware of this or blame their insecurities on it but it is a studied and documented thing that this kind of propaganda (because that's effectively what it is) can influence people's perceptions of themselves and the world around them. So it is true to say that Barbie plays a role in it and that Barbie can also play a role in undoing it.
@immstarry7175 no, because you don't develop your sense of identity by consciously thinking about it, you develop about it by experiencing your place in society as deemed by the dominant culture which controls the ways you are allowed to be perceived. So you don't consciously think about it necessarily, but you see that there are many more white dolls on the shelf than black dolls, and importantly too most little white girls see that there are more white dolls on the shelf than black dolls, and so the little white girls learn that black dolls and by extension black people aren't that important, that they're a variant on white and that being white is default and normal, and little black girls learn that black people aren't as normal or as important, that they're secondary. No this doesn't permanently damage or ruin you necessarily, no you are not consciously thinking about it when you look at the doll aisle as a little kid, no you are not automatically going to believe that any of these things are your fault or that they're deserved or that white people are more important or whatever, but it just builds up as an underlying sense of rejection and a feeling of separation from the dominant culture, the knowledge that you don't belong in it regardless of how that emotionally affects you. The other problem is that little white girls grow up never seeing things from your perspective and never being asked to because it's seen as optional, so when they grow up and suddenly someone asks them to without making it about them they can't comprehend it and they might even get angry at the suggestion that their perspective (usually one of pity, or something akin to cultural tourism) is informed by racism and still perpetuates it. That's actually one of the great things about Clawdeen vs something like black Barbie, is that Clawdeen's selling point isn't that she's black it's that she's a werewolf and her own character not just an optional version of something else, and she may be part of why barbie being white didn't bother you, because you had other dolls to see yourself in so all of it was just a non issue which is how it should be and that is exactly why black dolls are important. Kids should play with dolls that don't look like them because it helps them develop social skills, but if none of their dolls look like them that can affect their self esteem, and there's no good reason that companies shouldn't make black dolls.
I totally agree. Hard to believe but kids, boys as well as girls, were well aware they were playing with a doll. They also don't think they are grownups when they play dress up in moms clothes
Some of the extreme dolls were so unpopular they got discontinued and when they did a line 10 or so years ago called fashionista, all pink, pretty and glitter, mattel sales dropped over 20 percent and they dropped below number one in toy companies.
Every era of Barbie responds to what the kids want
I think adults are not giving enough credit to children for thinking that Barbie would cause body image issues. Personally, I remember playing with Barbie (and other fashion dolls) and I projected on her what I wanted to be, but at the end of the day I understood that she is a doll, she is there for me to fantasize about some life or fantasy situations and be her personal stylist. I developed EDs bc of what society and adults told me I am supposed to look like and how I should eat as a child :( Barbie was there to be my friend who I could come home to and express my creativity on
Same! Barbie was my only friend for a really long time. She allowed me to escape. I would even play out scenarios where I would talk to people or snap back at bullies.
100%! I don't remember any point in my childhood where I associated body problems with Barbie because she was so obviously fictional, especially in her appearance. All of her proportions were exaggerated.
What DID cause body image problems for kid-me in the mid-2000s were all the tabloids. This is who we should be blaming instead of a children's toy. Those magazines that littered waiting rooms, grocery checkout lines, etc always had body-shaming headlines front and center. You could never be good enough for mid-2000s magazines. If celebrities had an average body weight, they were fat and unlovable; if they tried to become skinny like magazines wanted them to be but had to resort to drastic measures (drugs, diets, etc), then they were pathetic and ALSO unattractive. The magazines told us that either you had to flawlessly appear skinny and beautiful or you would get mocked. They told us that unless you were one of the few who had the acceptable genetics of the time, you had to suffer in silence while you were trying to fit into the beauty standards.
Now compare that to a doll who, while having unrealistic proportions, also went on fairytopia adventures and overcame her problems while remaining kind and being there for her friends.
I grew up with barbie and look drastically different from her. I always think she's pretty but I never wanna be her physically. I never have body image issues when I play barbie, but when I stop around teenage years and people around me (including parents and relatives) start commenting about every single inches of my body, only then the problem starts. It's ridiculous to blame barbie for creating body image related problems when for a lot of people they develop these issues way after they stop playing barbie.
I find it interesting that everyone who has commented here has said something about their experiences with food issues and Barbie, but refuses to acknowledge any link between them (like Barbie is your skinny friend who you can’t blame for being skinny, it’s not her fault, she just can’t gain weight) I find this defensiveness equal parts fascinating and disturbing.
I, for one, can acknowledge that collecting and playing with Barbie dolls has had a profound impact on my beauty standards, expectations and my self image in my formative years, and therefore an impact on my relationship with food ever since.
My mom gave me ED not Barbie
A lot of barbie criticism from the 90's and early 00's can be summarized by "God forbid women do anything."
And now is like "God forbid a woman looked like a woman, specially if its feminine and like girly things!".
In conclusion, woman cannot win ever, either because of exterior factors or because of the same women that view feminity as less as masculinity .
More like “society is here to tell you to be thin”, remember heroin chic? 😩
exactly
Especially not aspirational
@@rexzs794 "MUSCULAR. WOMEN. ARE. PRETTY. PLUS SIZED. WOMEN. ARE. PRETTY. ALL. WOMEN. ARE. PRETTY." -An Agender person who really likes women
The way people think they’re being feminists by bashing feminine things will always baffle me. They try so hard to “stick up for young girls” that they circle right back to being misogynistic lol. LET BARBIE LOVE PINK AND SPARKLES AND FASHION!!!!
its because they dont care about being real feminists or about a wide variety of women that dont fit into their preferred little box
they just want to feel like theyre doing a good thing without actually putting in any real effort and theyre using it as an excuse to bully and manipulate the people around them to try to make them do the same
Exactly
that type of people sucks
@alejandra munoz musett I think it's insecurity thing more than a feminist thing
@@elizabethclarke4981 yeah, i really think that:-D
We should allow girls (and anyone else) to love feminine aesthetics and not be seen as vapid or incompetent.
absolutely, I went through a “I hate pink and anything feminine” when I was a kid cause I’d be stereotyped or called a bimbo and stuff
shatter the patriarchal ceiling by being as masculine as possible, and rejecting all things feminine and being as vulgar, crass, violent and aggressive as possible. Like...that isnt feminism, feminism is supposed to be about choice....being feminine is a choice, to reject all things masculine, to be strong mentally while still being lady like, graceful, elegant, and courageous. I think women in the 50s did feminism correctly, unapologetically woman without a speck of masculinity
@@sew_gal7340 Society and men already expect u to be feminine..... how is doing what society tells u to liberating women from the shackles of society? You are not challenging anything by being girly. Also ur saying feminism is about choice, but ur criticizing masculine women (who already deal with enough as is) for their choice to be masculine. Choice feminism is dumb and reductive, if every choice made by a woman is a feminist act then feminism means nothing
@@obamasleftcheek8854 omg same, idk why I went through that stage, being femenine it's so cool!!
@@sew_gal7340 shut up bro you have no idea what you’re talking about
as someone who very much grew up during the "fashionista era" with hyperfeminine media and loved barbie at a very young age, it makes me sad. never once did i compare myself to barbie or did she feel unapproachable as a kid. its just sad and misogynistic, they're kinda sending the message that being a hyperfeminine girl is a bad thing when that was literally what barbie was proving wrong
Exactly! Never once did I think about vanity and appearance when playing with or watching Barbie.
This! But stupid people always exist. Just like now everyone is crying how kids will copy Kpop stars or TikTokers lmao
If any of those parents talked to their children maybe they would realize that they aren't that stupid or if they were they could help them overcome the stupid conclusion.
I was born in 1983 and I was obsessed with Barbie. I had more Barbies than I knew what to do with! However, like you, I never aspired to look like her, nor did she affect my own body image.
I actually never started having any type ofbody image issue until I was 14 and started comparing myself to my friend's bodies. Barbie was just fun to me. I loved her, but I never, ever, ever wanted to be her!
Even as a non feminine person myself, Barbie helped me express myself and go crazy with my style, so I agree!👍
Yeah being super girly and feminine was "typical" and we were socialised to be that way... but then got made fun of for it. AFAB people can't win. If you were a tomboy you get made fun of, but if you were girly you get made fun of. I was super "girlygirl" as a child but I never saw myself that way. (Probably cause I'm not a girl lol.) I didn't wear dresses or skirts on the daily but I was obsessed with pink and nearly all my clothes were pink and all my interests were sterotypical girl interests. I felt like I had to hide my interests because there was something wrong with me liking them.
Well now I am a masc nonbinary goth but I still love all my "girly" childhood interests with no shame! Femininity will always be a part of me and no one can take that way. Society just hates women. Misogyny is built into everything and it's so sad. I really feel that old barbie was making a push against that showing that it's okay to BE A GIRL and a sterotypical one and liking "girly things." Now it just feels like you have to be boring and average to be accepted and you can't like those things because theyre "misogynistic" somehow.
This reminds me of the argument that some people have about older Disney princesses (snow white, Cindy, etc…) about how they’re weak and bad role models. People don’t realize that kindness and patience can be strength. Same goes for Barbie. Being kind, sparkly or feminine does NOT make you weak and idk why some people think that
i've written essays about why snow white and cinderella are amazing role models. i think a lot of millennial women are just so focused on moving away from traditional femininity (and i completely understand why they feel that way!) that they forget the beauty in it and don't give kids enough credit for being able to make up their own minds
Anti-Disney Princess sentiment is so sad. It is especially sad how the people who partake are just pushing another version of sexism.
I personally have been compared to Snow White because of my love and affinity for animals. I LOVE IT!! There is no greater compliment! Well, aside from being compared to Belle for her intellect and adventurous spirit.😍💛
These are the kind of people who have never seen or havent seen these movies in decades. Cindarella is a great rolemodel. Shes hardworking and kind. She doesnt go to the ball for the prince or any man and even has no idea he is the prince when theyre dancing. She wants to go to the ball to have fun and have a break from doing chores all day. While its coincidence that she and the prince fall in love and that fixes her abusive stepmom problem, I dont see how thats such a bad thing. Not to even mention the sequels! She is kindhearted and good natured fo a fault and also brave and intelligent!
Came here to comment this, while watching the video I thought of the anti Disney princess argument 😢
And in turn, that exact mindset is inherently misogynistic. I’m probably looking too far into things, but I find it really off-putting that people believe that “good female role models” need to have stereotypically masculine traits and conflate kindness and compassion alone with weakness.
If mattel is smart they will use the movie to rebrand barbie because the reason why a lot of people are excited about it, is because of the unapologetic fashion that margot robbie is wearing in the film. I am choosing to stay optimistic regarding the barbie brand because there is definitely improvement (The newest wave of extra and looks dolls are pretty) so i hope that the renewed interest for "barbiecore" really pushes mattel to make the change
I'm sure that at the very least they will release a bunch of more retro "barbiecore" dolls and other merch to fit the aesthetic of the movie. it'll be interesting to see how that shakes out
I really hope so and maybe change that goddamn millie sculpt already😂
Not just the unapologetic fashion, but the way it is unapologetically BARBIE (a specifically high level of camp!)
