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I mean, my mom just talked to me a lot as a small child about Barbie presenting an unrealistic body image.
The OP does make valid points that it's fucked up that she didn't have access to dolls who looked like her as a kid, but that's not really a Barbie-specific thing as much as it's a "literally all of US society and the toy industry" thing, and Barbie's more of a reflection of that and benchmark of that than the driving force.
The first Black dolls in the Barbie line were "Colored Francie" in 1967 (who collectors usually refer to a "Black Francie"), and Barbie's friend Christie in 1968, but there wasn't an actual black version of Barbie herself until 1980. Also, because it was the 60s, a lot of parents flipped out because Francie was sold as "Barbie's MODern Cousin", and came in white and black versions, but Barbie herself was only sold as a white doll, so CLEARLY that meant Mattel had a nefarious agenda and supported interracial marriage.
I BELIEVE - and it's been about 15 years since I wrote the paper - that the first Latina Barbies were California Dream Teresa in 1988 and Dolls of the World Mexico Barbie in 1989.
There were some not-great, honestly-kind-of-fetishizing Hawaiian Barbies in 1975-ish, as well as *sigh* "Oriental Barbie" in 1981, marking the first Asian Barbie doll.
Barbie and the Rockers also had Black and Asian characters in 1986, and the 90s were a bit better.
At the same time, like. My Little Pony (produced by Hasbro, one of Mattel's biggest competitors) had two fairly racist ponies in the 80s - "Gypsy" in 1984 and "Wigwam" in 1987. So it's clearly not just a problem with Barbie or Mattel.
The toy industry has problems because our society has problems - and even moreso 30-40 years ago.
Barbie also released three new body types - Tall, Petite, and Curvy - in 2016:
Nowadays Barbie looks like this:
I mean, like Barbie, don't like Barbie, see the movie, don't see the movie, do what you want.
But when you're talking about a toy line that's been around for 64 years - Barbie will be a senior citizen next year! There are grandparents alive today who've never lived in a world where Barbie didn't exist - I'm just not really sure how useful it is to be like "Well they were shitty about representation 40 years ago" when the entire toy industry was, too, at that time. And I think it's a little silly to act like Barbie is the CAUSE of this rather than just being a product of the society we live in.
Like, as a Trans dude I have a fair lot of complicated feelings around things like Barbie but I ABSOLUTELY went out and bought this Barbie when she was released because that is trans Barbie and I love her.
no idea if this is true, but it feels true
I heard an interview, can’t remember the psychologist, but he was explaining this idea and encouraging people to stop and take a deep breath and literally drink in small moments like you’re a dryass plant when something is ever satisfactory, positive, mildly successful, randomly joyful so your brain can code and integrate that experience because our natural lizard brain will quickly tape over it with mostly unnecessary negative survival shit. Sounds dumb and dorky but sometimes I remember this when I’m feeling good about a moment because our cave brains are still catching up with modern life without sabertooths. I like that it’s not just a pollyanna gosh just be more positive thing but more of a legit brain wiring phenomenon can be gradually hacked through small behavioral changes.
Another super important one: Take the time to tell yourself, when something you did or bought or decided works out “That was a good decision and I’m glad I made it! Go me!”
Seriously, it can have a huge impact. suddenly you go from remembering nothing but bad decisions to adding in a series of Excellent Choices You Feel Good About, and it makes things so much better.
“I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, “If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.” —Kurt Vonnegut
Allow me to elucidate, @a-sour-nectarine
When most people "roll their eyes", they flick their eyes directly upward, usually as far as they comfortably go, then resume looking normally.
When someone who learned the phrase before the behavior does it, they usually go in a circular (ish) motion. Since most eye movements are lines, it's usually pretty triangular: the key points are usually a diagonal up one way, then to the far other side, then to a diagonal low the first way. Thus, the eyes basically make a loop, so they "rolled".
I've found that when people who learned the up-down way first try the circular motion, they might risk motion sickness, so experiment carefully.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN MOST PEOPLE JUST LOOK UP
'can i copy your homework?'
'yeah just don't make it obvious'
the like to reblog ratio being almost the same is so funny, people are NOT happy with at this update lmao
Why does Team Celia get all the weirdos?
Art fight for @mantisgodsdomain
I love Marigold as a character and she deserves everything bad that ever happens to her (affectionate)
potter-inthe-tardis
