{"id":72933,"date":"2019-11-04T10:06:25","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T15:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/?p=72933"},"modified":"2019-11-05T08:45:01","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T13:45:01","slug":"hacking-barbie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2019\/11\/04\/hacking-barbie\/","title":{"rendered":"Hacking Barbie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-vimeo aligncenter wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Barbie in the Digital Age\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/345742922?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For feminists, liking Barbie is tough. &nbsp;This top selling American toy has long been criticized for fueling sexist stereotypes, because women are not actually focused on dream houses, dream dates, beauty, and unbridled consumption.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And yet Mattel has made attempts to refashion the doll as women\u2019s positions in society have changed.&nbsp; By the 1990s Barbie had careers as a firefighter, police officer, and in the military.&nbsp; She had also been a racecar driver, a pilot, and a presidential candidate.&nbsp; However, the 90s also gave us the infamous Teen Talk Barbie whose voice box had been programmed to say, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jSL2-rbE9AM\" data-rel=\"lightbox-video-0\">Math class is tough<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Barbie_Liberation_Organization\">Barbie Liberation Organization<\/a> (B.L.O.) switched Teen Talk Barbie\u2019s voice box with that of talking G.I. Joe, and put the altered dolls back into their original packages and back onto store shelves.&nbsp; They released videotapes to major television news outlets explaining their action and calling attention to Mattel\u2019s outdated gender ideology.&nbsp; With G.I. Joe saying, \u201cLet\u2019s sing with the band tonight\u201d or \u201cWanna go shopping?\u201d and Barbie saying, \u201cDead men tell no tales\u201d the B.L.O.\u2019s media-savvy culture jam threw our gendered expectations into sharp relief.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to the B.L.O., women\u2019s groups <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/1992\/1109\/09122.html\">expressed concern<\/a> that Barbie\u2019s math-anxious statement would discourage girls from pursuing math and math-related fields, and so Mattel removed the offending remark from Barbie\u2019s voice box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Inspired by the B.L.O. and other culture jammers, for Barbie\u2019s 50<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary in 2009 I initiated a \u201cBarbies We Would Like to See\u201d exhibition on my campus.&nbsp; The exhibition included Muslim Girl Barbie (made from a 1960s Skipper doll), Stay-At-Home-Dad Ken, Public Breastfeeding Barbie, and Lesbian Wedding Barbie\u2014to name a few. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"772\" height=\"408\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2019\/11\/barbie1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-72938\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2019\/11\/barbie1.png 772w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2019\/11\/barbie1-500x264.png 500w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2019\/11\/barbie1-768x406.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 772px) 100vw, 772px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2019\/11\/barbie2-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-72939\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2019\/11\/barbie2-1.png 800w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2019\/11\/barbie2-1-500x264.png 500w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2019\/11\/barbie2-1-768x405.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>Public Breastfeeding Barbie and Lesbian Wedding Barbie (Photos by Martha McCaughey)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>And now, as Barbie turns 60, we can see how participatory social media has made it possible for anyone with a dream for Barbie to share it instantaneously and widely.&nbsp; For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lnZagD_jBH4\" data-rel=\"lightbox-video-1\">Black Moses Barbie videos on YouTube<\/a> use Barbie dolls to depict imagined moments in history with Harriet Tubman, and photographer Mariel Clayton creates elaborate scenes with Barbies\u2014sometimes violent, sometimes sexual, sometimes both\u2014which she photographs and shares on her public <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/the-photography-MARIEL-CLAYTON-19626416014\/?__xts__%5b0%5d=68.ARD1_Ru0pUOes3FL9icBgo1JVuMagKkZRg4X8JasUOaNf28YrGqUWeLr2xk67iWeFb4VhSXHz1eoLLC4S4W0HjHUjR8xsZzSQ7zdQMa_-OCd0OF9FGiNfpZgoUNeuxTmAg9uJiGaGqVb0bmKqdfh1ZobhnywLRahnZZpfnxxhjht50PBwrCQx0hxivRt2UFt_knHwo_iYj-N6E_m64XYSe73fuwg9fLLggCtJliiul-bRqzCaS6Iduy6FTSK31dJhAWvDAzpLQt85T03TbyHCQYlAvIhWg79XM48XYVQQbs1AvVyKlbKfdqZpBZZqFABovGfmFkpH92IdAMhRQ\">Facebook page<\/a>.&nbsp; There are entire Instagram accounts devoted to depictions of Barbie and social critiques made through Barbie, for instance <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/socalitybarbie\/?hl=en\">Sociality Barbie<\/a>, the anonymous Instagram feed with over 800,000 followers that depicts Barbie as a Portland, Oregon hipster.&nbsp; In our documentary video on Barbie in the age of digital reproduction (produced by Martha McCaughey and Beth Davison, linked above), we see how these artists and Barbie hackers go much farther than Mattel to re-imagine gender and pop culture.&nbsp; Indeed, they make curvy Barbie, released in 2016, and the gender-neutral Creative World<sup>TM<\/sup> dolls, released this year, look pretty conventional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In line with Rentschler and Thrift\u2019s (2015) argument that feminist meme propagators <em>do<\/em> feminist cultural production, Barbie artists and activists sharing their altered dolls on social media are <em>doing<\/em> feminist cultural production and creating \u201cfeminist community-building media\u201d (Rentschler 2019). &nbsp;In this age of digital reproduction Mattel can neither thwart nor ignore what people want to do with their dolls. &nbsp;Indeed, the changes Mattel has been making to their dolls can be seen as a direct result of the willingness of artists, activists, and fans to playfully engage with\u2014rather than simply criticize\u2014their dolls.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Barbie has always been malleable.&nbsp; Thanks to feminist media, perhaps Mattel can now acknowledge what Barbie hackers have long known: that gender, like the doll itself, is plastic.&nbsp;&nbsp;  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide\" style=\"grid-template-columns:28% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"275\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2019\/11\/McCaughey.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-72936\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p><em><strong>Martha McCaughey<\/strong> is Professor of Sociology at Appalachian State.&nbsp; She is the author of <\/em>The Caveman Mystique: Pop-Darwinism and the Debates Over Sex, Violence, and Science<em>, and <\/em>Real Knockouts: The Physical Feminism of Women\u2019s Self-Defense.<em>She blogs on sexual assault prevention at <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.seejanefightback.com\/\">See Jane Fight Back<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rentschler, Carrie, 2019.&nbsp; \u201cMaking Culture and Doing Feminism.\u201d Pp. 127-147 in <em>Routledge International\nHandbook on Contemporary Feminism <\/em>Ed. by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.routledge.com\/products\/search?author=Tasha%20Oren\">Tasha Oren<\/a> and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.routledge.com\/products\/search?author=Andrea%20Press\">Andrea Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rentschler,\nCarrie and Samantha Thrift, 2015. \u201cDoing Feminism in the Network: Networked\nLaughter and the Binders Full of Women Meme\u201d <em>Feminist Theory<\/em> 16:3:329\u2013359.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For feminists, liking Barbie is tough. &nbsp;This top selling American toy has long been criticized for fueling sexist stereotypes, because women are not actually focused on dream houses, dream dates, beauty, and unbridled consumption.&nbsp; And yet Mattel has made attempts to refashion the doll as women\u2019s positions in society have changed.&nbsp; By the 1990s Barbie [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1851,"featured_media":72946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8070,229,55,2096,2087,85,1711],"class_list":["post-72933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-artliterature","tag-consumption","tag-gender","tag-gender-femininity","tag-gender-masculinity","tag-politics","tag-toysgames"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2019\/11\/Barbie5.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1851"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72933"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72950,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72933\/revisions\/72950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}