Barbie dolls are making headlines again for being trying to be paragons of strong, independent female role models - and then failing miserably.
The latest misstep involves a series of Barbie "I Can be" books published by Random House. In the book "Barbie: I Can Be a Computer Engineer," which is written by Susan Marenco and accompanies the Computer Engineer Barbie Doll (sold separately, of course), Barbie isn't actually a computer engineer at all.
Here's a passage from the book:
At breakfast one morning, Barbie is already hard at work on her laptop.
“What are you doing, Barbie?” asks Skipper.
“I’m designing a game that shows kids how computers work,” explains Barbie. “You
can make a robot puppy do cute tricks by matching up colored blocks!”
“Your robot puppy is so sweet,” says Skipper. “Can I play your game?”
“I’m only creating the design ideas,” Barbie says, laughing. “I’ll need Steven and Brian’s help to turn it into a real game!”
Giggle, giggle! Of course Barbie can't actually program the video game. She'll need some men to do that for her.
The quality of the story and the message is not lost on Amazon reviewers either who say things like, "I found the sexist drivel that this book portrays to be especially inflammatory," "It's incomprehensible how misogynistic it is," and "My only recommendation for this book would be to set it on fire."
This epic lapse in good judgement is getting lots of press as the story has been picked up by The Daily Dot, Business Insider, The Guardian and more.
But this could be good timing for the release of a new Lammily doll, billed as "Normal Barbie" in a Huffington Post article. The Huffington Post reports that the doll is designed to have the proportions of an average 19-year-old girl, is less made up and comes with a casual wardrobe.
Meet Lammily: A Solution to the Barbie "Problem"
You'll also be able to buy removable, peel on marks for your Lammily doll like acne scars, stretch marks and tattoos. Too far? Possibly.
But isn't it refreshing for a doll to err on the side of being healthy and normal rather than ditzy and idealized for once?
Image Source: Random House
MummyBuzz is being written by Rebecca Cuneo Keenan this week. Rebecca is a Toronto-based writer, blogger, and #YMCCommunity member. She blogs at Playground Confidential where you can read in order to feel better about your own life. Or just follow her on Facebook or Twitter. It's shorter.
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