50 years ago on this very day, Barbie made her first appearance at the American Toy Fair in New York City. Her 50 year-long story is interesting, but long, so if you can be bothered, read it here. She was an immediate success, and has become one of the most significant icons of our time. She's had more than 100 careers, ranging from model to surgeon, ballerina to teacher, firefighter to astronaut to presidential candidate. You can buy your Barbie as a geisha, african american, latin american, you could even buy a handicapped Barbie, wheelcheer inclusive. I bet that was a limited edition. Ha-ha, I'm sorry.
She has been loved and hated through the years. Loved for the hours of joy she has brought to generations of little girls (and boys), hated because of her somewhat proportionally incorrect body and how her looks affect todays expectations to how young women should look. If Barbie was human sized, she would stand 5 foot 6 inches tall (1,68 m) and weigh 110 pounds (49,9 kg). She would have a 39 inch bust (99 cm), an 18 inch waist (45 cm), and 33 inch hips (84 cm). In 1995 some Finnish scientists claimed that lifesize Barbie would be too skinny to menstruate, and in 1997 her waist was slightly broadened. That did not stop the religious police in Saudi Arabia from banning the popular doll in 2003, claiming that she promoted "decadent and perverted western moral".
A product of the devil or not, today she is not only a doll, she is a brand and a billion dollar business. You will find Barbie products in 150 countries, and Mattel claims that every second 3 Barbie dolls are sold somewhere in the world. But what's interesting though, is that when the University of Bath did a research on children's relationship to different branded products, they discovered that young girls tend to be very violent with their Barbies, a disturbingly high number of the children found joy in tearing her head and arms and legs off, or putting her in the microwave. They saw this tendency with no other brand in the test. This proves what I have suspected for many years; our underlying hatred for gorgeous, skinny, successful women is pure instinct.
I owned a few myself. I never tore her head off, or microwaved her for that matter, but I do remember crying hysterically when a bully at my school decapitated one of them. Happy 50th, Barbie!
Today's thought provoker: In 2007, the song "Barbie Girl" by Aqua was voted as one of the world's 20 most annoying songs by Rolling Stone magazine, the song has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide and the music video has 26,5 million views on YouTube.
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