Barbie goes Wild
There was a mix up with my neighbor’s mail this weekend, and the postman delivered the Barbie Collector Holiday 2010 catalogue to my house. My daughters are in their teens, so I have been out of Barbie mode for a long time, but I have to say that I was shocked at the evolution of Barbie over the past decade. I know Barbie is a social icon. I appreciate that people spend hundreds of dollars for rare and collectible edition dolls, and I understand that there is a lot of demand on toy manufacturers to outdo themselves every year. But I still can’t get over the shock at being confronted by an 8.5″ x 11″ Barbie in a gold sequin bra, ‘down to there’ corset, butt feathers, and enough eye-makeup to make the folks at Sephora cringe.
Seriously, what kind of message are we sending to our daughters if we condone this kind of slutted up outfit as OK to not only play with but to emulate? I thought perhaps that the cover was just an attention getter, but on page 2 we have Barbie as Cleopatra:
Again, what’s with the cleavage? (I have to acknowledge that those are awesome shoes, however, and if I had a Barbie doll with that kind of footwear I’d be all over it.) Playing the role of appropriate fashion police to young and impressionable daughters (and sons), it really troubles me that Barbie, one of the first and most impressionable toys for girls, is baring her assets as if it was completely acceptable to aspire to this kind of fashion behavior. Isn’t it possible to achieve the same dramatic effect without showing skin down to the navel?
Mattel did get it right with the Twilight series and the Mad Men series:
But then we’re right back where we started (sort of) with Palm Beach Swim Suit Barbie:
Come on, who dresses like this at the beach? Even her expression – all come hither and tarty – sends the wrong message to girls. I sound like my mother. Maybe there is some truth to the fact that we all eventually turn into our mothers. I guess if I was a child I would love to have a dress up doll that had a rockin’ wardrobe and killer shoes, but as the real life mother of real life girls with real life modern problems, I don’t think that these fashion messages are doing anyone any favors. And the earlier we teach children to value their brains and character over their looks, the better off everyone will be.
Yet another uninformed person. First, your examples are all Collector dolls marketed and produced for ADULTS. Second, most children’s Barbie dolls are either in beach attire or princess outfits and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Time for parents to stop blaming ‘outside influences’ for their children’s issues and start doing their job – be a parent!
Hey, Stepford Mom, these aren’t for kids. It bears repeating: THESE AREN’T FOR KIDS. Did you see the prices on these dolls? Your five-year-old isn’t going to be playing with these. Seriously, don’t you have something better to do? Personally I find these dolls quite tame and uninspired for the adult collector, hardly risqué.
Just another knee-jerk, won’t-somebody-think-of-the-children reactionary piece of pointless quasi-journalism. Go clean a bathroom or something.
Its a Barbie Doll. Calm Down.
Am I not calm?
The bottom line is people should write about things they know about, and this blogger clearly knows nothing about what she’s writing about. So she should educate herself before spouting off and making herself sound ignorant. But of course, if everyone did that, the Internet would be a desolate place.
Yes indeedy, the catalog you filched from your neighbor is from the Barbie Collector division of Mattel, i.e., dolls intended for *adult* collectors. Yes, some of the dolls are intended as fantasy, something your pathetic white-bread mind probably can’t understand. If you don’t like the dolls, don’t buy them. But don’t presume to make the rest of us join your bland, boring world!
She didn’t “filch” the catalogue from her neighbor — some “fine” US Mail government employee made a MISTAKE and delivered it to the wrong address. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate my mail-delivery-person, but my Post Office in general makes so many mistakes with the mail that I have to wonder WHY the USPS is constantly asking to increase the postage rates. Instead of being rewarded for poorer and poorer service, there should be some sort of reward to the consumer for having to retrieve your mail from various neighbors, at the expense of whomever at the local PO made the mistake. Your accusation that she “filched” the catalogue is a slur solely intended to besmirch the writer unfairly.
Wow! Based the 3 comments posted before mine, I have now learned to be careful not to anger ADULT Barbie collectors. Seriously, I get the point that you all are trying to make. Yes, these dolls are definitely for adults. But did you really have to be so mean in order to make your point? We really DO need to think about the images that children see. The author has raised some valid points even though her examples are ADULT Barbies, and I am sure that she sincerely did not mean to anger all of the ADULT Barbie collectors. It is not pathetic, white bread, uniformed,knee-jerk, or any of the other insults that you threw out to honestly care about the things that our children are exposed to. The world used to be a safer place for children. Now parents get called names for expecting ADULTS to be considerate and know that there are people of ALL AGES that inhabit the Earth. Sheesh, you were all kids once too and I bet that your mothers worried about what you saw and did. And if they didn’t, they should have.
Listen I can understand both sides to the story from the writer to the commentators. Both arguments have merit.
On the one hand these are collector’s edition pieces with the prices that go with that series, but there are many people who give these collector’s pieces to their daughters for Christmas. A friend of mine gave one to her daughter every year that she was not allowed to play with, but just look at and sit on the shelf.
Our society has no off button anymore and I believe no filter as well. We do need to start showing little girls that they should be valued for who they are not what they look like. Anyone with a daughter can go back to school shopping and see the effects of having no filter and needing more drama and more craziness each season to outdo the last. Can you even find a bathing suit or dress for a girl under 5 that doesn’t scream sexpot???
