Awesome Toys = An Awesome Childhood.

As a young girl who loved to play with dolls, play pretend, dress up, give makeovers etc... you would think that playing with Barbies would be perfectly amusing to me. As I have said before, my mother was not fond of the whole Barbie scene, she believed they represented an unhealthy message for little girls who were growing up. In her eyes (and the eyes of many mothers apparently) Barbies represented the utmost importance of beauty, the sexualization of little girls, an unhealthy and unrealistic image of what a woman or girl should look like, and downplayed the power and intelligence of women. I would agree with all of this on some level, but I do not know how I feel about Barbies really. However I would like to dedicate my last post to toys that are just all around great. I never had Barbies around the house and I'd say I turned out alright, so in this post I would like to thank my mother for all the fun and exciting toys I did have that I feel truly helped my mind grow as a kid.

First and foremost I would like to thank my mother for PlayDough. PlayDough was probably my favorite toy as a child. It entertained me for hours, it is fun, interesting to touch, feel, and build with as a toddler and as an older kid it was even better to create things with. In my opinion PlayDough teaches children to be creative, patient, and proud of the products they make. Food, people, characters, pets, animals, furniture... all these things can be created out of nothing and I think it is important for children use their hands and other tools to see where their imagination takes them. Not to mention, PlayDough is gender neutral and appropriate for all ages, the only downfall is getting it stuck in your carpet.

I am thankful for Legos. Large Legos are great for little kids to learn about how to successfully build things using support and vision of what they want to make. As a child I would build houses for my other toys to play in, I would build towers as tall as they would go and wait for them to fall, I learned to play patiently with my little sister, to work together, and share. All these things are beneficial to children and Legos are gender neutral as well. The smaller more complex Legos can entertain children for years and years. It is a healthy activity for the mind and finished products give children a sense of accomplishment and pride.


Stuffed animals are next on the list. As a child my house was constantly littered with a trail of Beanie Babies that followed my sister and I wherever we went. Playing pretend was huge, and an important part of play in every child's life. It allows for creativity, strengthens dialect and communication skills, and helps children's imaginations flourish.

The last toy/activity I would like to thank my mother for would be arts and crafts. I was lucky enough to get a great mom who was creative, enthusiastic, and patient when it came to play time. As a child, my sister and I created so many things that were used for decoration, presents, jewelry, you name it. We learned how to use paint, glue, scissors, glitter, stickers, markers, and stamps appropriately and respectfully while also having so much fun and expressing ourselves. Though arts and crafts is a lot of work for parents (I don't know how my mom did it sometimes), it is so important for kids to get the chance to make something out of nothing so they can see and appreciate all the amazing things their hands and minds can create.



All these toys (and so many more) had a huge affect on my sister and I growing up, they were part of the reason my childhood was so fun and healthy and I'm thankful for my parents and family every single day. I would like to say the independence and ambition I have as a woman today had something to do with the fact that I wasn't allowed to have promiscuous looking dolls in the house for the sake of this blog and on behalf of feminists all over the country fighting these products, but I just cannot say that this is true. I can say however, that these toys are amazing and fun and I am thankful I got to grow up playing with them.    

Racist Barbie Pricing?

2014 was a year of unrest due to police brutality that involved African American's and resulted in all forms of protest, the worst of it taking place in Ferguson Missouri. While all this was unfolding something almost slipped under the noses of many as they were distracted by the injustice and violence happening.  In retail stores such as Walmart and Toys R Us Barbie dolls were also subject to racial inequality. Take a look at this picture...  

Notice anything a little off? These dolls are pretty much exactly the same besides there skin color... AND THIER PRICE. The African American Doll is selling for almost $2.00 cheaper than the exact same doll who is white with blonde hair. CNBC reported the same African American "I Can Be" Figure Skating doll to be $4.00 less than her Caucasian friend at Toys R Us. Is that not absolutely insane? Now, some may argue that the original Barbie doll was white with blonde hair and blue eyes and when one thinks of a Barbie doll most likely they will picture a tall Caucasian with blue eyes and long blond strait hair in pink. Even if customers consider this version of the Doll to be the most authentic I personally do not think that is grounds for Mattel or Walmart or Toys R Us to assign prices based on skin color and race. 

