Dear Barbie,

Through fashion and fabulous accessories, Barbie has represented what all American women want to be – independent, successful and fabulous at any age – and all the things they should be.”

By Iuliana Petre

Killeen Daily Herald

“Barbie is everything that an all-American gal should be – sporty, smart, sophisticated and sexy.”

 Michael Kors interview with the International Herald Tribune,

the Global Edition of the New York Times, earlier this month.

 

“(Barbie is) more than the most popular doll in the world. For five decades, Barbie has inspired girls of all ages to dream, discover and celebrate their girlhood – from fashion to fantasy – all in a world without limits.”

Richard Dickson,

General Manager and Senior Vice President of Barbie.

 

 

 

Ruth Handler was the inventor and designer of the Barbie doll in 1959 which become an American cultural icon.  “While watching her daughter play with paper dolls, Ruth Handler noticed that she and her friends used the dolls to act out the future rather than the present. So, she set out to invent a grown-up, three-dimensional doll that girls could use to act out their dreams. This, of course, included the presence of breasts. The female inventor named her new Barbie doll invention after the nickname of her daughter Barbara.”

 

March is National Women History Month so I decided to devote my blog to Barbie and her affect on women all over the world.  I received my first Barbie doll the Christmas of 1959.  What most girls wanted in the in fifties was an easy bake oven, doll house and dolls that needed their diapers changed or even paper dolls!  My first impression of Barbie was a doll with big boobs and a shapely figure.  Unfortunately I couldn’t change her diaper, feed her or sleep with her.  I was so disappointed with my Christmas gift and I so wanted my sister’s beautiful porcelain doll which looked and felt almost real baby. 

 

My parents must have known something about my destiny because they continued to give me the gift of Barbie every Christmas thereafter.  The dream of becoming a grown up Barbie helped activate my imagination and step out the housewife stereotype role of the 1950’s.  I started to think outside the box and dream about going to college and eventually having a career in which I could help other women also reach their goals. 

 

In the 1980’s I purchased for my daughter her first Barbie doll.  This doll was a bit difference from the one I had received in 1959 but it still felt the same when I gave one to my daughter.  I wanted my daughter to feel that she could aspire to any role in life she desired. 

 

Barbie held many different roles not just a mother and homemaker but finally a doll or image of a successful woman.  Barbie represented a new type of women who could own her home, automobiles, jewelry, clothing, Jacuzzi and much more all from her own efforts.

 

Throughout the years Barbie has held many different careers and each has helped show women that they can take on a variety of roles in life.  Some of Barbie’s many careers have been a pilot, flight attendant, doctor, astronaut, veterinarian, soccer star, Sea World trainer and NASCAR driver, among other things.

 

“One is not born a woman, one becomes one.”

Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) The Second Sex (1949-1950)

                 

                       Barbie’s Big Pink Book

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