Personal Narratives

Contrary to the lyrics that swam through my head throughout middle school, I was not a Barbie girl, and I did not live in a Barbie world.  I lived in a braces, glasses, back brace, greasy face world.  By the time I was in seventh grade, it had been years since I’d played with Barbie […]

As a child, I had a small collection of Barbies that I played with on a regular basis: Totally Hair Barbie; Ocean Friend Barbie with baby Keiko, the whale; Teacher Barbie. I had gymnasts, ballerinas, and princesses. And while Barbie had already begun to scratch the surface of the hundreds of careers that she would […]

Even now, at 50 years of age, when I hear that a friend or colleague had a Barbie Dreamhouse as a child, the pull of envy in my chest cavity tugs ever so slightly.  My cousin had one. I remember her never wanting to play with it when I was at her home, despite my […]

Much to her chagrin, I told my daughter, Zadie, I had to see the Barbie movie before deciding if she could watch it. Thankfully, Barbie’s brand of PG-13 is mostly just grown-up jokes that would sail over my 7-year-old’s head as she lost herself in a candy-colored wonderland, so we went together on a Saturday. […]

My father was stationed in Germany in 1973, where he served as the Chief of Pediatrics. My family arrived in Landsthul mid-year. School was in session, and friendships had already been formed. My sister Cynthia and I created an imaginary world in our bedroom that centered around Barbie. This imaginary world became my refuge. Unlike […]

I loved playing with Barbie dolls. As a little girl in Michigan, I spent hours putting my dolls through dramas, creating stories alone in my room, or in tandem with my best friend who lived next door. My first Barbie was conventional with blonde hair and hard plastic legs. Later, I acquired Malibu Barbie and […]

Barbie dolls make me uneasy. Is it their coloring or impossible dimensions? Somethingabout them doesn’t sit right with me as a Gen X woman who lives in the real world.  When I moved from India to the US as a young bride, I expected to inhabit a world in whichpatriarchy was vanquished. I expected to […]

“You don’t need my permission… I always hoped for you, like I hoped for her. We mothers stand still so our daughters can look back to see how far they’ve come.” Ruth Handler, the literal creator of Barbie, says this when Barbie asks her for permission to become human. The idea seems silly—a doll asking […]

I’m 50-something and saw the Barbie movie with my girlfriends in the first few days it came out. We dressed in pink and piled into the Barbie box to take photos. The opening scene, mirroring 2001: A Space Odyssey, hooked me and cleverly introduced the movie’s theme of individuality and identity. The costumes and Barbie […]

I was a certified “Barbie head” growing up. I was that girl who had tons of Barbies and was always on the hunt for more. My first—Black Barbie—is closest to my heart. I don’t remember when my mother gave her to me—I just remember owning her. She had an afro, wore a red leotard, and […]

First, a caveat. I’ve not seen Greta’s Barbie, yet. I fully intend to get there, but this mama doesn’t get a whole lot of time so, for a minute, I’m going to distill my thoughts on the ineffable Barbara Roberts up until now. I’m an ’87 baby so Barbie was firmly established in the gestalt […]