- Note the way how the posters are all "Shes everything and he's just Ken" "This Barbie is president... Here's another Ken" which cements Barbie as being the empowered one, the main girl whilst Ken is just the accessory which totally flips the dynamic of most MF pairings.
I put a lot of detail here because a lot of people are asking for things like the Barbie Girl by Aqua to be in the movie which completely goes against everything Barbie stands for as a role model and a feminist icon.
- The inclusion of Midge and Allan! Specifically the pregnant Midge line that was pulled from shelves! Barbie is finally going back to its roots and realising so much of what has been said over the years by naysayers were just nonsense, and we have all grown up realising that as well.
- The hair purposefully looking like bad wigs so they resemble real doll hair
- There is a poster at the movie theater or near one of the buildings there, it's Barbie in a fairy costume.. specifically Barbie in A Fairy Secret
- The foot scene both referencing the campus nature of her odd feet, but also paying homage to little girls by using the same heels we would wear during dress up!
- The Barbie who is always in the splits having a bad haircut and crayons on her forehead paying homage to the horrible makeovers we all have our dolls
-Even the dialogue between Barbie and Ken when he says "because we're girlfriend boyfriend" UGH writing GENIUS because this is clearly about Barbie becoming a woman, representing how girls come into womanhood you go from this huge amount of innocence where you say things like that.. to going into the Real World.. Ken and Barbie in the trailer are SO obviously not ready.
I hope so too! I hope they realize that people want the Barbie from the movie. Not basic Barbie. The brand can still be diverse and still be pink and glittery
I think it's been 7/8 years since they launched Millie and the vlogger canon, it's about time for a rebrand, not only they could bring back the glam and the old quality but also the Superstar logo since the movie is using that one
With the Barbie brand priding itself on diversity these days, it's worth mentioning certain groups like fat women and black women tend to be defeminized and seen as masculine. It matters to see them being depicted as beautiful, glamorous and feminine.
Very much this. It's a step forward to be more inclusive, but it's a very lukewarm kind of representation. Fat and dark skinned women deserve to live the fantasy too!
It's also been this many years and they still have not offered short+curvy or tall+curvy options, and their offerings for Ken bodies remain pretty standard. They have made three different muscular bodies (one normal-Ken buff, one more buff and another EXTRA buff), and one that is slightly thinner, but no "thick" or short Ken. I would buy the hell out of short thick Ken and tall curvy Barbie.
Edit: apparently there is a short Ken and a "broad" Ken, but I've never seen them in stores.
@@psychotophatcat I think the broad and slim body types are the equivalent of the curvy and short bodies for ken.
Indeed! Also, my kiddo was SO excited about the fashionistas with more diversity and then BITTERLY disappointed that they had very limited articulation. She liked to make her dolls do all kinds of tricks and the lack.of articulation meant that this doll she was SO excited for lay un-played with after a week because her Draculara doll could be put into endless different positions.
So, not only did it end up being dolls with terribly boring clothes, it ended up that the diversity took away the playability. It felt like a throw away effort.
Thank you for saying this! It’s a big part of why Mattel’s big rebrand has annoyed me so much
As a kid, I LOVED walking into the Barbie isle in the store because it felt like I had been transported into a new world, so much more colorful than the rest of the store. I feel like this magical imagination has been stripped from kids toys in favor of being more appealing to parents, not kids.
YES!! It's so sad.
Yup, its like they tried to appeal parent and grownup instead of the children, their main target.
i was literally at the toy shop last week and the barbie isle is still really pink LOL
You are so right. Thank you for putting into words what I've been noticing. I tried to look up toys and activities I could buy my younger siblings. Everything seems ridiculously educational to the point where it looks like homework. Parents buy these things to convince them selves that their kid is getting some educational edge. None of them look fun just for the sake of fun.
I'm not even a girl and I know that for sure. I would go sneak and see the barbies instead of the action figures. While the action figures looked serious and with desaturated colors (nothing wrong with that ofc), the dolls isle had color, brightness, actual careers and clothing you could see real life persons wear. They also looked really happy
I see a lot of people say that girls usually don’t play with dolls anymore, well maybe it’s because now dolls are cheap and simple. And they think kids can’t tell when something is good or bad.
Kids want fantasy, fashion what makes dolls fun is that you don’t see people in real life usually wear those clothes. But when you see dolls that are dressed like your aunt your not as amused. If they brought back the dolls from 2009 all the kids would buy them.
yeah, im a teenager but like i’d totally have dolls if they were actually fun like they were when i was a kid
Me, a teen who's plays with barbie's 😅
Yeah toats
They are not even cheap!
I was an 80s kid, and back then, there were Barbies, and there were cheap (and when I say cheap, I mean CHEAP) knock-off dolls. And you had better believe I could tell the difference.
Barbies hyperfeminine eras have always appealed to me more than the modern takes. It’s nostalgic and pure beauty to me. She gave me confidence in my abilities as a woman.
Yep. I learned how to sew for barbie. Which meant I learned how to sew and knit for me. Which meant basically in a small town, I was always different. When you make your own clothes, no one else has the same thing 😅. Same when you make your barbie clothes, she expands her wardrobe
My mom is a psychologist and she hates the idea that Barbie causes eating disorders or sets unrealistic expectations because, as anyone in her field will tell you, kids act out what they observe in the world. The people they take the most cues from are their parents, so if your kid feels like they have to have a body that looks a certain way, that call is coming from inside the house. But we're not ready for that discussion as a society, so we blame the toys instead.
This!!
I had a reverse entryway into my anorexia. Up until the first day of Kindergarten, I had never seen an overweight/obese child. It didn't help that my first experience with one, she was a huge bully to the other kids. I didn't want to be like her at all (mean or large), so I just didn't eat much. This relationship with my ED lasted 20 years on and off. I understand that I was irrational as a kid on that front, but I'll be darned if I wasn't a polite one, either. I am still little and kind, but because I work out for fun and thrive on being positive.
Literally agreed, my mother and Y2K accidentally influenced me into chronic anorexia, not dolls like Barbie or Bratz.
Barbie is just a piece of plastic after all. She's representing an unrealistic body shape the society expected women to have. Including fashion designers. It's not barbie making pants that only would fit and suit a Barbie, not a normal woman, but it's her being part of the fashion...
It is always easier to create scapegoats than to affect real change
I have always found it annoying when women BOAST that they never played with Barbies, or that they liked to deface Barbies, in a way that implies that they're cooler or more feminist as result. There's definitely a way to state that you didn't really care for Barbie or liked other toys better without seeming holier than thou, but some people just really go all in. 😅
Coming from a household who couldn't afford to buy more than one doll every three years, the fact that kids could deface their toys and later on think that it's cool disappoints me.
People bragging about breaking their toys on purpose is a red flag for me
I was that kid for a while. I went from being super into barbie everything in the late 80s early 90s to tying her to the ceiling fan to impress my only friend. But that's because my.neighborhood only.had a single boy to play with and I thought if I acted.at all like a " girly girl" he would never be friends with me. So I hated barbie andy beloved pink anything until he moved away. I was 16 before I touched the color pink again. And when I did it was like a flood gate opened. So I bet most of those women were influenced by their peers into believing they wouldn't be worthy of they liked girl things.
I would take thier heads off but then ask my dad to "repare" it or i would exchange thier heads
I never touched Barbie as a kid. Used to brag about it when I was younger.
Then my partner dragged me into it in my adulthood and like I’m just like you, you’re just like me. It’s something anyone can see.
lmao that quote about barbie being cold and intimidating reeks of a mother who never got over their high school internalized misogyny. You can tell they still think all beautiful and popular women are mean. These adults don’t realize, or either choose to ignore, that there is a whole character attached to the doll. The children who play with her also consume the media and see that she has well rounded personality. the parents are the ones applying these superficial traits to her when in reality she’s always been shown to aspirational, intelligent, empathetic and humble.
That quote is from Mr Lamm, so it feels more like he never got over those girls rejecting him in school tbh :p
It’s worse that’s it’s from a man tbh
@@katiekirk3268 For me, I think it's worse when it comes for a woman, because we end up attacking ourselves with that mentality
Strawberry Shortcake is all of those things and more child appropriate.
You’re misogynistic too for believing that women can’t be bullies, get over your women superiority complex.
I'm not a girl, but I've always seen Barbie as the ultimate Elle Woods. The prime example of "Assuming was your first mistake".
I was just thinking of Elle Woods lol
Hyperfemme professional career woman
Because that’s what she is, in a way. In her shows, or movie appearances, it is said to be cannon
By making her more “youthful” and “natural” they made her the woman men find attractive. Not the woman girls and women find inspiring, fun and magical.
so true !!
Barbie was supposed to be something fun through a young girls eyes. That’s what made it so magical because it was playing with the toys and watching the movies through a “young girls” gaze. Now that she’s more “youthful” and “natural” like you said, it’s like the doll line is starting to be more for the “men’s gaze” and I never could put my finger on why I haven’t been liking the new wave of dolls despite appreciating the diversity. It’s just not magical anymore and what you see from every other male gaze made piece of media out there.
WOW, ok now hold your horses. I never liked the old Barbies. Thought they looked too... Well, old. You need to have some really traumatized veiw of the world to think that a younger Barbs is male gazed somehow. She's "more natural" cuz we're not in the 20's anymore and nobody's really into this over the top glam style. That's also the reason why she's younger, she's not a fantasy of being a hyper glam woman in pink anymore, she's more of a girl that you ALREADY are - a young girl that wears all colors, not just pink.
Like come on, times change, if Mattel would continue selling same glammy pink Barbies people would be fed up with them and there will be no more Barbie. Now we have body diversity in Barbies and that's cool. You juat can't really appreciate it cuz newer Barbies are so much lower in quality.
@@dumdum8538 you clearly dont keep up with the doll community or what children want the point of dolls is the fantasy aspect do u really think a childs dream toy is a girl wearing jeans and some random shirt that look like she works at starbucks u really just came here and said we hate fun and kids want barbie to be as boring as their parents and their lives no child should have the privilege of escaping to their fantasy anymore cuz fuck that ig
Oof
I think the two biggest problem with the hysteria of anti-Barbie is that it went too far in the opposite direction and (most importantly) absolved parents from bad parenting decisions. As for the second issue, if your child is acting spoiled and bratty because they want to be a princess, that tells me that you the parent are contributing to the problem. I and millions of other girls around the world desperately wanted to be princesses but not because we were brats but because princesses were cool and wore fluffy dresses and were kind, fearless, and loved by those around them. Any behavior that was out of line got nipped in the bud. So I don't blame the princess culture, I blame the parent.
