Barbie raises unrealistic expectations for children

By Dinema mate

I have a problem with Barbie.  Tall, long legged, slim waisted, big breasted, blue eyed, blonde Barbie.

Barbie and I’s strained relationship dates back to many summers ago, in a kingdom far, far away in Africa, or Wakanda, or whatever you call it these days. 

When my very young self looked at her for the first time. After outgrowing the phase where I nibbled her toes and dismembered her. I fell deep in love with those baby blue eyes, blonde hair, Slavic cheekbones and milky skin. 

No one explained to a 4-year-old Dinema that Barbie did not look anything like me. No one explained that I would never look like her regardless of the promises from skin lightening creams, painful hair straightening treatments or expensive weaves. 

Barbie has sent many women down a perilous, painful path of self-hatred, insecurity and most times poverty.

 If I said that I have a very complicated relationship with Barbie, it would be an understatement. Barbie and Cinderella are at the top of my “What not to expose female children to” list.  

I can  the self-righteous echo, what about black Barbie? Black Barbie has a straight nose, straight hair that is actually glossy.  I mean have you seen our hair? On a good day, you can’t mess with it, you need to treat it with respect.  It is difficult, expensive to maintain, needs lots of TLC and time to make it glorious. 

Our hair defies gravity and grows vertically. It has taken a while for black women to take pride in their curves and their hair, to embrace their reality.

Through Barbie, the characteristics that established the standard for beauty are Aryan, blonde, big breasted and blue eyed in the minds of young children. They defined the standard of beauty for an entire gender based on one sample. Barbie paved the way for Cosmopolitan and the beauty industry, who brainwash women of every color with the following message: you are not good enough unless you conform to this standard. 

After many years of torture, the creator of Barbie finally came up with a doll that actually represents us sisters and came up with a “Career doll”. This doll actually carries a resemblance to the reality of all women. 

The black doll  is curvy, does not have a straight nose, sports a funky ‘fro and even has a round face. 

The career dolls showcase women of different colors in different careers, finally passing on the message to little girls that they can be anything they want to be, that beauty is beyond skin color and physical attributes. 

Finally, they are saying that beauty comes with brains. But it came after almost 50 years of misrepresentation.  One doll after half a century, almost seems like treating cancer with a Band-Aid.  

How many black women have issues with their skin tone? Or their bodies and hair?  

How many women, regardless of race, have gone through ‘corrective’ surgery, like breast implants, face tightening, cheekbone implants, dyed their hair blonde, all to get doll like features? 

The irony of all this is that Barbie, with all her perfections, has a Ken for a boyfriend. Now that is karma. 

Earring Magic Ken finally put all our fears to rest and got Ken out of the closet. Which by the way, was the highest selling Ken doll of all time (compliments of the LGBTQ community). 

In their quest for perfection, they tried to create a handsome, cool, fashion savvy boyfriend, with perfect skin and hair. And guess what? Karma stepped in, and surprising to them they created the first LGBTQ mascot. 

The creators tried to deny it, but what they tried to do to women with Barbie backfired with Ken. Thus, an LGBTQ icon made it into the shelves of Toys R US.