If you asked me for a list of everything I despise about Barbie, I’d warn you to grab a cup of tea and get comfy. But it’s not, as you might imagine, the outdated insistence on everything she owns being pink or the ridiculousness of her body proportions (no one will ever be blessed enough to have that bum, those boobs and a pair of legs that long). It's not even the sheer absurdity of a body with no nipples.No, it’s the falseness of it all. Make your way to the Barbie website today and you’ll find pictures of squeaky-clean, sweet-faced young girls grinning at their all-American dolls backed up by "empowering" slogans such as #YouCanBeAnything: “an athlete”, “a pilot”, “a fairy princess” (is this realistic?) For over 50 years, she's somehow managed to sell herself on purity and aspiration at the same time as looking like a porn star while doing little more than being a clothes hanger. But a quick delve into this iconic doll’s history and you’ll see that there’s a reason for this contradiction.
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The plastic princess first came around back in the 1950s, when Ruth Handler, whose husband was the co-founder of Mattel, Barbie's manufacturer, decided that girls needed a more grown-up doll to engage with and prepare them for adulthood, having watched her daughter play with child dolls. Although Mattel, which she would later become the President of, weren’t entirely keen on the idea, she kept an eye out for inspiration. And some very adult inspiration is exactly what Handler found during a trip to Germany when she came across Bild Lilli, a fashion doll originally based on a cartoon-prostitute of the same name.Now, as much as Barbie can be accused of objectifying women and resorting to stereotypes, cartoon Lilli was something else. Created by Reinhard Beuthien and published by the Bild-Zeitung, she was a buxom blonde who realised that in order to keep life comfortable she could use her body to seduce wealthy men. In other words, she was a high-end call girl. Frequently portrayed in little more than underwear, tight dresses and heels, she was brazen, sassy and definitely not shy.
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Her 3D alter-ego, created in response to her incredible popularity, was initially targeted at adult men and sold in sex shops, bars and at tobacco stands, along with interchangeable corsets and negligees. Available in two sizes and with different colour hair options, she was, according to Jill Nagle, author of Whores and Other Feminists, referred to as "always discreet" and "the star of every bar". Such was her detachment from real, human women that she actually had stilettos for feet. Eventually as children started to play with her too, a new range of more child-friendly outfits were introduced and she moved into the mainstream. On Handler’s return to the US, it was Mattel designer Jack Ryan who was charged with making Lilli more saleable in domestic markets. But Ryan wasn’t exactly without his own murky reputation and, according to Jerry Oppenheimer, author of Toy Monster: The Big Bad World of Mattel, frequently patronised prostitutes himself. “When Jack talked about creating Barbie, it was like listening to somebody talking about a sexual episode”, recalled former friend Stephen Gnass in conversation with Oppenheimer, explaining that he was borderline obsessed with Barbie’s bust dimensions and height.
But despite his best efforts, re-designing might be a strong word for Ryan’s work considering the incredible resemblance between 3D Lilli and the first Barbie, which was - rather creepily - named after Handler’s own daughter Barbara:
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Nonetheless, Handler and Ryan's creation would go on to be one of the most successful and recognisable toys ever, with Mattel having sold over one billion of these little plastic dolls to date. After Mattel bought the copyright rights to Lilli back in 1964 and ceased production, her existence and influence on the doll so synonymous with childhood was all but swept under the carpet, with the company keen to cement the version of Barbie as a toy for little girls.
Today, Barbie's falseness has taken on a new form. In the last few years, a slew of new Barbies have been released, all designed to diversify her image in response to criticism about the fake, outdated ideal of beauty that she promotes. Now there's a short one, a curvy one, there are Barbies with different skin tones and hair colours - there's even a pregnant one, complete with detachable foetus. But the fact that it has taken so long for these to become part of Mattel's offerings only underscores their status as tick boxes aimed at saving their profits amid falling sales.
The truth is, Barbies are still reincarnations of the same old "slut" stereotypes that Lilli started life as and that Mattel sought to deny. And if you needed further proof then consider the fact that even Doctor Barbie, supposedly part of the new wave of "anything is possible" dolls, is decked out in a mini-dress, heels even Beyonce would have trouble with and a lab coat that’s cropped to show off her legs. Because, after all, what good is a female doctor without a fine pair of pins?
We used to play with her, Aqua wrote a song about her, and at one point or the other, we all thought that she embodied womanly perfection on a physical level. Yes, Barbie, in all of her iterations followed the majority of us from childhood into early adolescence. But for the last few decades, every girl's (or boy's) favourite playmate has faced a great deal of controversy. Barbie has been accused of promoting an unhealthy body image, and it's not hard to see why; what with her impossibly tiny waist, skeletal frame and stick thin legs.
However, Mattel, the company behind the popular children's toy has endeavoured to update the doll, bringing her more in line with society as it stands today. As such, Barbie has undergone quite the transformation. In her biggest update since 1959, Mattel unveiled three new body types, all of which are more representative of a healthy, everyday woman. They feature buxom busts, curvy hips, plump stomachs and in some models, even hormonal acne and stretch marks.