As to the first issue, I'm a black woman! It was a nightmare finding Barbies that looked like me as a child. But you know what would have hurt worse than not having a Barbie that looked like me? Having a *boring Barbie*. Why should diversity mean that we can't be luxurious and fashionable and over the top? If anything that sells the idea that *diversity is boring* and that's not a lesson we want to teach to kids. While I have a few issues with LOL and Rainbow High, props to them for demonstrating that all types of women can be over the top and glamorous! If Barbie wants to continue to survive, it needs to be the best of both worlds. A hyperfemenine pink fantasy... *that everyone can be a part of*
Absolutely! I think this is just overall a good summary.
Well said!
What's wild is that even back in the early-2000s I'm pretty sure they released black dolls that were equally as luxurious as the white dolls more regularly. I owned a black Annaliese from Princess and the Pauper doll, and I'm pretty sure they did the same thing for most of the other earlier CGI Barbie movies.
@@RariettyC They did! One of these days I'll get my hand on one of the dolls but they were too expensive/hard to find in the middle of nowhere Missouri as a kid
I'm with you on the princess thing, I always wanted to be either a princess or a queen as a kid and I loved my princess costumes so much back in the day. I was never spoiled or bratty (aside from the times as a toddler when I'd draw on the walls, but that's a whole other story lol), I just loved princesses and their aesthetic and roles in their stories, I grew up on Disney princess movies after all, Sleeping Beauty is still my favorite to this day ffs. Folks of all races, sizes, and looks should get the chance to have a glamourous pink doll that looks like them.
Makes me wish I had the time and energy to learn how to sew, because if I were to buy any of the current dolls, I would love to make some custom clothes for them. Maybe even learn how to make more elaborate clothes for them like what Mattel made in the 80s.
In conclusion the 'death' of the quintessential Barbie we all know and love boils down to a) (internalized) misogyny and b) major budget cuts. It's so upsetting.
Mattel makes billions.
The image of femininity is an artificial societal construct that has been forced onto us. So I don't understand why moving away from it and freeing ourselves from it should be considered misogynistic. I see it rather the opposite way, that it's misogynistic to always be telling women they are obliged to follow very specific and rather silly standards of looks (often unpractical/uncomfortable, e.g. high heels, or requiring a lot of time and money compared to what's expected from men and their looks, e.g. make up, hair dyes, various cosmetic services).
@@Melian07 you don't get it
I wish that modern barbie had more glamour WITH the inclusivity! She is a FASHION doll after all! 💓💞💗💖
Bring back sparkly ball gowns with color changing hair and the tech aspects!
@@alrightsissi YESSS
Exactly. For me the lack of diversity and 'blond girl being the most important character' syndrom have been awful and the most detrimental. But diversity and inclusivity don't mean there shouldn't be glamour and fashion.
@@emmaphilo4049totally!
Pack your bags girls, we're going to Harajuku!
As a femme teen, I wanna mix old and new . Newer diversity in race, skintone, disability, and sizes with hyperfemininity . Not all the dolls have to be “Barbiecore” but I miss that era. As a plus size disabled Black teen though, I love seeing dolls that look like me.
Yesss, I totally agree with you. Pairing today's diversity with the previous generation's quality and fashion would be amazing
THISSS
my aunts would constantly point out how fat i was growing up, even my dad. kids use to fall down whenever i walked by because i was so fat i would cause an earthquake. barbie helped me escape into a magical world, where i could be anyone I wanted to be. Barbie helped me become the person I am today ❤
Unrelated but we're both subscribed to Grayson's projects and Jake Doolittle 😎
@@sporkzzz cheyeah! classsss ;)
Loving this video!
It's so frustrating that people still think that if a female loves pink, fashion, make-up, stereotypical "girly" things, she's stupid and has nothing to offer society, as if femininity is a bad thing. That itself is extremely misogynistic. I went through a phrase where I hated "girly" stuff, but now I'm embracing my femininity again - collecting dolls and "girly" toys, enjoying pink, make up, growing my hair out, and I'm doing all that while being a working professional running my own business.
Also, girls toys are for ANYONE! You don't need to be female to love Barbie.
I agree! I actually bought some bright pink skate shoes for myself the other day. I'm making an effort not to shy away from the things that I love just because someone else says I can't enjoy it, and comments like yours on videos like these really help a lot.
It's interesting you say this because at one point people thought liking feminine things and women being into girly things is misogyny because it sets harsh standards etc . I guess things have changed lol
Preach it 💅🏻💅🏻💅🏻
SAME! Throughout junior high and high school I told myself that I hated pink and colorful clothes, etc. I only wore earthy tones (which I love) and never pink. Now as an adult, I love wearing pink! I truly love it.
I still have a weird relationship with pink. I don't like wearing skirts and dresses. I recently got back into wearing makeup and it makes me happy. I like embracing my femininity in my own way. It's interesting because my boyfriend wants me to be more feminine. He likes when I wear dresses and he wants me to wear pink.
i feel like the backlash against Barbie and the subsequent rebranding of her by Mattel can be understood by looking at the two different types of misogyny:
1. the first seeks to put young girls and women into certain boxes, including hyper-femininity, what a woman "should" be- in order to mold them into a proper woman, a good wife and/or future mother, and all else that comes with that. it pushes them away "boy things" and towards what is deemed appropriate- enter Barbiecore Barbie
2. the second believes that hyper-femininity is inherently stupid, vain and frivolous & scoffs at the idea of a woman wanting to be taken seriously in pink. it takes young girls & women aside and tells them in a roundabout way that if they want to be taken seriously, they must act "like men", or at the very least how men are "supposed" to act- enter "normalcore" Barbie
honestly, it feels like the woman who wrote "Cinderella Ate My Daughter" (and everyone else w/ the same mentality) experienced the first type of misogyny as a child... and graduated into perpetuating the second. they hold a lot of resentment towards hyper-feminine Barbie and what she represents because of how the adults in their lives pushed her & other stereotypically girly things onto them. it definitely comes out in how the author refers to Barbie as "slutty"...
but Barbie is not to blame here! it's the bad parents that tried to force their kid into a box, *_using_* Barbie. she's innocent!
instead of addressing their resentment though they let it simmer into internalized misogyny and unintentionally paint femininity in general as something to be mocked and looked down upon. in reality, these "more real" Barbies and Barbiecore barbies can coexist!
Speaking of the author of “Cinderella Ate My Daughter” (and bloggers wrote similar articles like her book). I feel like people fail to realize that this sort of mentality can lead to children(especially young girls coming from someone who’s 15) to believe that girls who love stereotypical “girly” stuff are dumb, shallow, or less deserving of respect. And I also believe that could lead them into entering the second box like you mentioned.
I do think it's worth addressing the misogyny of expecting women to be "feminine" or otherwise conform to limited beauty standards, which is something I don't feel we've progressed that far from despite claiming we have (at any rate I don't think the social media age as made it better than the early 2000s, for instance. I've found some really disturbing subreddits perpetuating it in a way that I can only describe as toxic femninity.). Even within the notion of women having to act more masculine, I think there's an expectation for them to appear groomed and stereotypically 'atattractive' to get ahead (I'm thinking of this in the workplace or academics specificIly). I don't agree with choice feminism personally, which is described as believing anything a woman does or chooses is inherently feminist because a woman has done it. I think there's too much nuance and discussion around these issues for that. I think you can love pink and be girly and smart, but I think it's still important to unpack the gender roles and beauty standards which DO have negative impacts on individuals and society.
But what I see happening in all facets of our culture way too often is we pendulum swing hard from one extreme to the other. We go back and forth like this and get no where. Speaking from my personal point of view: I love pink and glitter; I also love many other aesthetics. I'm a cis woman and I generally dress more "feminine" I suppose but some of my features do not look like what I see being presented in the media as a so called "feminine" woman (ie I have a large nose). I absolutely will never cut myself into smaller pieces to conform to that. Therefore, I feel excluded from hyperfeminity. But I want the representation of diversity of all styles and beauty more often; I think if people see more varied standards then they will become more opening and accepting of it, and if they see less, we'll, we're stuck making no progress. I don't want hyper femninity to be exclusive, judgemental, and damaging. But since we are trying to counter act the notion that being girly is bad so hard, I'm worried we're just going to embrace hyper feminity along with all its misogynist baggage without critiquing it and without nuance.
It's a big topic. And I like many here never would blame Barbie directly for it. Kids understand the difference between reality and fiction more than adults give them credit for. But there are negative influences to blame, and those need to be adressed.
@@novembercrust This!
@@novembercrust this is a really good way of putting it! I think another layer to it when looking at this stuff as adults, the issue stems from that larger problem that women are pressured into thinking that the *only* Correct Way to Do Things is to perform femininity and how that *is* something that does start at such a young age. Like little girls feeling like they can *only* play with Barbie dolls or *only* like the color pink (which! not Barbie or the color pinks fault at all but). when you're an adult, liking pink or liking dolls is not a pressure typically put on you on the daily, so deciding those things are fun and good actually is totally fine, but. that pressure to perform femininity is still there in more subtle ways, like the pressure to wear makeup (but make it look like you aren't wearing any), or to wear trendy clothing or to maintain a certain "attractive" body weight (which yeah, things like makeup and and clothes are also deemed as frivolous and stupid because women literally cannot win either way it's so great so fun). and honestly I have seen a trend of people circling back around to unironically saying that women who *don't* want to perform hyper-femininity are just "pick me" losers. Like there absolutely is a lot of internalized misogyny going on in the sort of attitude of people like the Cinderella Ate my Daughter author, and a lotttt of misplaced anger at the wrong things, but like the first comment stated, I think it absolutely came from a place of frustration in having that specific brand of misogyny that pressures women into performing femininity. it's an extremely complicated issue that like you said, isn't going to be fixed by making an individual choice one way or the other
The second point perpetuates the idea that a woman in pink make up and hair done and high heels is “asking for it” and deserves whatever happens to her. So much for feminism…
My (significantly younger) sister had one of those Lamilly dolls a year or two after the initial release. She never played with it, called it "the ugly one". Once she told me "mom likes her, so we keep her". My sister loved Monster High back then. I'm sure no one is surprised by this information.
Lol where is the Lamily now?
@@Pollicina_db Probably re-homed. My sister is in highschool now, and doesn't really have an interest in dolls anymore.
@@Nermadethis I remember seeing commercials for the Lammily doll on TV when I was 7 or 8. I was (and still am) more interested in Barbie dolls and almost forgot that Lammily even existed until I read your comment.
Something I particularly remember about those Lammily commercials was the fact that she came with acne stickers (which I could've easily just drawn onto my dolls with a red marker anyways).
in my opinion, the issue with the Lamily doll is that she doesn't really bring anything to the table. I guess she can be a character in any pretend game with dolls, but Monster High dolls and Barbies kinda come with a story for you to play off. My sisters and I would play doctor becaue one doll had the accessories, pretend they were going to prom because the doll/outfit was sparkly and glamorous, or create a whole vampire universe just because one doll was supernatural and, according to us, her duty was to transform all other dolls. Lamily can be there too, I guess, but we would have never picked her at the store because she didn't do anything fun for us to play pretend and use our imaginations.