It scares me with what passes for fashionable clothing for little girls these days. I grew up with Madonna and if you look at the fashions she wore that people got offended over, they are nothing but prudish fashions these days. Scary huh???
I do understand the need for things in the adult realm to be a little more free and risque, but we really need to start realizing we are affecting other people and impressionable children when stuff like this comes in the mail via a doll catolog. Albeit a collector’s doll catalog but still a doll catalog. Maybe the answer is to put it in a nondiscript bag and put a warning label on it???? I do not claim to have the answers here but we as a society need to start realizing that it is not all about mememememe and maybe we should start considering our neighbors views and our communities feelings once again.
I’m sorry, but I find this laughable. You think collector Barbie catalogs should be treated like PORN?! Plain brown wrappers? Warning labels? I suppose we should all wear long skirts and bonnets too? I can’t believe with all the images of sexualized women out in the world, that a collector Barbie catalog is the target of outrage. It really is quite chuckle-worthy, or it would be if it wasn’t so pathetic. What is this, Utah?
You should take a look at the female dolls/figures that are marketed to adult MALE collectors. If you enjoy being outraged about Barbies, you’ll have a field day with those. And yes, we all know that you conservative blogger types just like to have something to be outraged about.
i can’t help but like the moulin rouge look. i would collect these dolls but those darn kids need to eat.
I completely agree. Despite the fact that these dolls may be made for “Adult Collectors” (thanks, fellow -angry- commenters) it is still inappropiate for this brand to be selling something that young girls are influenced by. And even though these dolls might be meant for an older target audience, it is a well known fact that Barbie Dolls are meant for little girls who soak up the things around them like a sponge. I think Sara is right, these are a little over the top (but with great shoes).
I agree with Sara’s blog post, and find the comments to be seriously misguided. no self-respecting adult would actually collect these dolls, and instead these are collector dolls bought by parents for their daughters — just as my parents bought me expensive dolls that were never meant to be played with, but instead to be collected and to display on an etagere. (My own collection was of dolls based on historical characters, based on my interest in medieval english history — a collection of Henry VIII’s wives — with heads still attached, I might add).
The real question is what (sort of) parent would actually buy this sort of gift (if, in fact, they are beyond most children’s allowance range, as contended by the critics)?
I will admit, however, that Barbie always does seem to have been about selling sex, in one fashion or another. I don’t ever recall having a Barbie doll as a kid, and, frankly, always found them to be an incredibly boring toy.
Excuse me??? No self-respecting adult would actually collect these dolls?? Well, you might be surprised that there are tens of thousands of self-respecting adults who do, including me. And if you think our posts are coming off as harsh, you must realize that attitudes like this are what we get every day.
So what you’re saying is that everything available in the world must be put through the filter of cushioning children from everything possibly detrimental in the world. Wake up, folks! Barbie is a mild offender in the onslaught of negative messages little girls are subject to.
And guess what? I played with Barbie as a little girl. I loved my Barbies so much that I grew up to be a collector of them. And somehow I still grew up to be a well-educated, highly successful woman with a great self-image. Imagine that!
Bottom line, it’s called parenting. If you don’t want to expose your little darlings to the horrors of Barbie, then monitor what they see and read. Just stay out of my hobby.
Translation: I can’t see any other point of view but my own, therefore all other points of view are mistaken/misguided/wrong.
News flash: Not everyone thinks like you, thankfully. There are actually people in this world who — shockingly — don’t even care about medieval English history.
And guess what? Sex sells. Don’t hate the player, hate the game. You can’t fight human nature, no matter how much religion or other rhetoric you try to throw into the conversation. If anyone thinks their little dimpled darlings aren’t having thoughts and questions about sex, they are in denial. But that has NOTHING to do with these dolls. Anyone who thinks these dolls are remotely sexy needs to get out more.
Oh…this brings back my childhood. I still have my original Barbie, Ken, Midge, Skipper and Ken’s friend! I have the original Barbie cases filled with Barbie’s clothes. My favorite was the gold and white dress and matching coat with the fake mink on the cuffs. Loved her black glittery gown and her airline outfit, too! Guess I’m going to have to open the old cases. xo, Betsy
First of all, reading this article, I must say Sara that I completely agree. Being, the mother of young children myself I see your point.
For those people out there, that choose to focus on the “fluffy” parts of this article and then manifest these details into Sara personally attacking the Barbie industry and all those who buy Barbie products… You are blatantly missing the meat of this post, the point is to inform people that the focus of any individual, should be on their character and not their bra size. Barbie, is just a valid example backing up this modern topic of debate. I too agree that children should be exposed to figures of strong independent women so that as they mature they have the ability to grow up and think for themselves. By this point one can draw the conclusion that with each generation the children will continuously focus on what is beneficial in the world and personally grow in an atmosphere of wise freedom consequently…
Don’t you think we should be focusing on the moral of this piece , rather then how you feel on the individual doll? Because, you in essence, are proving the point of the article because you are depicting a superficial image by focusing on the materialistic evidence in this piece.
Nice post, lovely dolls, I know a nice way to personalize your Barbie Dolls, give it a nice make over, I found this website https://www.ThatsMyFace.com/f/action_figure_head that can create a super-realistic doll heads of anyone from just a photo. Imagine making doll of yourself, your kids, your boss or your favorite celebrity!
Apparently they can make the heads in many scales to fit Barbie-like dolls, Tonner dolls or even smaller figurines like Polly Pocket.