In an article I read called 5 Reasons not to Buy Barbie for Little Girls (It's Not Just Body Image!) by Dr. Rebecca Hains, Hains interviewed a couple of 9 year old girls to see what they had to say about "Black Barbie." One of the girls Rhea, agreed that Mattel does not treat African American barbies like the others... “For the black Barbie dolls, they give ‘em, like, orange [outfits] and everything before the white, and [for the white] one, they give her, like, pink and blue or something, a lot of black people hate orange!” Another girl, Maddison, agreed with Rhea and said “I buy Bratz dolls because all of them—all the Bratz dolls are treated right.” If you are not familiar with Bratz there is a picture of a few of them below. 

Bratz are one of Mattel's biggest competitors, though the dolls have an extremely different look and style, they are all ethnically diverse and I would have to agree with Maddison, they seem like they all have equally cool hair, outfits, and shoes. It is so sad to me that even children's toys are subject to racial inequality. When little kids play with dolls they can learn a lot about themselves. Most times children treat their dolls the same way they treat themselves, they express themselves through what the doll wears, what it does, and the kind of person it is. If companies are marketing their dolls of different races differently, kids will take notice and do the same which is why companies should be held accountable in representing ethnicity equally across the board. 

https://rebeccahains.com/2014/12/15/5-reasons-not-to-buy-barbie/

Barbie's Try at Feminism

A few weeks ago Mattel released an ad campaign with the intention of empowering young girls to "imagine the possibilities." In this commercial young girls are depicted taking on roles in the professional world such as a coach, professor, paleontologist, veterinarian, and businesswoman. Before I explain my opinion at this attempt to win over feminists, take a look for yourself (click the link below.)

Imagine the Possibilities

I am not going to say that this commercial was not a feel good ad, in fact I liked it a lot, but I do not think they did as much as they could have to show that such futures are a real possibility for little girls. As you saw in the ad, every scene opens up with an adorable little girl in an adult setting with a professional job. The first thing I noticed was the laughter that followed when the non-actors in the commercial found out (for example) that a little girl was going to be in charge of teaching their neurological science class. They did a great job with making the commercial cute and funny but I do not think Mattel truly empowered young females who are growing up and hopefully thinking of all the possibilities they have. I wish the commercial could have depicted adults taking these little girls dreams much more seriously, because at the end of the commercial I couldn't really get past how cute the girls were. It did not move me in a way that made me think that these girls could be a real force to be reckoned with in a world where males dominate the workplace and women are underpaid compared to them.
An article I read by Nicole Bedera on societypages.org sparked my interest in actually looking up Barbie play sets involving her in an occupational settings and this is what I found.



What do you notice about all these women? Lets start with the Barbie "office." As a female working hard to be in the marketing and communication field myself, I'd like to say that I have never seen a desk like this in any office I have ever been to in my entire life. Secondly, this office is in a home... because even a successful business woman should be in her home so she has time to do female things, like cook, clean, and take care of her kids so when her husband (with the REAL job) comes home he can relax! Next. I think this veterinarian is in last years Victoria's Secret Fashion show robe... but besides that, her workspace is awfully small and limited.  Next, I could really say a lot about the female president considering the outcome of this presidential election, but I think its best that I do not. Moving on, the soccer player. Professional athletes do not look like this. Her shorts are extremely short, her cleats are not cleats, and that pink soccer ball is definitely against regulation. Next is my personal favorite, "Barbie Scientist." One, I'm happy to see that Mattel is promoting laboratory safety with those closed toe pumps and goggles, but honey that is NOT how to hold a microscope. Also I highly doubt that microscope could project any cell that I have seen in lab, but who knows. Lastly, Barbie as a teacher. Here we see Barbie teaching a probably two-year-old child geography, which is great for child development and all but I don't want to see Barbie's potential end here! I am not saying that preschool teachers are not intelligent and talented, all I am saying is that seeing barbie teach psychology or anatomy to a lecture hall full of adults would really expand a little girl's imagination. There is only so much you can teach a two-year-old in a microscopic desk sadly. Another trend I noticed while researching all these toys are the size of things. Everything is so tiny. The dogs and cats she cares for, the desk she works at, the babies she attempts to teach, it just all seems very unimportant, its almost like these are just accessories to her instead of tools she uses for real life purposes. I could really go on all day about this topic but I think I have made my point. Mattel really needs to step up their game if they plan on empowering young girls. Their new ad campaign and message does not match up with their toys, and girls growing up (especially with everything happening in politics) really need all the encouragement and empowerment they can get. So, is Barbie a feminist? Not quite yet.