BLOGGING THE VIEW: Welcome to a new Barbie World!

For many young girls, the Barbie doll was a significant part of childhood.

They were dressed, their hair was cut, and they were taken on every adventure.

But as iconic as Barbie was, she never truly reflected the image of real-world adults; something that a young woman could aspire to be.

With her white skin, blonde hair, and impossible hourglass figure, she would go on to create a divide between what was attainable in terms of body image, and what she actually represented.

This week marked a moment of progress for the iconic Barbie, as the range released the first Barbie Doll with Down Syndrome, in association with America’s National Down Syndrome Society.

This forms part of the much more diverse and inclusive Barbie doll that, by design or choice, was forced to evolve to meet the more realistic demands of young women everywhere.

The Evolution of Barbie

In 1959, Barbie was first showcased to the world at the American Toy Fair in New York City.

This now world-famous doll was created by Ruth Handler, who co-founded the toy manufacturing company Mattel with her husband in 1945.

It was in the 1960s that the first black ‘Barbie’ was created, however, ‘Christie’ was one of the friends of Barbie rather than being the main character in Barbie’s world.

It was in the 1980s that Mattel released the official Black Barbie and Hispanic Barbie, followed by the first ‘East Asian Barbie’.

While the company continued to attempt inclusivity in its line, to a minor degree, stereotypical representations of Mexicans, Native Americans, and more actually took these attempts backwards rather than forward.

But the biggest concern surrounding the traditional Barbie was her body. With eating disorders rife among young girls, very little appeared to have been done to represent more realistic body sizes.

Although Barbie’s shift was quite slow in coming, the 2010s saw a radical revolution, with the second half of the decade welcoming a radical overhaul of the brand.

Mattel began releasing dolls with various body sizes, skin tones, hair textures, and abilities.

Avoiding mistakes of previous designs, where consultations with real-world representations were overlooked, Mattel has been releasing new dolls in consultation with activists and influential individuals from representative groups.

For Barbie with a prosthetic leg, they consulted with a young activist with a prosthesis to ensure accuracy.

Barbie has also evolved from being the fun-loving girl dressed in ballgowns or the beach, to something aspirational for young women.

Pilots, doctors, astronauts, judges … positions traditionally dominated by men are now within closer reach, simply because girls can see themselves reflected in their favourite toy.

Representation matters, and having started as a skinny, busty, young, white woman, Barbie is now available in 35 skin tones with 97 hairstyles, 9 body types, and counting…

Sources:
https://mashable.com/feature/barbie-diverse-inclusive
https://shop.mattel.com/pages/barbie-diversity

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