And now, Mattel has taken it one step further, giving Barbie her first girlfriend.
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Yes, Barbie came out this week. And about time too. Official photographs of Barbie and her new girlfriend were featured on Mattel's "Barbie Style" Instagram page, and they're both pictured sporting marriage equality and LGBTQ awareness "Love Wins" T-shirts.
The post is captioned:
"Proud to wear this “Love Wins” shirt with @songofstyle! Did you know that her exclusive t-shirts benefit different causes and non-profits? Such an inspiring initiative and fabulous few days I have spent with Aimee, she’s a doll! #barbie #barbiestyle."
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While it doesn't explicitly state that Barbie is gay, it's made pretty clear - and in any case, we're not going to challenge it.
Naturally, Twitter had quite the field day with the news, hailing it as a breakthrough moment for LGBTQ rights. One user wrote, "2017 is the year Barbie realised she's a lesbian I'm so happy for her" while another hilariously added, "Barbie has been gay... i had one ken doll and about 17 barbie dolls so the one straight couple was the minority in my dollhouse".
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But this comment has to take the cake: "barbie is gay, her skin is glowing, just got her hair done, got a cute emo gf who wears chokers. literally living her BEST life."
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The move to make Barbie more LGBTQ friendly is certainly in line with Mattel's new mission statement. Speaking about the doll's recent cosmetic changes, senior vice-president and Barbie's global general manager, Evelyn Mazzocco asserted:
"We are excited to literally be changing the face of the brand – these new dolls represent a line that is more reflective of the world girls see around them – the variety in body type, skin tones and style allows girls to find a doll that speaks to them. We believe we have a responsibility to girls and parents to reflect a broader view of beauty."
And good on them too. I look forward to seeing a new generation of young women, who, unlike us, have benefitted from having more diverse depictions of sexuality and what it means to be a "woman" from a young age.
With the new Barbie Movie proving to be a blockbusting global success story, both critically and commercially, it's pretty safe to say that the Mattel doll's popularity has never been higher.
So we would also assume that children across the world are also looking to celebrate their birthdays with Barbie themed parties.
Let's just hope they don't end up being adult-themed parties like the one TikTok user @joolia_go0lia had to endure when she was five.
Sharing the story with her 18,500 followers, Julia explained how her parents hired what they believed to be a children's entertainer for her fifth birthday party, only to discover they had made a terrible, terrible mistake.
In the video, Julia, who is dressed in pink and en route to the movies to watch Barbie, says, "I had a Barbie themed birthday party when I was five and my mom said that she hired someone from the phone book, because I'm 700-years-old and back then you were just like 'I'll look in the phone book for entertainers'.
"And there was one for Barbie, and that was the theme. Perfect. The woman shows up and she is a stripper. And love her, she played along, she did not take off her clothes, I followed her around thrilled that Barbie came to my birthday party and all of the parents there had a really good laugh."
Of course, this being social media, some users on TikTok were skeptical of the validity of the story, with Julia further commenting, "I'm still waiting for proof from my mom. She swears this happened, she's gonna look through pictures today but I will show you the receipts."
The original video was posted on July 25 and then three days later, on July 28, Julia provided an ending to the story, posting a follow up video.
"We do have an ending to the stripper Barbie situation," Julia reveals at the beginning of the video, before the video displays messages shared with her mom.
However, the messages do not provide the ending anyone was hoping for, with Julia's mom revealing that a lot of her photos were destroyed when the basement of her house flooded.
"This is not the ending that any of us wanted," Julia continues, "so stripper Barbie if you are out there just reach out and let us know you exist and how you're doing and just know that you made this Barbie loving girl's heart so happy that day."
Julia has yet to post a follow up video with any further information on stripper Barbie, so the mystery remains as to her whereabouts or whether she is still in the stripping/children's birthday party game. Perhaps she went down the more wholesome route and started performing at children's parties (fully clothed, obviously) full time?
With the new wave of popularity for the Mattel doll, stripper Barbie (must just stress this is not her official name) could stand to make an absolute fortune, whether she went down the family or the adult route with her career.
Featured Image Credit: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency/Getty
An influencer has taken down an Instagram troll after they wrongly slammed her figure.
Australian model and bikini designer Karina had the perfect response for the hater, who called her "obese" and "repulsive".
Karina - who goes by @karinaairby on the platform - often posts body positivity messages on her account, encouraging her followers to love themselves regardless of their shape and size.
But despite her message of love and acceptance, Karina is still the victim of online trolls.
On Sunday, the 29-year-old received such a cruel comment that she decided enough was enough and took to Instagram to shame her critic, who called her "repulsive", "obese", and "disgusting".
She started with a joke about the troll's username, writing: "Firstly, how dare you bring The Office into this."
The influencer then launched into a much-needed lecture.
"Clearly you’ve had one too many [encounters] with blow up dolls and watched a little too much pretty porn and it’s warped perception. So today I’m going to publicly attempt to educate you on the female body" she continued, adding: "Buckle up buttercup. You’re in for a rude shock!"