I think Lamily is ugly. The “averageness” of her is purely mathematical and therefore uninspired and ended up being just odd. They took the stats of young women and came up with a sum of strange features and body parts that don’t even look normal. Her torso is so long compared to her limbs and she has absolutely no waist or hips. Most women don’t look like Lamily anyway. No woman is “average” everyone is unique.
I remember working in a department store and seeing this constuction barbie in a little hard hat and hi-vis vest and being so excited. My family worked in trades for generations, and though this barbie wasn't in the stained work whites i grew up around she was clearly supposed to be a woman in trade, which i had never seen barbie do before. I guess it's fair to say that there is an element of classism in barbie's glamor. She's a feminine power fantasy, sure, but some little girls dream of being garbage collectors or any number of other decidedly unglamorous jobs.
That said, my mom would tell me about how her dad spraypainted all his drywall tools hot pink so none of the other contractors would try to steal them, so barbie in a trade job with hot pink tools is not that illogical
Your granddad is slay as hell ✨💅❤️
@@Eyeball44 Was, he unfortunately died when i was little, but from what my mom tells me he was quite a character. He'd let my mom and uncles put curlers in his hair when they were little, laughed just like Jabba the Hutt, and slept both with a gun and completely nude, so two reasons not to startle him awake
@@seraphinasullivan4849lmaoooo 😂
Love this story! Thanks for sharing
I love that! 🤣 When I was growing up and even a younger adult in Scotland (born 1975) it was rare to see girls going into practical outdoors jobs.If a woman went into a trade, it was hairdressing or catering. Now it's slowly becoming more common. Heck we might even get overalls or work trousers designed for women's figures😆(and yes, I would love it if they looked slightly 'girly')
Reflecting on Barbie as an adult, I more and more notice how actually not stereotypical feminine she was. Especially as someone who loved the movie franchise, it's wild to notice how extremely influential Barbie was in encouraging me to be strong, independent, and not just someone's toy. I believe strongly at this point that the hate directed towards Barbie's "negative" influence was because she was empowering young women. From Barbie's beginning to the present day, she has always reshaped and questioned the definition of "woman". Maybe people don't all knowingly realize that's why they're upset with the icon, but it all just makes so much more sense imo
This comment made me think back to Barbie ans The Three/Four(?) Musketeers. The movie based off of three heroes have these women being strong and feisty while being fabulous. It was awesome. I was a big fan of the dresses.
@@blessiemasancay4818 My favorite doll that I owned growing up was of the girl that fights with fans in the Three Musketeers ^^
"there's nothing wrong with wanting fashion dolls to be fashionable" please print that out and mail it to everyone who works for a doll manufacturing company, hang a copy of it up in their break rooms, spray paint it on all the company buildings, burn it in big letters across the lawn at hq, idc. truer words have never been spoken
It’s fascinating how all this talk about how hyper feminine Barbie was somehow terrible for kids, not once were actual kids opinions on the brand are really brought up. It’s always about what parents want and whatever made up agenda they want to yell in the clouds about to justify taking things form their kids. Its never about the kids, it’s always about the parents and their need to force their kids to be anything but themselves. It’s also just incredibly sexist that we can’t have a hyper feminine career woman, at the time, a lot of feminists completely lost the plot in what women’s rights was about: choice and Celebrating all forms of women. Women and girls don’t all have to be the next door every day woman, they can also be hyper feminine and girly and both should be valid, for too long women were designed to that one feminine role but was also never treated as valid for being feminine, then we have a toy that embraced taking girly fun serious and the first response was to treat her not seriously? Thank god we have returned to girly dolls again, shocker that as much push back as these dolls got, girls still want fashionable cool like dolls. Yet Barbie has remained unchanged but hopefully this new movie will get Mattel to realize they can do both diversity in body skin and fashion and still be creative and embrace femininity.
👏👏 I couldn't have said it better! As a hyper-feminine, pink wearing, sparkle loving woman, I too have felt like many feminist have forgotten that the point is for us to have a voice, and to make our own choices, and that includes being hyper-feminine if we want to be!
I know it’s like they haven’t even seen legally blonde bro 🙄 but on the real it is intresting that they never took into account how actual children felt, thoughts and their actual preferences. I would say how others commented on my real and other people’s real body often formed my opinions about my own. The only thing about Barbies I remember my friends and I talking about is that my black and Asian friends said none of them looked like them and eventually they didn’t have as many trendy clothes. As a brunette Barbie didn’t really look like me either so we ended up playing more with Bratz because they looked more like us and they followed the trends of the age closer due to our lower socioeconomic class it was usually one toy a year at Christmas or birthday and Bratz was the choice but you could find Barbie at yard sales. Basically the hyper feminine appealed just fine the thing that aged them out was simply lack of diversity and then even as they branched out with new lines specifically for that they often were not carried in rural stores in the south where many girls would have really benefited from seeing it. It’s just like making 80 foundation shade and having only 15 actually avaliable in stores. You can have a great range but if the customers can’t reach it, it doesn’t matter. I remember during the black Barbie episode I was shocked at how many never reached us because one of my friends was an avid collector of the 90s Christies because it was the first Barbie like her she had ever found. Her sister and her would always fight over who got to play with her until our Dads found another one in Atlanta on a business trip and wanted to surprise us. So there was a market for these dolls and yet?
So now years later we are getting representation that, while limited, I can actually find in my hometowns toy aisles and they’re dressed like my meme going to corner store to get some damn virgina slims 😂 cmon now. Let the girls feel the fantasy! You owe it to them!
@@PamelaRubel the bossest bitch absolutely wears Valentino pink right?
Companies need to stop listening to parents, since listening to them is the kiss of death for the product. Besides toys it also ruined cartoon shows I loved as kid.
Have the feeling a lot of the complaints towards fashion dolls comes from the complainer's own insecurity. They are unhappy and bitter and want to drag down others to be us unhappy and bitter as they are.
The fact parents had more of a problem with Barbie being pretty but not boys toys focusing almost exclusively on action and violence really tells something, I'm not saying these types of toys are bad but society really doesn't want boys to play with anything that isn't action oriented, I remember when Tamagotchis were for everyone and now they're marketed only to girls because of the nurturing and social aspect, God forbid boys can be caring...
I miss how fun and silly and floofy barbie was in the 90s. i do really like the extra line even if not every doll is a winner just because they usually have fun pieces and nice articulated base dolls, if only they'd let curvy dolls wear heels more often though.
one thing that bugs me about barbie being like, depinkified is that they still very much lean her into a feminine standard anyways, she's still feminine but in that safe, wholesome way. she's feminine in a traditional podcast girl way 🫠 they're just putting another feminine standard onto girls, just a different one, one that appeals to the conservatives who call women slutty for having makeup. those same people would have suddenly switched it up and started screaming crying and throwing up about "let women be feminine!" and "why can't girls be feminine AND strong" if barbie was butch lmao, which is a shame because more masculine fashions for barbie herself could have been fun and interesting too and could lend themselves well to interesting mix and match options
I really wish they would bring back characters. Like, the Fashionistas line is fine for having a bunch of nameless 'Barbies', but even if we get a masc Barbie or a fem Ken, it's just a one-off doll with no real impact. Having a recurring female character with a more masc style would be awesome. I think it's okay if she's not THE Barbie. They're all Barbies to parents anyways.
Hi Pyon!
Edit: I agree with the last part and I would love to see a Barbie doll with a masculine style!
You’re absolutely right. Mattel made a calculated move to appeal to both conservative and progressive demographics
@@DarlingDollz Interestingly, the Fashionistas line did have recurring characters from 2009 - 2014. Then in 2015, it changed into the nameless one off characters without the articulated limbs that we still see today.
Omgg hi Pyon :DD
The internalised misogyny in the 2000s with Barbie was CRAZY like Lammily really was acting like a full pick me lmao
As an Asian with black hair, dark skin, zero curves, and short height, I want to say that classic hot pink Barbie didn't make me feel any less of a girl. I actually admired Barbie's proactive, hardworking, kind, optimistic attitude. *Empowering females isn't all about looks. Mostly, it's about encouraging young girls to develop positive character traits.*
Also I’m glad you pointed out how they dress the curvy body type as to me as a fat person it just reminds me of how clothing companies often give those with a bigger body type the most blendest and ill fitting clothing, I appricate how mh g3 actually allows dracualura and Abby to wear nice clothing that aren’t ill fitting (even if I’m still not a fan of Abby’s outfit) , yet with Barbie it seems they still resort to blend I’ll fitting clothing-I hope they could fix it and give them more fashionable outfits
i think a lot of the reason why i grew up hating pink and forcing myself to dislike anything feminine was because of this cultural movement. i felt like i had to hate all these girly things or i would be seen as dumb or lesser-than. it was stressful, really limited my self-expression and made me feel really insecure, which are all the things people were saying were what barbie did to kids. i'm really glad to have popped that bubble because fashion dolls and bright colours bring me a lot of happiness and collecting them now feels like making up for the years of fun i could've had if i wasn't told it was wrong of me to like these things
exactly!! i saw how the boys in elementary school would treat the girls who liked 1D and stuff so i forced myself not to like it-years later when i watched “gone girl” the “cool girl” monologue she does struck me like lighting that this is what i had been striving for BECAUSE OF SOCIETY not bc of a goddamn doll. like she’s thriving in a patriarchal world with her bf as her accessory. the pick-me-girl middle schooler that i was definitely didn’t absorb the messages of the barbie movies as i should’ve :/ but in recent years i’ve been making an effort to fight against the internalized misogyny and let my inner little girlie girl express herself❤we’re healing
I kind of went through the same thing, my root problems were kind of all over the place, but I used to LOVE everything pink sparkly and just as girly as possible, and I went through a big phase where I dressed very dull and didn't wear makeup and was just super afraid of being sexualized I guess. I strongly disliked women for a while and had a very toxic view on the way they dressed or acted, but I learned that I was very wrong and I am back to loving all things fabulous and sparkly ✨️ lol I'm grown and I mix up my formal neutrals and my early 2000s pink sorta style 🍓
There's a reason the First Amendment is sacred, but unfortunately it doesn't help prevent sanctimonious know-it-alls.
What I find fascinating how it seems that it is always fashion dolls that receive such hate and yet toys aimed for boys do not. So far I have not seen anyone complaining about all of those hyper-masculine buff action figures. It seems boys are allowed to have exaggerated wild cartoony adventure/action toys, while girls must be reminded of the dull reality.
When I played with Barbie I rather saw her as fictional cartoon figure. Also making Barbies average or looking realistic, takes away fun and fantasy. Sometimes we want some escapism.
Action figures made for the “boys market” are always impossibly muscular and competitive. Nobody gives a 💩
If dolls look glam and girly , then all the slut shaming starts to come from women most of the time , it’s always the “too pretty and into fashion = bad manipulative fake dumb woman” stereotype. It’s always the “do not trust the pretty girl who looks good because she is evil inside”.
