The world's best-selling doll, Barbie, produced by Matell Inc., is undoubtedly the queen of dolls on the shelves of local retailers and toy stores.
It's almost Christmas and if you're the aunt of two pre-teen girls, it's hard to resist the temptation to buy blissfully smiling Barbie dolls (one for each sweetheart), and a few stylish Barbie accessories, for Christmas eve.
Barbie dolls make for great gifts for young girls. The doll has great physique, great attitude (always smiling), good taste, stands on tiptoe and is flexible; her arms, legs can bend, etc. It's not a ''boring'' doll, you know? The only problem I have with the Barbie dolls available locally, in Namibia (read ''Africa'', please), is the wide variety of blonde (blonder, ash blonde, golden blonde, Nordic blonde) Barbie dolls on sale.
I'm not going to argue a moot point. Barbie is an American product and was the idea of Ruth Handler, whose husband, Elliott, worked for the Mattel Toy Company. In 1959, while on a trip to Europe, Ruth bought a full-figured doll in Germany for her daughter and suggested to her husband that Mattel Toy Company should look into manufacturing a full-figured doll for pre-teen and teenage girls in America. The men at Mattel weren't enthusiastic to say the least, but Ruth Handler persisted. The doll was made and baptised ''Barbie'' after their daughter, Barbara, and here she is, 54 years later, on Namibian shelves, as glamorous as ever.
A long time ago, I received a Barbie doll from Father Christmas. It was Hawaii Barbie and I was thrilled. My Barbie had long blonde hair, long legs, twinkling blue eyes, a straight nose and the whitest set of teeth. She was so charming and sweet. My parents, the poor dears, in their quest to present me with something akin to a culturally-sensitive Barbie, bought Hawaii Barbie because she had a slight tan.
I'm not going to argue a moot point. Barbie is an American product and was the idea of Ruth Handler, whose husband, Elliott, worked for the Mattel Toy Company. In 1959, while on a trip to Europe, Ruth bought a full-figured doll in Germany for her daughter and suggested to her husband that Mattel Toy Company should look into manufacturing a full-figured doll for pre-teen and teenage girls in America. The men at Mattel weren't enthusiastic to say the least, but Ruth Handler persisted. The doll was made and baptised ''Barbie'' after their daughter, Barbara, and here she is, 54 years later, on Namibian shelves, as glamorous as ever.
A long time ago, I received a Barbie doll from Father Christmas. It was Hawaii Barbie and I was thrilled. My Barbie had long blonde hair, long legs, twinkling blue eyes, a straight nose and the whitest set of teeth. She was so charming and sweet. My parents, the poor dears, in their quest to present me with something akin to a culturally-sensitive Barbie, bought Hawaii Barbie because she had a slight tan.
At that time, you see, African-American Christie Barbie and her partner, Steven, weren't available in Namibia and neither was Hispanic Teresa Barbie. A few weeks after receiving my great present, I did a bizarre thing; without thinking clearly, I dyed my Barbie's hair dark brown (nicked some colour from my mother's Clairol tube, the stuff reeked like poison, almost blacked-out) and with a black ballpoint pen, changed the colour of her irises. Even though I was happy with my handiwork, my mother gave me a scolding from another universe.
It's many years since those confusing times and Mattel Inc., in the meantime, designed and manufactured the most amazing and beautiful range of Barbie dolls for little girls everywhere. She's no longer the epitome of plastic perfection displaying a particular set of secondary genetic characteristics; Barbie has successfully transformed into every culture. It just so happens that here in Namibia (read ''Africa''), with its amazing cultural diversity, Barbie tends to be still very much blonde.
The original Barbie was modeled after a cartoon of an employed German girl, earning her own money, looking great, blonde and smiling as she went about the world. To this day, Barbie's house looks better every year, she drives the coolest cars (in fruity colours), her jewelry is to die for, the diamonds in her rings are larger than her hand, her wardrobe is designer couture, her shoes bedazzle and she has good-looking, steady boyfriends. Ken's been around for like ages, hasn't he? In other words, Barbie's got it together. She's sorted out.
