Beyond Basic Barbie
Growing up as a little girl, having a Barbie and a baby doll was everything to me. The only problem, that wasn’t really acknowledged was my Barbie and baby doll didn’t look anything like me or my momma.Barbie dolls of back in the day had big boobs, long blond hair, were straight up and down from the back to the bottom. There wasn’t anything empowering or special about her.At an early age through, the use of Barbie and baby dolls, little girls were taught their main role in life and their greatest accomplishments were one in the same, to become a mother and wife. Have a ken, make babies, live in a big house and be pretty. Society’s then warped view of pretty, which was ordinary, confined to one color as the representation of beauty at its best, and one body image. Fast forward to 2019, the creators of Barbie has shocked me, by making Barbie history.
Establishing a brand of Barbie dolls that represent iconic and legendary women of color, who changed history by stepping outside of the ordinary to be extraordinary. A new collection of Barbie with features and a history that identifies and represents us as more than house keepers and baby makers. Featuring Barbie as Rosa Parks who played a significant part in the civil rights movement by refusing to give up her seat on the bus. Sally Ride, the very first female astronaut. Also including other iconic nationalities, minorities and ethnicities that represent a multi-racial generation.
Barbie is continuing to evolve and change the minds of what little girls and adults should perceive as normal and beautiful, also creating a line representing girls and women with disabilities. Barbie’s that have prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs, they created this line working with a 13 year old prosthetic limb user and author Jordan Reeves. They have changed the game in a radical way, introducing curvy dolls, with kinky hair, and a variety skin tones. As a woman and former little girl, I am thrilled to see some things in this world are socially evolving. The up and coming generation will have a completely different point of view, be inspired to love the skin they are in, embrace the uniqueness of their bodies and believe they can achieve great things beyond being pretty and perfect.