Boys don't even play with that... Girls do play with Barbie's tho
@@tulip811 Oh, were does that come from?
@@Lars1996 To be fair, those action figures never looked attractive to me as a woman/girl. They looked like people on steroids.
@Angelique it doesn't matter what girls think about boy's toys isn't it? Just like girls shouldn't care what boys think of their toys.
I also feel what a lot of critics ignore is the idea of "escapism". We need to escape from the "real" world once in a while to stay sane. And that goes for adults as well as for children. Dolls do not need to look like the people you encounter every minute of the day. Let children and adults "escape" into make-belief scenarios (and yes these options should also be diverse!).
I think this way about a lot of media and I feel there a lack of escapism based media all together and I think that it can be very unhealthy for the human mind at times.
THIS THIS THIS EXACTLY THIS
True, escapism goes even further than only girl toys and that's something they don't realize. We all need to escape to a fantasy like a book, show, movie, etc from time to time and there's nothing wrong with that
When kids are playing with Frozens doll characters, do these same weirdo parents believe the kids think they can freeze everything 😮. They can't separate the fashion from barbie, because fashion is evil to them. But fashion is fun, or it should be. The oversize t-shirt barbies are stupid.
the quote about the girl scout collab is insane to me. I was a girl scout from kindergarten to 12th grade, and girl scouts specifically has the same message as barbie???? like girl scouts focuses so much on feminity and ""girl power"" in the same exact way that barbie does. these people have never talked to young girls before.
Girls scouts was literally hellish to me. Loathed pretty much everything outside of the sewing and crafts badges. Never felt bad about barbie
@@sunshinet3058 im really sorry you had a bad experience! i was a girl scout until i graduated from the program, and i loved every second of it. were you not the outdoorsy type or was it a troop/leader issue?
Im so glad you brought up the 2010 trend of making "barbie real" I dont feel like people talk about that enough, maybe its because it was so recent or people didnt really see it enough but it was such a wild ride
The concept was really half-baked, because they came out with all these no-name dolls with different body types, but all separate fashions still only fit the standard Barbie body.
its also like. oh my god barbie was never supposed to be real. i definitely think more diversity in skin types and body types is a good thing for kids to be exposed to, but to be like “oh look now we have a REALISTIC barbie” and its still a skinny pretty girl?? you’re essentially saying “ok HERE is a ‘realistic’ standard you can aspire to instead of the ‘unrealistic’ barbie” KIDS SHOULD NOT BE ASPIRING TO LOOK LIKE DOLLS AT ALL!! DONT PUT THAT IN THEIR HEADS!!
It reminds me of the people who would photoshop disney characters to have realistic proportions while somehow completely missing the fact they're cartoon characters whose eyes are bigger than their hands 💀
I think the whole "anti-Barbie" thing is just an extension of the age-old problem; blaming the problems women have on things little girls like, instead of putting the blame where it actually belongs, on the patriarchy.
As a child I was never under any illusions at all that I should grow up to look like Barbie. That was silly. I always knew full well I'd grow up to be a short, dumpy woman with a round face, just like my mum and my aunts and my grandmother. That didn't make me love and enjoy Barbie any less or feel bad about myself. Barbie wasn't a "real" person to aspire to, she was an avatar to dress up and act out scenarios with.
I think the Barbie hate is just an extension of hating hyper femininity, which is just an extension of hating things feminine women tend to like, because you can only be respected if you perform masculinity. It's all just misogyny really.
👏🏻
It is, I was a black tomboy, nothing like Barbie, but I loved her, because she was a toy, it was simple. It is hard to deal all the controversy and patriarchal bullcrap as an adult tho. Also, thinking back to the whole "it's okay to cut black Barbies hair" rule in literally everyone's homes, definitely does not sit well.
Preach
I disagree. While I never explicitly wanted curvy barbies as a child, that was because I believed I had no reason to be represented and did not deserve it. If curvy barbies and other kinds of modern fat representation existed earlier I and many other severly bullied fat kids would have had comfort. I'm glad that's more available for kids nowadays, it's only a good thing.
@@colorbar.s Except, who WANTS to be fat... Fat isn't an accomplishment or anything anyone picks for an avatar, like Barbie is kind of an avatar, not a model for young kids to grow into...
You wanna celebrate mediocrity, or actively harming your body? Why not a body builder girl toy instead? It's against the norm, but also an accomplishment?
Not many media criticise superheros for their extremely extremely sexualised and unrealistic body standard yet going for fashion doll, I wonder if there’s anything to do with Misogyny
A woman’s and girls thing of enjoyment being under the microscope 🔬 the damn story of our lives 😅 no fun allowed ✋ 🛑
That is a *very* good point, I hadn't even thought of that!!
Just good old sexualization of female bodies, the fact that the outfits are called slutty is literally self reporting on the fact they think seeing body = sexual
Well to be fair, those male superheroes really are unrealistic. They don’t even resemble real humans. So much so that I never found them attractive…
Me personally I think those kinds of bodies look disgusting and unnatural. (like they've been taking the juice, if you know what I mean.)
As a little boy that played with Barbies in the 90s and was obsessed with them I concluded as an adult the reasoning as to my obsession. You see I had the cars, the dream house, the camper van, beautiful clothes, everything was ideal in Barbie world. You could buy her friends. I said that “I was buying her a lifestyle I’d never be able to afford”. I maintain that stance, it was fantasy, it was play, I didn’t expect myself or anyone around to be literally be Barbie.
Something I want to point out in the argument that Barbie and princesses create “bratty, spoiled and entitled” is more a reflection of parenting. I grew up with Barbie, my mom nor dad stopped me from watching it but I still grew up to be kind, loving and supportive because my parents taught be to be that. If your kid becomes these things because of the media they’re consuming, then they’re probably neglected emotionally. Where are the parents in teaching their kids not to be this way?
Also why do dolls need to be a political statement, THEY’RE FOR KIDS
I think it’s funny how mattel is trying to make Barbie into an educational toy with historical dolls and make American Girl into a fashion doll with no historical dolls. Like they want to average both brands into being nothing.
It feels sad almost how they really said "Barbie must be average." And took away all the sparkle and glimmer that she once had. Its like you said I wish we could meet in the middle, have the diversity AND the creativity/cute looks! I think when ppl try so hard to include everyone they lose the plot and it ends up just looking a bit...idk...I wouldn't say boring...maybe uninspired. I wish we got lines of the diverse body types all dressed up and glammed out. Doing any career but looking iconic while doing so, to me thats core Barbie.
i'm a trans guy who grew up with the most barbiecore, glamourous era of the line, and i still love fashion dolls. i couldn't agree more with your point on imagination and creativity; i think there's a lot of beauty and value in exploring hyper-femininity through play. princesses, frilly dresses, an overload of sparkles and glitter, it's FUN! there's a place for more down-to-earth toys that focus more on emotional intelligence and realism (ie american girl), but it shouldn't mean demonizing the campy, over-the-top fashion dolls, because they're just as valuable!
I think that’s a perfect way to put it! I love very earnest emotionally sensitive projects and toys as someone who’s very sensitive but I also love very high fashion, camp, cartoony, creativity toys like those delightful 90s Barbie’s, MH and etc. It’s two parts of what people consider traditionally “feminine” that is particularly divine that I keep hold to as a trans guy myself 💖
I'm a trans guy too and I was born in '99; I loved the glamour, the fairies, the mermaids, everything about barbie I loved(and I had a massive doll collection!). I used to feel ashamed by society and others for liking feminine and masculine things. That shame actually made it harder for me to understand and discover my gender identity because I thought "I'm a trans man, I *cannot* wear feminine things" Eventually I realized that it doesn't matter what anyone says or thinks about what I wear, I'm a man and if I wear a skirt or a pair of heels, I'm a man in a skirt or heels. Feminine objects don't make me less of a man.
(long reply incoming) im a trans guy, born in 05 but grew up with some of the more glamorous dolls and absolutely the life in the dreamhouse show. unsurprisingly, i was an 'ew, pink. ew, dresses' kid so id find any other outfit to put my barbies in.
now that im a bit older ive come to terms with my femininity. im okay with wearing skirts and makeup now and not only that, ive come to really appreciate this era of barbie. im a HUGE fan of camp, the hyperfeminine, over the top barbies just look really fun to me now. i even plan on collecting barbie stuff again. being feminine is cool as hell, and it doesn't make me less of a guy if i collect dolls and wear a skirt sometimes. realising that made me so much happier and im really glad i now have a newfound appreciation for barbies
im also a trans guy + autistic as well meaning for a good few years the idea of ‘pink/frilly/etc = for girls and girls only’ didnt really hit me, nd when i had it explained to me it was so (and imo still is) bizarre. today i think i can kind of credit my love for all the girly barbies i owned to my eventual understanding that those kinda things dont meaningfully denote gender - if i know im a man, why would wanting to play with a doll make that less true? not sure if im explaining it well but the long and short of it is that barbie made me trans lol
as a fellow trans guy, i grew up playing with both "boys" and "girls" toys. like, my best friend had a lot of barbies, but once we got tired of them that day, we'd turn around and play call of duty of all things on her xbox360 haha
Skipper would have suited the social media influencer role so much better than Barbie imo, it would've been fun to see her more highlighted instead of changing Barbie's WHOLE persona. I'll never get over how dirty they did not only her but the whole generation of children who looked up to her feeling ✨empowered✨ thanks to her. These critics don't know shit
I agree
Barbie helped me escape into a magical world where I had friends and could be anything. Barbie helped me get through so many tough times and she still continues to. She taught me to be brave, kind, and smart. Playing with Barbies has helped me write stories, and honestly, my writing wouldn’t be where it is today without Barbie. Back in the early 2010s I would get a new Barbie and instantly be able to tell her personality just by the expression on her face. I loved the crazy makeup and overdone eyes because it was so expressive! I could create an entire character based just off of a doll’s face. Now all the expressions are the same. No more evil queens or Raquelles. Just nice girls with nice smiles.
Also, why can’t we have diversity and glamour? I would LOVE to see more detail on the new fashionista line! Also made to move bodies. And give Ken real hair again!! I will say, I love the Barbie Looks series. I just wish their outfits were more interesting. And give us expressive Barbies with dramatic makeup! Also, I hate the new pixelated faces. They look so weird.
Reading this made me remember that i would do the same thing with my dolls LOL. Like if they looked “evil” i had this whole other voice and different mannerisms for them. It was so fun, thanks for helping me remember the happy memories i had 🩷
@@MooWuuthe evil ones were always the most fun to play.
So basically Barbie is going through her “I’m not like other girls” phase like everyone I knew growing up. I don’t know if I should laugh at that realization or feel a little sorry about it. Either way love watching your videos
There's an artist I listen to call Jaxx. Her songs are pretty good. I really liked "Victoria's Secret" but she recently put out a song called "Cinderella Snapped" and it brought me back to the horrible days of the "I'm not like other girls" era of the early 2010s. Without going into too much detail, she implies that Tiana from "Princess and the Frog" needs a biomedical degree to be considered "strong" forgetting that she spent years raising money to build her own restaurant, and on top of being a businesswoman, is also one impressive chef.
