How I loved sending you on joy rides in your Cadillac (Barbie was doing very well in her career at this point in my life), driving from the back seat because I could never keep the front seat in the car thus could never keep track of it.... But you always wore your semi functioning seat belt because along with smarts and style, safety was a top priority, minus all those choking hazard foods of yours that were never quite the right size in proportion to your tiny hands.
What happened? Were you always a prostitute on the side and I was just too naive to see it? You could have driven a Geo and I would have respected you just as much in my little mind. I remember sensible flats though, not these hooker heels and chunky wedges (that you wear to be babysitter Barbie? Have you in fact ever chased a toddler like the ones you were once packaged with as teacher Barbie?).
You have taken on a range of careers over the years, and looking online, I see you have pursued a nursing career (in heels), and a doctor (just for babies, in heels as well), track star, actress, and even an astronaut, although I'm very confused how you function when your suite is so tight fitting. Do your heels fit in the suite?
As a mother, I have banned you from my house Barbie. I have a young daughter who is impressionable, and I would rather her play with trucks and her gender neutral kitchen, than learn how to play with you. I'm sorry I have to end this relationship, but we just can't see each other until you get yourself cleaned up. Maybe it's this new crowd you're hanging around, Monster High? I want my daughter to learn she can really be anything, a doctor of any sort (not just for puppies or babies), a teacher who doesn't wear mini skirts, a scientist, anything. I want her to know that cops don't wear mini skirts, it looks more like a stripper get up when you wear it. The package that held said cop uniform also held a firefighter uniform. As a firefighter, I was intrigued, even though my daughter has no Barbies, I was interested to see if maybe you quit the drugs and prostitution Barbie, maybe there was a chance for your rehabilitation, but upon closer inspection, the bunker pants were not bunker pants.... but skinny jeans. How are you going to be protected in a fire with skinny jeans, Barbie? I won't buy this for my daughter (if she had a Barbie doll to dress up), I won't buy skinny jeans for my daughter! (And yes, they do sell skinny jeans for infants and two year olds alike, which in my opinion is an abomination).
I remember the outfits my grandmother made for you out of blue velvet, they were beautiful, yet didn't show off your lady plastic. Let me show some examples of the outfits that keep you out of my home, away from my little girl....
Need I mention Monster High?
Who oh dear Lord.... sell costumes for little girls?!?!?!
Am I the only one who this SERIOUSLY disturbs?!?!?!An additional fact that gets under my skin, is on the Mattel site, they separate their toys so you can search for boys or girls. How helpful, you can search for boys by looking at cars, wrestling action figures.... well that's pretty much it.... or for girls where you can peruse the examples teaching our daughters to dress like their bodies are for sale. What is wrong with this?
I'm really tired of hearing the "boys vs. girls" toy argument. They are both way off.
Let's get one thing straight, play is learning for small children, and at some point most of us will both own a car and have babies. So how on earth should cars or baby dolls be directed at boys or girls? They are GENDER NEUTRAL TOYS and should be marketed as such. If my son wants to play with a baby doll, it will let him practice nurturing, and caring for a baby. I should hope these are traits his future wife would want him to have. If my daughter wants to play with cars, go for it! Learn about engines, learn how things work, cars encourage these things, she's already trying to pry open the hoods of all her car toys (some of them don't open so this leads to much frustration on her part).
How Barbie, can I give you to my daughter and expect her to still care about math and science? How can I expect her to care about how things work, to investigate, to be SMART if all she sees is women are supposed to wear mini skirts and heels? How are we surprised if we give our daughters these toys and wonder why the job market is male dominated?
Why is it Barbie, that you dominate the shelves in stores with your scantly clad self, but dolls who teach girls about nursing their babies are too terrible for our toy aisles? I would rather have my daughter learn that breasts are there for feeding babies over showing them to men (http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/07/16/new-doll-that-teaches-how-to-breast-feed-causing-controversy/) but as a culture we would prefer you showing your ta tas to Ken?
Why can't we find any dolls that I wouldn't mind giving my daughter in the toy aisle?
(I was going to find some positive and modest dolls to post images of.... turns out not too many exist that are comparable to Barbie).
Barbie, I have a lot of frustration with this. Not just with you, but our culture in general.
How come when I was in girl scouts we learned how to make pinwheels with paper, pencil, and a thumb tack, and earned choir badges while the boys got to go camping and learned how to shoot bows and arrows? How come in band class, the girls were encouraged to do flute or clarinet, while the boys got first pick at trombone and percussion? How come if girls want to play football the only place in high school they got the opportunity was powder puff, and it was a joke to everyone who watched? How come I have to buy my daughter boys' pants unless I want her to wear baby skinny jeans (which are in fact, a health hazard http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/health&id=8934155 this is just one source)?
How come when someone sees my daughter they automatically say, "How cute, how pretty," which, of course I agree, but my daughter doesn't need to hear just about her looks.
I want my daughter to know that she has a brain in her head, this isn't something I think Barbie encourages. So we'll stick to Daniel Tiger (who encourages positive values while teaching children they are loved just the way they are) and toy trucks.
I hope that you get your act together Barbie....
good luck with that, until then though, we're going to keep our distance.
No comments:
Post a Comment