Opinion | Why the ‘ambiguously Asian’ Olympic Barbie is an epic fail
- This vaguely Asian doll is a blatant denial of an entire spectrum of cultural and ethnic diversity
- The doll is perhaps a reflection of our times, with anti-Asian hate so prevalent that Barbie designers felt they had to tone down Asian features
I have never been into Barbie dolls. I just couldn’t relate. The blonde bombshell with impossible proportions and an extraordinarily small head didn’t speak to me; the marketing concept of a fashion model with her own career didn’t do it for me, either.
Having said that, Barbie was created once upon a time out of a desire to let little girls play with something other than baby dolls, which tended to limit the role-playing to just carers and mothers.
At that time, more than 60 years ago, an improbably busty fashion doll who could dress the part of different professions was revolutionary; Barbie opened the minds of little girls to possibilities, to the notion that they have choices in who they can be and what they can do when they grow up.
They had possibilities, and a boyfriend, Ken, they were not dependent on, plus glamorous girlfriends to go to beach parties with: this was the stuff of girlie dreams then and perhaps still is even now.
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