Yep I heard her songs too
Jesus Christ, what was wrong with adults back then? 2008 crash hurt them too much or what?
It's catchy but also crazy
Yeah I saw that song to and I was just confused as like it misinterpreted a lot of the princesses stories imho, especially Tiana like you said but since they are obviously going after Disney princesses as well, Rapunzel l feel was super misrepresented, she was in a abusive situation and was told NOT to cut her hair and she wasn't "saved" if I remember correctly (and it is my favorite Disney movie) she used Eugene to be her guide so she could see the 1 thing she always wanted to, she didn't want a prince to save her she just wanted to see the lanterns so the entire song rubbed me the wrong way from moment 1
lots of misinterpretation in the princess stories, i feel like the songs are just trying to cater to a very leftist ideology/lifestyle (which is fine of course, music can be catered to any audience) but does so in an almost empty “artificial” way. it’s kind of like how meghan trainor is catering to feminists who also internalize misogyny (one of her lyrics is “you know i won’t be no stick figure silicone barbie doll”, and then her recent song “mother” is almost abusive in a way..)
but songs in general can be very openly misleading. there’s only so much you can sing in three minutes.
When you mentioned Barbie sales plummeting from 2012 to 2014, I totally understood!! There was definitely a shift in kids’ interests to electronics such as iPods, etc., around that time. 2010-12 was around the time I ultimately stopped “playing” with Barbies, dolls and toys. It was all because I wanted to buy iTunes cards lol
Don't blame Barbie (she's just another scapegoat). It's the world we live in. And diverse Barbie dolls are not going to fix it.
I grew up with the late 2000's, early 2010's barbies and never did I or my friends once compare ourselves to Barbie, or think that we needed to look like her. I feel like that narrative comes from the adults who are pushed to raise their children a certain way. Because believe me, us little girls during that time just thought the dolls were pretty.
You really said it perfect. Pretty and girly ≠ mean, unintelligent, and exclusive. Being inclusive and aware of social issues ≠ simple, toned down and honestly boring. I DO think there’s a possibility for the movie to create a demand from children for a Barbie that resembles Margo Robbie. It’d be cool to have to repros or updates of older barbie cars, pools, and accessories we haven’t seen in a while or at all. I’m hoping this movie pushes barbie in a glamorous direction while still sticking to the new philosophy that she stands for. I’m also hoping we can get rid of the Millie face after this movie. Margo Robbie literally looks like ceo barbie mixed with an original fashionista
Remember, Barbie isn’t just an icon, she’s ✨Barbie✨
Someone said it! I didn’t realize it but you can also track this growth through the Barbie movies. The older they are, the more doll-like and stiff the animation looks (the animation also had more limits the older it was, but they managed to work around it) but also the more charm it had. You knew you were watching a Barbie movie and not a Disney movie or another franchise. The scenery was just magical. The point in time where I think the movies started losing their magic (to me, at least) was around the time Spy Squad released. Things just felt different around that point. And then the animation changed to the softer, more realistic Barbie that’s more prominent now, and I can’t help but dislike it. The older movies just feel better, even with the bigger limits in the animation quality. Heck, look at Swan Lake, the Nutcracker, 12 Dancing Princesses. The animation is comparatively bad, Nutcracker is positively primitive compared to modern animation, but that’s where the charm comes from. You didn’t watch for the animation quality, you watched because the movies told a story you enjoyed. And I kinda want that back
Im sorry but i look back at some of the dances in Swan lake and i lose my shit to this day. It was so funny 💀💀
@@rosl. OMG yeah I'm an art/animation student and when ever a clip passes my way here on youtube or someone brings it up in classes it's like part nostalgia meets "apparently everything *IS* plastic"
I never once felt bad about myself or my body because of a barbie doll. I only ever felt bad about myself and body because of adults and peers telling me I should. Sure family members said "you're not ugly" but never made me feel better when the kids at school picked on me. It was never barbie. It was always the adults teaching me that fat isn't pretty and that I wasn't pretty because I was fat or because I have a cleft chin or big arms. I was taught that thin women with smooth faces and thin little arms were what was acceptable. I'm still so happy that doll makers are making curvy body types! Plus! Now little kids won't have their toys taken from them because of their mothers internalized misogyny as easily!
Don't ever be insecure about your body people. Chubby people get made fun of. Curvy people get made fun of. Flat people get made fun of. Skinny people get made fun of. Your body is not the problem. The people making fun of you are the real problem
I prefer cleft chins. But maybe that's because I have one. I'm a 46 yr old woman, and honestly, this is the 1st I've ever heard that cleft chins aren't feminine.
Demi Lovato, Mila Kunits, Adele, Vanessa Hudgens, Sandra Bullock, Bridgett Bardot, Sanaa Lathan, Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain,..... I could go on.... all have cleft chins. We are in good company.
I feel like the hate of Barbies also came with the "I'm not like other girls" phase many young girls had, including myself. I played and had a ton of barbies, even the big mansion doll house up until I was around 10 or 11. That's when I decided I was too "cool" to have this big pink barbie mansion with a nice escalator and rooms more organized than my own and asked my mom if I could give it away (it belongs to my niece now lol). I think this all stems from media's (whether it be purposeful or not) misogyny towards anything feminine. If it represents a woman, its bad, its uncool, its basic. But if a woman acts all masculine, then suddenly she's "one of the boys" or "chill" or some bs like that. Flash forward to now, my room is decorated with light pink shelves, a pink bed, pink posters, and a cute pink Eiffel Tower to top it all off because 1.) pink is a very cute color and quickly became my favorite after 5 years of denial, and 2.) because I learned that femininity isn't something to be ashamed of, its something to indulge in and like if thats what youre into. Now I kinda regret giving away my barbie house because it looked very cool and it'd be very funny for someone to just walk in my room and see it lol. Society puts pressure on young girls to face a harsh reality that isn't even real, it makes them self conscious about playing with dolls or liking pink or dressing up, and thats not what dolls should be used for. I saw Barbie as a way to make up funny stories with her friends and to dress her up and do her hair, but most of all, I thought she was a powerful woman who could do anything WHILE being her cute hyper feminine self, and isn't that such an inspiring thing?
Oble thing that came to mind with the "I'm not like other girls" phase is that it was developed because the media was telling girls that this is all girls are and bring out all the stereotypes. I was in that phase and was very misogynistic. And it was all because of the disney Chanel shows that always portray girls being girly and I guess not relatable to me. They talk about being the hottest girl or going to prom and having the best hair and complaining about another girl wearing the same cloths as them or something. I'm not like that at all, but those tv shows seem to always think that. That developed a bad veiw on girls and made me think that all girls are like that. But not me, I'm not like other girls, I'm like one of the dumb crazy fun brothers like Spencer from ICarly or mileys brother who's name I forget from Hanah Montana or one of the brothers from Jessy who has passed away in real life.
It's probably the reason why those guys are ny favorite characters in the shows. Though, I do like Sam and Trish from Austin and Ally as they seem to be the most believable girls there.
Despite all the criticism we all have for modern Barbie, dream house adventure was really good, I just wish we can still have the choices to have some of the glam back along with all the body positivities and inclusivity😢
Yeah dream house adventures I liked and I think Barbie now Brooklyn of other Barbie is a cool character I think renee could pass as Raquelle’s cousin and that’s one of my head canons
Modern barbie is the reason I will never bully a barbie extra doll no matter now abysmal sometimes the dolls are. I think barbie extra solves the issue of the other body type dolls lacking glamor by actually styling them accordingly and better than the fashionistas (the lowest bar ever). If anything, from the bottom of my heart, I absolutely hate the pets that come with them. I just don't care for them at all, they're taking up necessary shelf space. Anyways, awesome video!!
Yes. The pets are unessesary. More accessories are better. I just can't with Mattel that push pets into every Barbie line.
I only buy Barbie Extra when it comes to current Barbie. I can get elements I need like super long hair and separate clothing pieces that are not just potato sacks with slogans on them.
The articulation is more to my liking than made to move with those ugly clips/hinges. They are my quick dolly fix when I don’t want to get expensive older dolls from ebay. But the pets…they are so unnecessary. Mattel could put that money in an extra skirt/pant or shoes or something.
That's a really good view point! While I find most of the Barbie Extra outfits hideous, they at least try to think out off the box and are not bland.
@@steffimaier7297 but the individual piece somehow look good. At least compared to fashionista and some latest fashion pack (at least to me).
@@steffimaier7297 lol omg influence...
There's such a hypocrisy when it comes to dolls and toys influencing childrens body image. Barbie is constantly dragged for "promoting unhealthy body standards" and being a bad role model, but I hardly ever see or hear anyone talk about how superhero action figures, with their huge muscles and 0% body fat, negatively affect boy's body image. I was a girly boy growing up, but I still felt pressure to be muscular with no body fat as a literal child. Am I saying that Barbie is perfect? No. I think that we need to reevaluate how children consume media and what media we let them consume as a whole
Ultimately proof that real feminism not only concerns itself with protecting women that both fall in line with standards and do not, but also men who are railroaded into ridiculous standards of masculinity. At the end of the day if the oppression of women's choice is upheld, men are hurt too. It's sad people don't realize this and focus on the wrong issue, that being attacking femininity uncritically without examining what could be problematic about it really. Because the same people who shamed Barbie for being too girly are probably the people judging women for not being feminine enough otherwise, and men for not being masculine enough.
It's a vicious cycle truly.
Also inclined to agree and especially with bad anime writing and awful colonial western and eurocentric images?
I have to admit I find the newer Barbie doll fashions quite boring. I used to love the ballet themed dolls, like The Nutcracker ones with the sparkly tutus and pointe shoes. I was a girly girl in the 2000's and most of my friends weren't and I got a hard time for that at school being as it wasn't very cool. Barbiecore Barbie really felt like a friend to me
The Nutcracker is definitely the best designed barbie. I've seen some videos showing the doll and the outfit looks so high quality.
I was an 80’s kid and had a lot of the iconic 80’s Barbies. Barbie in the 80’s was fantastic! It was Christmas of ‘86 I think, and I woke up to Barbie and The Rockers under the tree, these dolls were fun, wearing crazy, bright outfits, colorful makeup, and wild hair, like Cyndi Lauper was made into dolls. The appeal of the dolls back then was that they weren’t wearing everyday clothes, they were wearing clothes we could only dream of wearing. She was glamorous and fun to dress and undress over and over. Even the more average style outfits were bright and ridiculous and appealed to kids. Anyone who remembers walking down the Barbie aisle at Toys R Us will understand the awestruck you felt trying to pick out which one you wanted, your eyes were assaulted with a barrage of pink boxes with dolls wearing gowns, party dresses, and pink cowboy get ups, maybe deciding on one was determined by what extras were packed in the box. Did she come with perfume, nail polish, a little plastic curling iron, or a watch, picking one out was one of life’s greatest challenges as a kid, I can’t think of a dud. Playing with Barbies wasn’t about seeing yourself in the dolls, I wasn’t thinking “ Barbie can be an astronaut, so can I”, she was just fun, glamorous, and dramatic, (well mine were dramatic at least 😂), while dressed as an astronaut.
