| Photo Source: LA Times |
Recently a grass roots action to get Mattel to make a Bald Barbie has hit the national news. The idea is to remove the stigma of baldness, to try to build the perception that a person, particularly a woman person, can be beautiful without hair.
I was a Barbie junkie as a kid. I had as many Barbies and Barbie accouterments as my 1970s working class parents could afford. As I grew up, I started to understand the downside of Barbie, the unrealistic view of womanhood we hand to our daughters. In fact, someone calculated that Barbie in real life would be 6 feet tall, weigh about a 100 pounds and have a 39" chest and an 18" waist.
What effect did my Barbie childhood have on my perception of beauty? There's really no way to answer that question. My 5'8" brown-haired, brown-eyed, Irish pale, non-Barbie-proportioned self grew up believing that I existed outside the traditional definition of beautiful. Whether that means I compared myself to Barbie, watched others compare me to Barbie, or whether Barbie is just one symptom of a larger problem, I can't really say.
I do remember getting a little older and chopping Barbie's hair off. And drawing on her face. (Perhaps a grown up should have intervened then.)
With a great degree of certainty I can say that having a bald Barbie would not have made me want to be bald. I'm positive that these dolls would be marketed for girls with cancer and other diseases that leads to baldness. Moms wouldn't be waiting in lines or fighting in parking lots at Wal Mart to buy their unaffected daughters Bald Barbie for Christmas.
There are dolls for kids with cancers that have ports and PICC lines so doctors and nurses can explain treatments to kids. I think that's great, and that Bald Barbie has nothing to do with those dolls.
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| Photo Source: MTV |
I assume this Barbie has her legs still permanently molded for high heels. Peripheral neuropathy be damned!!
Am I willing to go to war with Mattel over this? Nope. I suspect this will not be a successful business model.
Do I want anyone, anywhere to think they are supporting me or breast cancer by buying Bald Barbie? Hellz no.
My deepest fear is that this is another layer of the same problem. We offer lip-service to the idea of helping people with cancer. See? BARBIE is bald! And since Barbie is fabulous, cancer is fabulous. Of course, none of this does anything to address the actual disease itself.
And geez, does this mean women will be expected to look like Barbie even when they're barfing from chemo?
11 comments:
Interesting idea. On the surface it seems like quite a progressive move since 'barbie-style' hair is still so coveted by so many women (regardless of race or creed) around the world. Baldness in women is still seen as a taboo subject and young women who choose to be bald are either seen as mad (britney) or mavericks (sinead) so for Mattel to market a bald barbie is definitely a step in the right direction. But it is a very sanitised looking doll (in the same way that black barbies often look just like white barbies with a suntan !) If it helps young girls to come to terms with their chemo-induced baldness then it's a great idea, but maybe they need a follow-up doll that has no eyebrows or eyelashes next to really get the message across !! good post x
Katie, you hit the nail right on the bald head.
This bald Barbie is still glam, and the undertone is that it's sexy to have cancer. Maybe a Barbie that barfs would still be perceived as sexy. Who knows?
Great posting.
Great post. I was wondering how you felt and now I know! As you know, I posted on this topic myself the other day and have been a bit surprised by some comments. I think the idea of a bald Barbie is an example of good intentions gone astray.
Katie,
This is really funny. Neuropathic, barfing Barbie...yes, she IS too good to be true.
And I must confess that my friends, sister and I performed brain surgery on Barbie, Skipper and Midge. Ken did not have real hair or he would have been operated on as well. But none of these dolls had cancer. Nor did we know of ANY child with cancer then. The only child we knew with any kind of illness or disability was Tommy Krigbaum, who had congential hydrocephalus (unfortunately called 'water on the brain'. No one came up with the grand idea of having a doll with a GREAT BIG HEAD to raise awareness for hyrocephalus, congential or otherwise.
There lies the idiocy of this entire episode -- either boycotting or urging Mattel to make a childhood cancer awareness doll
to encourage understanding and empathy in other children. Children don't learn that kind of sensitivity and empathy from dolls. They learn it by watching adults. The learn it by watching how adults handle another child who bullies or in any way bashes another.
And I'm glad to tell you that by watching adults, we treated Tommy Krigbaum like the sweet prince he was. And I doubt he made it past junior high.
Thanks for this post - and helping us all think this through.
hugs,
jms
Right on, Katie. Another incisive post that cuts to the chase. Whole thing seems like a dopey idea to me.
I hear you, Katie. It suggests that, "since Barbie is fabulous, cancer is fabulous. Of course, none of this does anything to address the actual disease itself." Exactly. Cancer is its own product line.
I too feel the same way. i had/have 213 barbies and never in my little dream girl world di i for one time think she would look great bald. Even now as i have cancer would I want my daughter to believe that (this is the norm) it reverts reality back to believeing ....all is well and all is not well. I see the holistic measure behind the theme,wanted little girls to fell as if they are normal but I do not want my child as they progress to have a daily reminder of the toll it takes.
So I have been thinking of this...I knew there would be a "blow up" on blogs. I wanted a post from someone who had barbies as a child; just like I did.
What I would like is it to come in a Gold box, since it is for CHILDREN, this is not about breast cancer. This is about children.
I didn't even want to get in the middle of this topic, but it's hard when you see so many posts from so many different angles.
This is my opinion, and think it is funny you mention Sinead O' Connor.
I loved Sinead O' Connor; I had sooo many Barbies. Usually if you like Barbie, you don't just have one!
First of all, if your child is diagnosed with cancer, loves her Barbies, and having a hard time coping with the hair loss,then they should cut & shave the barbie's hair. That is what I did when I was kid for fun, again like you, I cut all the hair off. I called them "sineados"!! So when I finally gave my Barbies to my neighbor half were sineados, and the other had their hair.
Another thing, I think there SHOULD be a bald Barbie, not one with bandages or such. One that is bald & tough! Women shave their heads when they don't have cancer. Sinead O' Connor is an example of that. I don't even know if I would have cut off all their hair if it wasn't for her.
Barbie never gave me a complex about body image, I also loved legos, my electronic car track w/dump trucks, and stuffed animals were my 'friends'.
Bald Barbie should have been made years ago if you think about it....
Final thought...what about those AmericanGirl dolls that have all types of disabilities...Why is Barbie getting trampled? Because she comes in a pink box? I don't have children, but I would let them play with Barbie---I have more issues w/ other dolls--Brat, for instance. For the record, If I had a dtr, she could play GI Joe; and if I had a son, he could play with any Barbie he wanted...if that was his choice <3
~Laura
Good Job... as usual.
Class Dismissed!
xo Dorry
All good points but I keep wondering what if Bald Barbie brought comfort to a little girl? Isn't that worth it? Should we be asking them what they think? The biggest problem I have with this from the philosophical standpoint is what it says about our acceptance of cancer as a given. Bald Barbie could be seen as acquiescence.
I also used to be crazy about Barbies. I was born the same year she was. And while there were no bald Barbies then, one of mine came close. She had a molded plastic do-rag on her head & 3 wigs: blond, brunette & redhead in Mad-Men era 'dos.
Katie, I had those same beauty issues growing up. As a result, I dove deeply into academic pursuits to raise my self-esteem. My childhood Barbie ended up in the trash, I'm sure, after I left for college. Good riddance. Maybe she is bald now that she has been sitting in a landfill for many decades. Great post!
XOXO,
Jan
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