Why barbie is a feminist

By Megan O'Kane

In May 2013, Europe’s first life-sized Barbie Dreamhouse opened its doors in Berlin. The opening of this pink paradise was overshadowed in the media by a feminist protest, involving a topless woman and a burning cross.

Michael Koschitzki, a member of the Occupy Barbie Dreamhouse protest group argues that "… this so-called Dreamhouse symbolizes the beauty craze and the discrimination of women in modern-day life. It presents a cliché of the female role in society." I very much disagree with this viewpoint. I believe that Barbie and her empire, which has grown steadily over 50 years, are an example of feminism at its best.

First and foremost, Barbie was created over 50 years ago, by a woman named Ruth Handler, in an era where women were virtually unseen in the business world. At the time girls played with baby dolls, which does nothing more than support the claim that the purpose of a woman is to rear children.

Barbie has broken down the gender stereotype of women as housewives. Barbie has never been married and she does not need a man to define who she is. Barbie has only had one boyfriend, Ken; who features as a mere accessory in Barbie’s life, shown by the fact that the number of versions of Barbie created far outweighs the number of Ken dolls made. In addition, Barbie has never had children, despite her lengthy relationship, and she is perfectly happy with this situation. Barbie is the epitome of self-fulfilment. How do we know this? It was Barbie, not Ken, who owned the Dreamhouse. Have you ever seen Ken drive the convertible?

Over the years, Barbie has had hundreds of different careers, ranging from doctor to model to athlete and, in 2012, Mattel even released a Presidential Candidate Barbie. In fact, it can be argued that Barbie dolls have introduced girls to career paths they did not know existed. Barbie promotes the belief that you can be anything you want to be, which I think is healthy message to send to young girls. Feminism is about encouraging women to break boundaries and follow their dreams without restriction by society.

It is often argued that Barbie’s bodily dimensions promote an unhealthy view of what young girls “should” look like. I believe this is a very far-fetched allegation. As a child, I had more Barbie dolls than I can count. And at no point in my childhood did I think “I need to look like this.” To be perfectly honest, I was more concerned about whether or not I would be able to fit 3 dolls in the back seat of my Barbie Picnic Van. I would be incredibly surprised if a child were to say that they see their Barbie doll as a model of how they would like to look in the future. I feel that society should take a look at the prevalence of celebrity culture and role models before placing blame on a toy.

Barbie does not come with script, which allows young girls to use their imagination to create scenarios and storylines for their dolls to engage in. Playing with Barbie’s encourages girls to use their imagination and embrace creativity from a young age. This is a rarity in modern day, due to the prevalence of video games and the internet.

To conclude, I believe that Barbie should be viewed as an icon, not because she’s blonde and beautiful, but because she has the ability to inspire young girls across the world to achieve their dreams and believe that they can be anyone they want to be. 

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