Barbie for President?

August 29, 2008

barbie-inside.jpgI found this link to an article about Mattel’s “Barbie for President” doll because someone posted it, as an insult, in a comment on a HuffPo article about Sarah Palin.

According to the article, “Barbie’s campaign shows girls that they can aspire to the highest levels of leadership, including the presidency.”

Right. I think one big problem with the devolution of much of feminism into “girl power” rhetoric (and the idea that “anything women do is awesome”) is that women rarely get told they have to make tough choices, or pick one thing and stick with it exclusively in order to compete, or carefully manage their careers and reputations because the opinions of other people totally do matter.

Barbie has been a veterinarian, cowgirl, Olympic gymnast, McDonald’s employee, astronaut, babysitter, fashion model, firefighter, dentist, aerobics instructor, and more. While her former fast food work might endear her to the Barbara Ehrenreich set, and her Olympic run would endear her to some patriotic voters, most voters would not accept a former aerobics instructor/cowgirl/ballerina as a serious candidate.

Maybe Barbie should make it clear to young girls that you can do anything you want, but not everything you want. Some choices necessarily preclude others (and that’s not even getting into how much education it takes to be a dentist when what you really want is to be the frontwoman of Barbie and the Rockers).

Shouldn’t Barbie for President also be a little older? Why not teach girls that it’s cool to look up to a future self you might have when you’re 55? Or does life end when your boobs are no longer nippleless hard, perky mounds?

Posted by jen | Filed Under Jen says, feminism 

Comments

2 Responses to “Barbie for President?”

  1. Vicki (Jen's Mom) on August 29th, 2008 6:09 pm

    You made a number of good points here. I especially like the part about, being able to do anything you want, but not everything you want.

    By the way, most girls think Barbie is old. Next March she will be 50!

  2. hoverFrog on September 1st, 2008 9:52 am

    What about Barbie’s military record? You want a Commander in Chief who know the difference between a lip balm and napalm.

    What about Barbie’s foreign policy? Barbie may has been all over the world but has she mixed with the leadership of foreign powers as well as the citizens?

    Most important for an American audience, what religion is Barbie? Seriously, does she support the introduction of creationist “science” into the school curriculum? What does “separation of Church and State” mean to Barbie, if anything? Where does she stand on same sex marriage or stem cell research?

    I just don’t see her having an opinion on these issues but, and I’m going out on a limb here, perhaps she isn’t supposed to appeal to my demographic.

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