Flash forward, to when my daughters were younger and playing with dolls. They were not interested in modern Barbie unless she was a mermaid or had a sparkly gown. We went to a garage sale and found about 30 late 80’s to 90’s holiday Barbies in boxes selling at $3.00 a piece. We bought the whole lot. Yes, they would be worth a lot more than $3.00 a piece on eBay, but we gave them to my daughters and they loved playing with them! They had giant hair and giant dresses with bows, glitter, lame’, velvet, satin, and lace. I saw the joy in them playing with them that I had as a kid, something that the then modern Barbie wasn’t giving them.
They eventually moved onto the more popular Monster High and Ever After High dolls because they were fantastical. They were wearing fun outfits for a fantasy world.
Moral of the story, the real world sucks. I didn’t want dolls that reflect the real world because that’s boring, I wanted an alternate world where a doll can wear a frilly ball gown while she’s a teacher at a make-believe school teaching Barbie and the Rockers, or going shopping in a pink corvette and accidentally runs over Skipper and has to take her to a hospital with Peaches N Cream Barbie as the doctor. Barbie could do real world things, she just looked better doing it in a glittery dress in a child’s imagination.
Give kids what they want, crazy bright over the top Barbie to spark their imaginations. Give them hot pink, neons, sickly sweet pastels full of sequins, glitter, chiffon, and satin, fake fur stoles and holiday dresses that look like a Christmas tree. Barbie doesn’t need to dress like the average shmoe, the world has enough of that. I hope the movie will bring create a rebranding at Mattel that makes Barbie the fabulous glamazon she’s meant to be.
Yessss❤❤
i think the barbie movie is an amazing opportunity to usher in a new era of barbie. completely overhauling it starting from the head designer and entire team. a new face sculpt and a return of her emphasis on pink fashion while still maintaining her message that you can do anything. even if that doesn’t happen it’s bound to at some extent at some point, right? i rlly do hope so anyway
❤ I’ve love your content! I’m not a doll collector but hearing people talk about something they’re super passionate and knowledgeable about it is always so fun! Great work!
YES MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY
lammily feels kind of misogynistic. not in an intentional way. but how he creator said that barbie is cold, and how real woman are warm and comforting. it kind of seems like he believes women should cater to him in that way. woman can be high fashion and feminine, and be the sweetest people alive. idk i could be reaching
Yeah something about her definitely makes me uncomfortable. Almost like the creator doesn't like barbie because she's out of his league, and is scared she'll influence girls to be high maintenance when they grow up. But that is a conspiracy level opinion for me to have. XD but I feel like he'd definitely shame women for not being modest, both in the showing too much skin sense and in the being too gaudy sense.
I believe Lammily's creator is female, but that does not negate your point. Ascribing labels to any group of peoples is limiting in damaging ways: "real" boys are strong, "real" girls love to talk, "real" men are brave, "real" women are warm and comforting. When we use that type of labeling, we both negate those who don't feel comfortable wearing those labels, as well as excluding the opposites of those labels from those groups. If a "real" boy is strong, then a boy who doesn't feel strong must not be socially acceptable. This type of othering is what causes real damage both to individuals and to our society.
@@thevirtualtraveler I mean, women *can* be misogynistic, tho I agree with everything else. Mattel never claimed Barbie to be *the* standard, much less to be used in a real life context as whole mf role model. Sure, she is insanely popular, hence why the diversity of the brand is by all means a good thing, however...Why did *adults* start to target a single fashion doll aimed to young girls for a systematic issue?, I think someone else mentioned it before, but it genuinely feels like hyperfemininity (or any sort of traditionally feminine aspect) was, once again, associated with being superficial and void (not to mention that this didn't even apply to Barbie, since the whole point was that she was a very capable and succesful woman), as if "falling into the stereotype" is something girls should be scared of (like society doesn't already ridicule feminine women that are very much capable and independent)
You kept my full attention for 32 whole minutes and perfectly verbalized a lot of people’s opinions. You should start a podcast!
There’s nothing wrong with wanting a doll to be grounded in reality. I’m sure if I was a parent I would want my child to be surrounded by good roles and values. However from a child’s perspective, dolls and toys are a way to escape reality, to make up stories, to live vicariously though your imagination, etc. I didn’t have a lot of dolls growing up, but when I’d visit friends and play dolls with them, my favorites were always the “overdressed” and pink, frilly, sparkly, fun clothing and characters. Thinking back, if I were a child today, I don’t think I’d want to pick up a doll that looked like a “real person”. Maybe that’s just me. I hope I’m making sense.
I think Barbie gets this pressure in particular because she is so ubiquitous as *the* toy most young girls had for several decades. Because I think you made some good points in this video, but bare in mind that we're not seeing this "you must be realistic" criticism aimed at every single fashion doll the same way it is aimed at Barbie. That's not to say other fashion dolls don't get similar criticisms, but we're not seeing people point at Rainbow High the same way and go "these are too glamorous and unrealistic," at least not in the same volume. We're not seeing Equestria Girls get the criticism that "real girls are not really also horses :(" Barbie gets it bad because she is a) the most "real" looking doll and b) because she is a symbol. She is not really the problem, the problem is of course that these stereotypes already existed and that the pressure to look a certain way already existed and bombards women and children from all angles all the time. Barbie was just the messenger a lot of people first heard repeating these social expectations. So yeah I think the desire to see her toned down and normal was maybe an over correction in response to this, but probably still moving in a better direction than things were before, and hopefully we return to something more like the late 90s/early 00s where it's more about all the diverse body types and representations of "realistic" people getting to wear more fun fashions. Since Barbie has not been the dominating force in the market that she was for 40 years before the late 00s, probably in 5-10 years parents will not have grown up with Barbie at all and no one will care what she does, which should relieve some of that pressure.
Oh hell yeah it's the other lady who loves Pokemon R/S/E as much as I do 🐱💖
You make some interesting points here! I think you're right about Barbie being the sort of "face" to this amalgamation of unrealistic standards that women and girls were tired of being held to. As I've said elsewhere I also feel it is an overcorrection. I think you're not alone in not wanting Barbie to lose the realistic elements we see currently, but hopefully we can see more fun and comfortable outfits and looks that dolls of all races and sizes can be seen in. Maybe I'm a hopeless optimist, but I think we can only get better from here!
The thing I really love about Barbie is that she's everything all at once and her boyfriend Ken is cooking a lasagna at home
True himbo behavior
I'll be so glad when Barbie is out of her Girl Defined phase. The lack of imagination is so sad to see, especially since that's what was so fun about Barbie. And if anything, more diverse dolls should mean more opportunities for creative outfits and concepts. This was an awesome video
Not Girl Defined 😂
I really love how revolutionary barbie was when she was first introduced. While she may have come across as a bit shallow at times, I feel like the super glittery, fun barbie has circled back around to being revolutionary. It's exhausting as a woman to feel the need to constantly prove yourself and defy standards. Barbie is about having interests and hobbies no matter what you are expected to do. She's about indulgence. With modern work and "girlboss" culture I feel like we need classic barbie more than ever. I'm very glad that I've seen this happen a bit with the bimbo culture being on the rise, but I'd love to see Barbie return to all of her frivolous glory.
You can be inclusive and fashionable! I'm sure there are other examples but I'm not too well versed in the world of fashion dolls, but monster high is a perfect example of this!
Growing up in the 90s and 00s was tough, especially as a fat, awkward girl. I loved Barbie so much but could never see myself in those fantasies- I learned quickly to separate myself from fantasy and imagine just about everything as a bystander or viewer. Diet culture, lad’s mags, page three girls and the conversations around them, heroin chic and size zero models pushed me away from femininity until I decided to transition in 2009. It’s only recently that I have retransitioned back to female and been able to come to terms with what it means to be a queer woman in a disabled body. None of this was Barbie’s fault.
A society that places value on masculinity above all else while fetishising and outright hating women who do not conform to narrow standards is the problem. I’m so glad that we have moved in better directions, despite so much more to go.
Full agree. I also just want to tell you that I know detransition isn't an easy thing to do at all and for that you have my full respect. Being both females of size we really survived an awful era that basically hated us. Barbie was never the girl I could be, but the cartoon character in plastic to witness. I really never saw that as a negative at the time, but that's because there was so much going on everywhere else that was determined to make sure people like myself and many others were self-hating consumers.
Barbie didn’t cause my body issues, society’s idealization of the heroin chic body of the 90s, constant adds for weight loss, and continued bombardment with media ridiculing fatness is what gave me body issues. Anyway I don’t understand why companies only go one thing and not the other, like high glam and every day can exist together. Also as someone who’s always loved fashion and didn’t ever have a budget for fashionable items Barbie was my outlet of creative dress aside from playing dress up.
I recently found your channel and the way you express yourself in camera is so soothing and nice. All the topics you tackle are interesting, specially for someone like me, who has stepped aside from dolls for years and now has an interest in them sparkle. Thank you so much for this content. Greetings from Mexico.
She went from Barbie to a lady named Barb
from barbie to barbara
"She wears minimal makeup"--shows a woman with perfect skin, eyeshadow, and mascara. Thanks Lam
I wasn't a Barbie fan, but I LOVED to play pretend. And climb trees. Kids are kids, let the kid decide what embodies a happy childhood to them. We're all unique, we need to ENCOURAGE that.
It makes me sad and frustrated when people criticise pink things and hyperfeminimity to literal DEATH. Pink has its place. Glamour has its place. From what I've seen of the upcoming film, it seems to have a very cohesive style and it really helps it stand out. But the thing is, when "feminists" (I feel like some feminists aren't actually FEMINISTS they just bully people out of being a certain kind of feminime) and other people crtitcise Barbie for making impossible standards and all that, I see where they're coming from BUT I also think they miss the point. Barbiecore isn't the problem: the saturation of it that many of us grew up with is the problem. But like how dare Barbie be successful when other companies didn't add to the market!
Anyways, it started off as a joke but now I'm seriously considering rocking up the the cinema demanding "One ticket for Barbie please" in my great big goth boots.
Do it!! Go to the cinema in your goth boots to see Barbie!! It'd be amazing!!!!!!
im going for a scene-styled barbie outfit for the movie!! go stomp them boots!!!
Pink has its place in a rainbow next to other pretty colors.
I'm so conflicted, i do really appreciate the Barbie rebrand but I hate the mentality surrounding it. I grew up with barbie and I loved her movies and the dolls, and the reason I got back into Barbie when I was older was because of her vlogs. I love her as a princess or a fairy but i also love her as a down to earth teenager.
