Are You A Barbie Girl?

Tanya Gill: 00:00:01

hi friends welcome to the trifecta of joy. I am so glad you are here. Today I want to talk about something a little bit relevant and a hot topic right now and that hot topic is Barbie. Yes the craze is here Barbie is back although really has she gone anywhere? You know Barbie is hot new return may have brought a shortage of pink paint and a real resurgence of all things Barbie all you have to do is hit the mall turn on a radio, watch TV. Social media is all over Barbie right now as Barbie, the movie is getting ready to come out. And you know, I have to say that one of the things that I've been thinking about so much is the nostalgia and recognition of how she has evolved over the years. And you know, here's the interesting piece for me. We were on a family vacation last week and my bonus daughter bought two Barbie T shirts. And they're cute. They're fun, they're colorful, and of course they scream all things Barbie. And I know that Barbie is all the rage right now. But I also noticed how easily she just purchased these shirts because well quite frankly, they were cute. Okay, they were just super, super cute. But, you know, I have to ask myself and maybe you are wondering too, why is Barbie the movie and all things Barbie making such a powerful comeback. And I think that it's nostalgia. You know, when I was a girl, I draped towels over dining room chairs to create rooms to my Barbies mansion, which was actually just the dining room table. And I spent hours building Lego furniture for her and creating stories about how she was going to the library or going for for coffee with friends or going shopping, of course to buy new clothes. And you know, it was one of those things where my Barbie and I spent so much time together, I would get her ready for dates with Kin, which by the way is a doll I never had and and my Barbie had pet goats. So you know what like, We The sky was the limit when it came to Barbie. She planned dinner parties with friends and I consistently helped her redecorate her home. Because like you know how it goes right? Like you always gotta be changing things up. And I was one of those kids who didn't have a lot of Barbie furniture. So I would craft them from boxes, Kleenex boxes, I made a hot tub out of a Kleenex box for her. And I would use ribbons to make curtains and anything I found around the house I could craft into something for my Barbie. And it was really a powerful play time for me. Barbie was my friend. And you know, like for hours and hours, I would struggle to change her perfect body with those stiff arms and stiff legs into the awkwardly sewn clothes that my mom made. Because storebought clothes were just too costly. I also would roll up little tiny balls of tape and stick them in her shoes so that she could keep her shoes on while she walked across her mansion from her couch to the Lego desk that I had built to the bathroom that I built out of. Again, there was Lego and there was a Tupperware container and all of those fun things because you know it was an opportunity to get creative with Barbie. And you know, I have to say, Oh Barbie Barbie Barbie, we were great friends. I wonder how many times I'm going to save Barbie in this podcast. Actually, as I think about it, I know it's going to be a lot. But I really wanted to talk about Barbie because I think she's been a part of many of our lives. hours of my life were spent with Barbie, and we had playdates with other Barbies, where I personally would and or at my friend's Barbie apartment and camper van or jeep all of the things that Barbie had and that my friends had. And you know, for me a highlight one of the greatest highlights of my life and you probably can relate possibly to this was one year Santa brought me a camper van for my Barbie. And actually it wasn't the camper van. It was the motorhome it was the motorhome the big long yellow motorhome and it was such a symbol of freedom. Like I was like Barbie is going on a trip she's hitting the road. And I have to admit that having a Barbie motorhome even though I was only four still gave me status among my friends. Isn't that interesting? So I wonder like, as I talk about Barbie, are you revisiting some of your Barbie experiences because if you had a Barbie, you probably recognize that your experience with her was yours and yours alone. And really, Barbie brings back memories and nostalgia is that Barbie brings back memories of a simpler time for many of us hours of playing pretend. And the difference between Barbie and other dolls was that those other dolls were baby dolls where we mothered them. And Barbie was a woman. So we actually got to take our imagination and pretend to be an adult doing adult things. Right? We were doing adult things with Barbie. She had dates. And she had she had shopping to do and she was an adventurer, and she was independent. Ken was her platonic boyfriend, not her husband, she was doing all of it herself. And I have to tell you, when I started thinking about Barbie, I fell down a little bit of a rabbit hole. Because I think that Barbies, pretty controversial. And I know for me over the years, I've had many different kinds of relationships with the concept of Barbie. And so I felt fell down a rabbit hole, quite frankly, of research, because I wanted to know a little bit more about Barbie and how she came to be. And also talk about what she's meant for so many of us through the years. So she debuted in March of 1959. And since then she's brought let's be real, she's brought both positive and negative reactions through the years. She's been a hot topic between mothers within the feminist movement and in childcare settings, people I remember a time when people were saying Barbie didn't belong in a daycare because of her body. And so it but baby dolls did so isn't that interesting? So, you know, I just thought let's talk about Barbie because Barbie the movies coming out and I wonder if you're gonna see it. I know that I will see it. I've watched the trailer and the trailer, quite frankly made me laugh. They said if you hate Barbie, this movie is for you. If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. And quite frankly, when I watched the trailer, I laughed and I thought, yep, it's going to be kitschy. But you know what, there's the nostalgia piece to it. And it's a lot of pink. Pink's my favorite color. But I know it's a lot of pink. And I'm not one who would, for example, Puke pink throughout my house. But Barbie is back. Barbie, the movie is coming out and about some of the controversy around her because there's been a bit so the most significant controversy has always been around Barbies appearance, she has a tiny waist enormous breasts, and it is estimated that if she were a real woman, her measurements would be 3618 38. And her human shoe size would be are you ready for this three? Now, think about those Barbie feet, she would have to walk on her tippy toes always. So lots of people claimed that Barbie provided girls with unrealistic and harmful examples that fostered negative body image. Is there a human being on this planet without a ton of plastic surgery that has the measurements of 3618 38? Like realistically that is not a real body? So there was and I

