Homogenous Barbie, And Her Look- Alike Friends.

Barbie. Shes about as American as Thomas Jefferson, Fords or plastic surgery. She is one of the first, toys every little girl is given. For decades Barbie has reigned supreme and remained popular despite fluctuation in the economy, technology, or pop culture. Barbie is a little girls best friend, and more importantly a role model. Surprisingly, this seemingly harmless play- thing may be sending a a terrible message to the little ones who adore her.

I'm not talking about the obvious issue of body image, that is often discussed in regard to Barbie. I'll save that discussion for a later date.

I'm talking about Racism.  

Unfortunately this is another all-to farmiliar part of American society. It is an issue that despite the advancement of our culture, we can not seem to overcome this social obstacle. Although as humans our DNA is 99.9% identical we focus hours of time fighting, over What? The color of our skin. The .1% that determines the amount of melanin in our bodies,(which is the determining factor in skin color) divides families, friends,cities,and our entire country. The fact that this is still such an issue is disgraceful. But what does racism have to do with Barbie? A couple days ago I would have said nothing. Than, I took a trip to McDonalds.

Sunday, me and a friend walked over to the local McDonalds to get lunch. I'm a vegetarian, and not too hot on the food so while my friend ordered I walked over to the display of "Happy Meal" toys. This month the toy for girls, is miniature Barbies. As I looked at the display of 10, I was automatically drawn to the brunette, the only one of her kind. Being of the brown- haired persuasion I automatically searched for the doll because, she most closely resembled my own appearance. My young- adult self still looked to find a Barbie, I could aesthetically identify with.   

 

The first thought that entered my head was "why is there only one brunette, thats not fair!" Then I realized something even more shocking. The little girl behind me who was,(unlike myself) an appropriate "happy meal" age, wouldn't be able to find a single doll who resembled her. This McDonalds, in the middle of Philadelphia, a predominantly Black area, didn't display, a single Barbie of color. 

What message does that send every young girl who enters McDonalds? 

It impresses upon them that the definition of beauty is a blonde Caucasian woman. 

A woman they will never be.

 

I am White, because of this I  had never given much thought to the idea that there are very few Black Barbies and baby dolls. But when I asked several of my African American friends how they felt about this clearly prejudice situation. One said "that's how it's always been". Both of them spoke about remembering their first Black Barbie, and how special that was. It's crazy to think that an extreme shortage of interracial Barbies, has been and continues to be "normal". This year Mattel, (the maker of Barbie) came out with a line of fairy barbies, Flinstone barbies, and "Hard Rock Barbie", three "minority" groups that are clearly less prevalent in the in the U.S than African Americans. Hispanics, or Asians. Unless of course you live in "fairyland", "Bedrock" or "Barbie Mariposa"(the place where fairy barbie lives). The "Barbie Mariposa" line offers 12 doll options, which include one with pink,blue and green hair but not a single dark skinned barbie. I'm not a fairy expert, but I'm pretty sure they aren't all white. This type of marketing is detrimental to society as a whole, black white or fairy and it needs to stop. The fact that hundreds of black girls receive only caucasian barbies throughout their lives is shameful.

Popular toys, reflect a countries societal values, and according to Barbie ours aren't looking so good . The "one color- fits all" barbie selection is telling of a major societal flaw. As a country we have evolved from where we once were but we must not fool ourselves into thinking racism is gone. We have the ability to think for ourselves, and teach young people that white,black or purple everyone is beautiful.
Shame on Barbie, but mostly shame on us.

As a culture we need to start recognizing that beauty isn't skin deep.