2013 was significant in many respects for all of us but for Barbie it was probably a tough year. The anatomically realistic Barbie was unveiled to counter the effects of ''Barbie Syndrome'' and to stop the spread of ''Barbie Flu''. It is said young, prepubescent women are impressionable, yes, and may have unrealistic expectations regarding beauty, body and perfection. The traditional Barbie doll didn't do much in the way of encouraging the development of a healthy self-esteem. I have no idea how accurate the data is regarding the aforementioned but can only imagine the state of affairs given the amount of negative publicity famous women are subjected to by western media when they gain weight.
Come Christmas 2013, I'm not keen to present my nieces, who are natives of this continent, and who will someday be beautiful, educated and sophisticated African women (I'll make sure of that), with anatomically realistic Barbie dolls (yay!) that also happen to have fair plastic skins, blue eyes, and long, flowing blonde hair. I don't think they'll be able to identify properly with the doll, honestly, and I shudder to think they may disassociate from their own appearances and desire (unrealistically) to resemble a foreign cultural group.
I'd like to give my nieces a gift they'd find useful, educational, entertaining, and perhaps something they'd value for a long time. A gift they'd want to keep in a special box at the back of a wardrobe, or in a special chest, and take out now and then to remind themselves of a happy, safe childhood with an aunt who only sees their unlimited potential and abundant talents, reflected in the sweetly smiling face of an anatomically-correct and culturally-appropriate Barbie doll. They deserve it.
Written by freelance social researcher and writer, Anya Namaqua Links: anyalinks@gmail.com
It's many years since those confusing times and Mattel Inc., in the meantime, designed and manufactured the most amazing and beautiful range of Barbie dolls for little girls everywhere. She's no longer the epitome of plastic perfection displaying a particular set of secondary genetic characteristics; Barbie has successfully transformed into every culture. It just so happens that here in Namibia (read ''Africa''), with its amazing cultural diversity, Barbie tends to be still very much blonde.
The original Barbie was modeled after a cartoon of an employed German girl, earning her own money, looking great, blonde and smiling as she went about the world. To this day, Barbie's house looks better every year, she drives the coolest cars (in fruity colours), her jewelry is to die for, the diamonds in her rings are larger than her hand, her wardrobe is designer couture, her shoes bedazzle and she has good-looking, steady boyfriends. Ken's been around for like ages, hasn't he? In other words, Barbie's got it together. She's sorted out.
2013 was significant in many respects for all of us but for Barbie it was probably a tough year. The anatomically realistic Barbie was unveiled to counter the effects of ''Barbie Syndrome'' and to stop the spread of ''Barbie Flu''. It is said young, prepubescent women are impressionable, yes, and may have unrealistic expectations regarding beauty, body and perfection. The traditional Barbie doll didn't do much in the way of encouraging the development of a healthy self-esteem. I have no idea how accurate the data is regarding the aforementioned but can only imagine the state of affairs given the amount of negative publicity famous women are subjected to by western media when they gain weight.
Come Christmas 2013, I'm not keen to present my nieces, who are natives of this continent, and who will someday be beautiful, educated and sophisticated African women (I'll make sure of that), with anatomically realistic Barbie dolls (yay!) that also happen to have fair plastic skins, blue eyes, and long, flowing blonde hair. I don't think they'll be able to identify properly with the doll, honestly, and I shudder to think they may disassociate from their own appearances and desire (unrealistically) to resemble a foreign cultural group.
I'd like to give my nieces a gift they'd find useful, educational, entertaining, and perhaps something they'd value for a long time. A gift they'd want to keep in a special box at the back of a wardrobe, or in a special chest, and take out now and then to remind themselves of a happy, safe childhood with an aunt who only sees their unlimited potential and abundant talents, reflected in the sweetly smiling face of an anatomically-correct and culturally-appropriate Barbie doll. They deserve it.
Written by freelance social researcher and writer, Anya Namaqua Links: anyalinks@gmail.com
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