Tanya Gill: 00:09:25

think still is a lot of questions around the potential harm that could come from the cell messaging that Barbie brings to impressionable young minds. I went on the barbie website. And when I went on the barbie website, I realized that Barbie is a lot more than she used to be. But I went back into thinking about her release in the 50s. So when she was released in the 50s there were critics who also believed that she was way too liberal. She was a single teenaged fashion Model, she had various jobs lived independently, and had a never ending supply of designer outfits, cars. And of course dream houses. My cousin. Oh my goodness, my cousin had the Barbie apartment with the elevator where you pulled the strings and she went up and down from Florida floor. I don't know how many times Barbie rode the elevator from one floor to the next because quite frankly, it was an apartment and it was an elevator. It was amazing to me. So Barbie has been around for so long. And yet, people have had many different ideas about her some thought that she was encouraging materialism and consumerism. Others were really uncomfortable in the 50s and 60s, about how she challenged traditional gender roles. She never married Kim. He was her platonic boyfriend. She was an independent woman. And as a parent of boys, I personally was so relieved that I didn't have to deal with Barbie things. However, I also realized that had they wanted dolls, I may be having an entirely different conversation. And for a time, I can honestly say I was disgusted by Barbie, I felt that she really did stand for objectification of women and and did present unrealistic body image ideas. And quite honestly, when my kids were invited to birthday parties, I ensured that the gifts were exploratory and invited creativity. And my intention was always that I would not contribute to that subtle body image messaging, and rather encouraged their minds to grow. And so, you know, like, Yep, I mean, I'm a feminist. I'll say it and I was like, there is no way that I am going to feed that message to children. Of course, if you've been following the podcast, you know that my mission was perfectly imperfect is to help others see the light within themselves. And as part of self love summer. This means embracing body positivity and supporting women to love the light within themselves over the desire to get lighter, to meet some kind of societal standard. And Barbie has changed so much since her introduction, but we also have to recognize that she still has a long standing influence. And that's kind of fascinating. So I have to ask you, do you remember the song Barbie Girl by the Danish band Aqua? So we rewind all the way back to 1997 Aqua released Barbie Girl and the lyrics include I'm a Barbie Girl in the Barbie world. Life is plastic. It's fantastic. You can brush my hair and dress me everywhere. Imagination. Life is your creation. Okay, I'm gonna stop singing. But I really want you to know this. If you listen to those lyrics, my friend She's also described as a bimbo. The lyrics are I'm a blonde bimbo girl in a fantasy world. And I gotta tell you, when I started digging, are you ready for this Barbie started as just that a bimbo? I don't personally like the word bimbo. But at Barbie, whose full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts was introduced to the world in 1959 by Ruth Handler, who is one of the cofounders of Mattel. And Barbies physical appearance was actually modeled after a German gag doll for men called built Lily, and build Lily with a risky gift for men based upon a German newspaper cartoon character, she was actually built to have that bimbo body. And, you know, I have to say that when I found that out, I was pretty shocked that her body was modeled after a gag gift. And then it started to wonder, was Ruth ahead of her time because at that time, there were icons like Marilyn Monroe and Audrey pepper that were really iconic and people thought were just so beautiful because quite frankly, I think they were so is it possible Is it possible that Ruth Handler realized that the world would embrace the image of Barbie, because she kind of aligned with those icons, and yet decided to give a slightly different message that a woman could have it all on her own without a man to provide her with a home possessions or influence her career options? Maybe just maybe Ruth was a crusader for change in a less overt way. Interesting. So the question becomes, how is it that 64 years later, Barbie remains an icon? Well, it comes down to this, she evolved. Barbie now represents 35 skin tones 97 hairstyles and nine body types. She's had over 200 jobs. And as I was doing some research, I found some less common jobs that she's had including chicken farmer, dentist, UNICEF, Ambassador, Air Force pilot, Xu ologists, a Olympic athlete and renewable energy engineer. She is a girl who has done a lot and of course, always looked fabulous doing it. She's also involved to represent differently abled people to there's a Barbie in a wheelchair. There's a Barbie with a prosthetic leg. And one of my favorites that I've seen is Barbie with Down syndrome. So she really has come a long way. And as I was thinking about all of this, and deciding whether or not to turn this into a podcast, I was like, You know what, I think that a lot of us still think about Barbie as that Caucasian 11 inch doll with long flowing blonde locks. And that, let's face it, unrealistic body, blue eyes, pink smile and makeup. And when I reflect on Barbie, that's the one I think of. And usually she's naked when I think of her and getting ready to get dressed for the gazillion time. Because that's what Barbie and I did. We had to get dressed for all of our outings. Barbie really has done a lot to reinforce nostalgia. And this movie I think is going to be a huge hit because it does reinforce the nostalgia for so many of us. You know, I'm I would I wonder what percentage of women right now had a Barbie as a girl. And if they feel if you if you feel like Barbie had a positive or negative influence on you in any way. The Barbie movie trailer, you got you you got to watch the Barbie movie trailer, the Barbie movie trailer. It appears to kind of poke fun at that plastic world. And there's one part where it says this is the best day ever. And so was yesterday and so is tomorrow and every day from now until for ever. And I laughed so hard because wouldn't it be amazing if every day was the best day ever and nothing ever seemed to go to shit. But reality is is that things do go to shit. And from the trailer from what I can tell. Barbie gets this opportunity, if you will, to go to the real world, leaving behind her pumps and exchanging them for some Birkenstocks where life is no longer fantastic and plastic. And it looks like she has some adventures and lessons that she learns along the way. And I'm actually kind of interested to find out what she encounters in the real world that's so different from that plastic world. Anyway, you look at it my friend Barbie is a powerhouse. She really is. Yes, absolutely. Mattel,