Referring to her own stunning figure, Karina wrote: "This is not repulsive and very far from obese. Yeah I may have cellulite, eczema and some meat on my bones. But I’m a young healthy female that you could be so lucky to have a chance with."
She then presented the troll with some hardnosed stats.
"99.9% of women don’t look like a Barbie doll. 99.9% of women have cellulite, lumps, dumps, scars, stretch marks, muscle and skin. 99.9% of women would never date you because of your repulsive outlook on what a female should look like," Karina wrote.
She concluded the caption by hitting out at companies for promoting unrealistic beauty standards.
"Perhaps if more people [were] being themselves online and companies shared and marketed different body types you’d be better educated by now," the caption reads.
Karina's post has already racked up over 30,000 likes, with many people applauding her in the comments section.
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"Hate that they're shaming The Office using that name while making such hideous comments. You keep being you girl and THANK YOU for defending all of us," one fan wrote. "Yes baby girl, I couldn’t of said it better," added another. A third simply commented: "PREACHHH" - and we couldn't agree more.
Disney has been criticized by social media users after depicting one of its animated female characters with an "unrealistic" body type.
Per the Daily Mail, the issue was first raised on social media when a Twitter user with the handle '@Glitch_Plantbro' (whose account on the social network has apparently since been suspended) posted a screenshot of an animated woman from the 2016 short film Inner Workings.
Take a look at the trailer for the short in the video below:
According to The Mail, the short tells the story of an office worker named Paul who wishes to romantically pursue a woman named Kate. However, Kate's character design gives her a tiny waist, long, skinny neck, and prominent, oversized buttocks.
'Glitch_Plantbro' appeared to espouse the belief that Kate's dimensions promoted an unrealistic female body type, after they uploaded a screenshot of her to Twitter, accompanied by the caption: "'In no world did [Disney] need to do this."
Credit: Twitter
A number of other Twitter users appeared to agree with this sentiment. For instance, one person replied:
"I know it's just a cartoon but for the love of god... they need to put some belly on that girl.
"[It] makes me sad thinking kids out here thinking that's how their body should look... It's naturally impossible to have a booty like that with no belly at all!!! [sic]"
Credit: Twitter
Meanwhile, another Twitter user wrote: "And funny how Disney back the days were making realistic proportions of princesses and princes - no big eyes, no extreme waist, everything was so much nicer when looking normal.
"Funny how they make big eyes now for kids to 'understand emotions' like what kind of bs is that? [sic]"
"What's with the smashed body proportions it looks wrong and strange purpose for comedy reasons it's not funny I'm sorry but this is just lazy character development. [sic]"
However, other social media users have defended the character's appearance, and claim that critics are overreacting - especially considering that most other characters in the short have the same exaggerated physique commonly associated with a caricature.
Whatever your take on Kate's design, it's clear that Disney is paying extra attention to social issues these days, and are even more cautious than ever about the possibility of bad PR.
However, Chuck Williams, a former Walt Disney sculptor, has taken the "internet troll" concept as inspiration. We're all familiar with Troll Dolls, a hallmark of childhood for every 80's kid and 90's kid. Well, Chuck used his sculpting skills to create a naked Donald Trump Troll Doll that is hilarious - and anatomically correct.
The doll sports Trump's radioactive, pumpkin-orange skin, as well as his swoopy, haystack-yellow hair. The facial expression bears his trademark petulant pout, as if he just walked into the same elevator as Hillary Clinton. One of his tiny hands clutches a cell phone, ready for another productive morning of delusional rage-tweeting. During a GOP presidential debate in 2016, Trump famously bragged about the size of his junk, claiming he "guarantees he has no problem." The Troll Trump appears to have a bit of a problem in that area. But hey, Michaelangelo's David wasn't exactly well-endowed either, so he's in good company.
Chuck launched a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund mass production of the Donald Trump Troll Doll. Within a week, he already surpassed his target of $38,000, raising an incredible $438,737 to bring the project to life. The project had 9,417 backers, although it is unclear how many of them are Russian bots.
Whether you're a Trump supporter or a Trump critic, everyone's getting a kick out of the doll. "This figure is near and dear to me," writes Chuck on the campaign description. " And thankfully it seems to have brought a smile to all sides of the political spectrum. The response has taken me a little by surprise!! I am very grateful to have made so many people happy with this sculpture."
In the update section, Chuck says the dolls are currently shipping. So if you'd like to purchase one, just visit Chuck's website to place an order. The figure costs $25, stands 4.75" tall, and the cell phone is removable. Obviously, since the doll is naked, it is meant for mature audiences only and is not safe for work. Perhaps in the future Chuck will create accessories, like a business suit, a red Make America Great Again baseball cap, a golf cart, a McDonald's meal, a wall, a swamp, a prison cell. The possibilities are endless.
Everyone hates internet trolls, but everyone loves Troll Dolls. The president's unique physical features translate pretty well to a cartoonish toy. All the Donald Trump Troll Doll needs is a friend. Maybe next he'll create Validmir Putin, and offer both dolls in a special "Colludin' BFF's" Box Set.
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