Something I remember strongly as a kid was that I was really noticing the hyper-femininity in barbie. I am not at all saying there's anything wrong with hyper-femininity, but as a kid i did genuinely feel pressured into traditionally feminine roles. my favorite doll ended up being this one like, runway model in a black dress with short brown hair. I loved her because I felt a little overwhelmed by the amount of barbies with long blonde hair and I was desperate for a doll that was a little bit less 'that'. She was still feminine and glamourous, but it was so refreshing to see a doll just with short dark hair. little kid me would have LOVED the diversity and the range of modern barbie, it's something i've wanted for so long. I never disliked the pink 'girly' dolls but I wanted something different.
However! I hate that in trying to de-emphasize the bright pink and glam 'barbiecore' aesthetic, they just abandoned it. i really think kids want both, they want the option to choose. I hate that this trend of trying to add more variety of styles of femininity has resulted in this vilification of hyper-femininity. pink is my favorite color, i love dresses and sparkles and princesses! The 'problem' with previous barbies wasn't that it was feminine, it was that there was no variety (in regards to gender presentation). I hate how combatting gender roles has just turned into this anti-feminine propaganda. There's nothing wrong with traditionally feminine things, and these people fighting against pink barbie for being a 'bad role model' are still just telling girls how to look, act, and think. they're just doing it under the guise of feminism. and women do it too! it's all just internalized misogyny. 🙄
i like inclusive styles for barbie, but sometimes it seems like barbie is dressed like she's gracefully recovering from major surgery...
this is completely besides the point of the video, but oh my GOD you mentioning rescue heroes just dug up SO many memories! i loved them as a child, wendy waters was my ICON as a kid lol. thank you for bringing that joy out of the trenches of my brain
Women should be allowed to express themselves however they want. They should not feel pressured to conform one way or the other. That's why having a variety of different kinds of dolls is important
Now I want to see OOAK channels "Barbie-fying" modern Barbies. lmao But seriously, taking the new body types and skin colors, and turning them Barbiecore!
Personally I think there should be a middle ground, too often I see people fight whether or not dolls should be more feminine or more neutral
As someone who thinks there should be more variety to dolls but also loves barbies look in the 2000's to early 2010's, I don't think we should be shaming people who like the more feminine side to barbie, to me it inforces the stereotype that if a person likes more feminine stuff like dresses or make up, then they are weaker then a person who doesn't
I agree completely. We can have both options, easily. Variety is always nice.
I like new molds but not new clothes. They're so flimsy and basic. Though I do like new face sculpt, fashionistas looked a bit too condescending for my taste. My fave face sculpt is and forever will be the blue-eyed one from mid 90s, cause that's the one I've grown up with, but I also have quite a bit of nostalgia for the late 90s-early 00s one. It had nice balance between sweetness and glamour.
Yeah the new faces make her look like she's about to quote anti gay bible verses at me to be honest. Or at least make a passive aggressive comment about my outfit because it's "over the top" or "immodest."
I remember my dad was so worried about me feeling insecure that bought me a barbie and dye her hair black (in the 90s latinoamerica it was imposible to find a dark skinned barbie) haha that was my favorite barbie for years ❤
What was so awesome about Barbie is that she was smart and capable, had all these jobs, but was also hyper feminine, kind, and true to herself. That's what I loved as a kid. They don't have to get rid of that to be inclusive
I really appreciate how you called attention to how the larger dolls are still dressed in bags. I almost cried happy tears yesterday when I saw a mermaid Barbie in the larger body type, because you're right, they don't have the imagination they deserve.
Also, I really want a full Lammily video. There's a set where you can dress Lammily as a Native American in a racist, 1950s style, and it really upset me. When I commented on their Facebook about cultural appropriation being a bad thing and I got blocked.
As a kid, I much preferred realistic fashions for my dolls - but "realistic" doesn't need to mean "boring." Just because an outfit is not a neon pink princess dress, doesn't mean it can't be awesome and distinctive. (And don't get me wrong, it's absolutely fine to have neon pink princess dresses - but it's frustrating if almost *every* doll is dressed like that.)
As a child, I wanted to be able to tell a story with my toys, so I most valued posability, variety/diversity (it was a lot harder to find dolls that weren't blonde and female, but it's a pretty strange story where everyone looks the same) and realistic clothes and accessories that served a narrative. Sometimes my doll might be a princess, sure, but what about when she was saving the world from aliens, or slaying vampires, or being a secret agent/ assassin, or a superhero, or a sorceror, or over 9000 other things?
I didn't want a pink diamanté astronaut, I wanted one that looked like she might actually go into space. There's nothing wrong with having the pink option, but it seemed very limiting when it was all that was available (and about 80% of 90s barbies I would say, matched this aesthetic.) It also felt kind of patronising to me, as a child, because it was like "yeah, boys' toys have realistic* accessories where they can actually imagine doing xyz, but *girls* toys have to be neon pink and simplified."
*Obviously, not every boys' toy was a paragon of realism - some of the 90s Action Man accessories were objectively ludicrous, for example - but the choice was still better, for specific items. I'd rather have had a jeep with a missile launcher for example, than a bright pink glittery scooter, if I was trying to play "Barbie vs. the Yeerk invasion" or whatever. :)
I do lament the lack of posability in modern playline dolls at lower price-points, but I'd have much preferred many of the fashions as a kid (yes, there's still plenty of room for improvement - some of the Monster High clothes, for example, were way, waaaaay cooler, and look closer to things I might actually want to wear, but I don't like the lollipop-style proportions that became so popular post-Bratz.)
Many of the collector dolls now are simply brilliant: beautiful recreations of varied historical outfits, for eg, instead of just anachronistic 80s-style puff-sleeve dresses.
The newest "barbie as a character" headscuplt is pretty damn boring, but then IMO Barbie herself has often had some of the worst head-sculpts anyway. They almost always do nicer ones for the other characters.
Anyone reading this who disagrees - that's great, I'm glad you have a different perspective. :) The above is only a bunch of personal opinions. I think it's great to have very feminine dolls etc. available - I'm just glad that now they are not the *only* dolls available. Now, if only they could introduce the made-to-move level of articulation as standard, that would be awesome. :)
This is why I am personally on the the “why not both?” side. Give us the realistic, modern fashion, but also maybe throw in an evening gown once in awhile. I’m not really a fan of a lot of modern Barbie fashion due to the mismatched patterns and such (And because I buy the clothes exclusively for my Elena of Avalor dolls), but I understand why they’re on the shelves. I just want the glamour stuff AS WELL. Lately though, they do seem to be getting better with the pattern thing. I’ve bought a few sets with just simple shorts and tops and other pieces I can mix with my collection and I appreciate that from them.
Same. As a kid I never played Barbies with someone who wanted to be a princess. Princess dolls were for the shelf - still, we wanted cool clothes for our Barbie adventures! The My Generation dolls were my ideal at the time because they were gorgeous, cool and comparatively diverse.
I lament that so many clothes are really “relaxed mom” look in current Barbies, though the body types and skin tones are extremely appreciated.
Today I appreciate the pomp of retro Barbie but as an actual kid, I didn’t really like it.
Can’t relate because my dolls just wanted diamonds penthouses and furs… but your perspective is valid too.
It just feels like Barbie always has to be one thing or another, like these two versions of her can’t coexist. Barbie’s whole MO was that she could do anything and be anything; she could do any job, she could dress however she liked. I don’t get why we have to sacrifice femininity and creativity for relatability and inclusivity. She should be able to be all these things, or some of them or even none of them. By trying to avoid stereotypes, they’ve instead started adhering to different stereotypes that can potentially be just as harmful. Portraying femininity (or masculinity for that matter) in one specific way, no matter what that way is, is always a slippery slope towards cultivating an attitude of ostracizing in place of a sense of community and cooperation.
Personally, I'm stoked to see the pink-palooza that is Barbie return. Having been bullied at a young age by little girls in my class for liking "girly things" (a fact that continues to baffle me) I'm so ready to live my best life with other folks who live for aesthetic and sparkly shit! Bring it on! The 30 year wait is over!!
I'm new to this channel but as soon as I clicked and saw all the OMG dolls on the back shelves I was absolutely living for it
barbie being pink, sparkly and hyper feminine is what makes her so fun! she’s stylish and the dolls looked so good when they went over the top. dolls wearing a colour other than pink is very rare in my collection (maybe bc pink is my favourite colour but..) she had personality before. now barbie is just bland, like everything that made her special and fashionable has been stripped away and replaced with “depressioncore” lmao.
this was a really interesting vid thank you 💖💖
depressioncore 😂😂
Great video. I think because Barbie is such a cultural and historical iconic figure that she is given this impossible task of having to be everything to everyone - both the kids who would want her and the parents who would buy her - and as such is much more subject to being made to balance being a 'good role model' and approachable in a way no other doll line really has to. Ultimately she is the most subject to having to conform to cultural cues and consumer demand so can I blame her for not being as exciting or adventurous when those dolls weren't selling?
Only by half TBQH - I do think she can balance being more relatable with being imaginative and dressing a little sharper but that will take time to figure out I guess.
I definitely agree here cause as amazing as the diversity of newer barbies is ...the fashion is just not there. It's bad. And I love the newer dolls... I even like the new face sculpt too! But they need to do something with the clothes... That goes for Ken too his clothes all look so cheap. I recently bought a brand new ken doll tux and first of all the material is sooo cheap. Also, the tux did not fit on an older ken doll. So, I put it on a slim ken and it fits him though it is a bit baggy in a way that makes it look like his suit isn't tailored lol. It's not really the worst thing ever but the fabric is such poor quality. And that's like all new Barbie and Ken clothes. I picked up a fashion pack of dresses for my little sister bc she had some Barbies without clothes. The dresses were okay but very crappy fabric quality and didn't look so great on the Barbies. Like they fit but the shape of the dresses was so bland. It makes me actually upset so I've been buying older ken and barbie clothes off eBay and Mercari..
Comparing newer Barbie clothes to 80s/90s clothes is so sad. 2000s too- even if the material quality wasn't great, they were tailored so nicely and fit her body so well. Newer Barbie clothes tend just... have no shape at all to them. Even ballgowns are just literal tubes of fabric with no definition to them.
Very true.. the clothes we had back then just fit her so much better. Also, I'd love to see clothes tailored to fit curvy barbie that look pretty too! Like you said, curvy barbie just has very bland outfits most of the time. Shapeless dresses that do nothing for her... It's a shame. Hopefully Mattel will hear our cries for better doll clothes and do something about it 🤞
The Curvy Extra Fancy doll is the only one I can recall from memory where I really thought, "wow, this curvy Barbie is styled so well." Baby steps, but I guess they're getting there.
I loved this video, pink and feminine isn’t bad! I love the inclusion but I NEEDED Barbie when I was little. She helped me like women, there was so much sexism around me and she told me it was okay to love being girly, she was unapologetic about her feminine energy and it made me embrace my own. I credit my love for Barbie for a lot of the self love I have now. It’s not bad to be delicate and sweet, in fact it’s wonderful!
I wish we could have both diversity and vintage-style quality. Modern Barbie is obviously waaaay more diverse in body type, skin color, and more, which is great, but vintage Barbie had much better quality.