Forever Barbie

I am reading Forever Barbie: the unahthorized biography of a real doll by M.G. Lord. It's about the history of Barbie, who's behind the doll and is it the reason women dying on diet, etc. I dislike dolls personally, it's too girlie. (For the same reason I don't like yoga until I learned that a butch friend is doing yoga and it does her good.) But it's fun to read M.G. Lord, as a Barbie's fan who owns the very original no.1 doll, to analyze the business.

I'm not sure if Lord thinks herself a feminist, be it yes or no, we all are familiar with the feminist critique of Barbie-- it's part of the propaganda for being slim. But what concerns me more is why women collaborate with the (harmful) idea? It will not change a thing if we put the blame on dolls, it's too easy. Men are ridiculed about their bodies too and they manage to survive it, transcend it and laugh about it.* It makes more sense to empower women in the same manner.

The book is fun in explaining the sizes. Why does Barbie's waist as small as a honeybee? The designer explains that Barbie wears "real" clothes, i.e. the same fabric and similar complexity as women's wear. In the waist, there will be 4 layers of fabric. And in Barbie's size, her waist will be wider than her hip with extra 4 layers of fabric; so they have no choice but make the doll in a drastic shape.

It could be a smart excuse, but who cares? It's a creative way to lie if it is one.

Another size issue is about Ken. They gave Ken a small size penis, unerected of course. Some suggested to have Ken's short painted on the doll, so little girls won't get scared or embarrassed when they undress the doll. Others said no, "You will see all the girls sit together trying to peel it off!"

--An old entry from an old blog

*added today. Dedicated to the victims of the heated comments about some of my dear classmates whom I won't name.

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