For my final project I decided to do it on barbie. Barbie is such polarizing character within feminism, and I decided that I want to get a better understanding of this plastic mogul. I started my research with the creation of barbie. I learned that Barbie was created by Ruth Handler in 1959. Ruth Handler was the creator of Barbie but also one of the founders of Mattel. Yes, Mattel the 7-billion-dollar company. Ruth Handler created Barbie so that her daughter had another option that wasn’t either a paper doll or a baby doll. She set out to create this fashion doll. Ruth found the protype for barbie when she was on a trip to Sweden. The doll was called a Billi Lillie what I’ve learned is that this doll use as a gag gift that men would give women to tell them that they were only interested in sex with them. So, Ruth took this doll to the United States and could not find anyone to make this doll for her. She finally found an ex-scientist who worked for NASA. The two of them worked together to make the first Barbie. July of 1959 was the debut of the barbie doll and it did terrible. All the investors where men and did not understand the reason that little girls needed this doll. Barbie went on to show all of them that they where wrong . Barbie was a hit because now young girls had a way of project their adult fantasy on to something. We see early in barbie’s carrier that the is what we called a problematic influencer. In 1963 Barbie came out with this set that included a scale that was permanently set at 110lb and a book that instructed young girls not to eat to stay skinny. I believe that this reflects the time many commercials that aired were focused on women’s weight. Throughout the 1960 barbie was able to step into carriers that women had never been allowed to such as astronaut. Barbie branded herself as girls can do anything, so barbie had many jobs, But there was still the issue of what barbie perpetuated. She was thin, white, blond and to many was the ideal girl. So when 1970 rolled around we saw a decline in her being bought by families, Before that Barbie was responsible for making Mattel a force 500. This cause Ruth to commit fraud and ultimately cause her to lose her seat at Mattel. In the 80’s we were a resurgence in barbie because by that time women had enter the work force and were told to have their blush match their nails. Which is what Barbie does best fashion and working. So we see an increase in her sales . We can also thank the CEO of the time Jill Barad who was a woman who understood the modern 80’s woman. I ended my project with 2020 and seeing where Barbie is now . Barbie is no longer the white woman plastic doll any more , she is tall , curvy , petite , she in a wheel chair and is bald . Barbie has come a long way and there is still a long way to go, But without the moms and women fighting for their rights we wouldn’t have the barbie we have today .
Author: Jeremy Cotto
Category is : Final Project
For my final project I decided to do it on barbie. Barbie is such polarizing character within feminism, and I decided that I want to get a better understanding of this plastic mogul. I started my research with the creation of barbie. I learned that Barbie was created by Ruth Handler in 1959. Ruth Handler was the creator of Barbie but also one of the founders of Mattel. Yes, Mattel the 7-billion-dollar company. Ruth Handler created Barbie so that her daughter had another option that wasn’t either a paper doll or a baby doll. She set out to create this fashion doll. Ruth found the protype for barbie when she was on a trip to Sweden. The doll was called a Billi Lillie what I’ve learned is that this doll use as a gag gift that men would give women to tell them that they were only interested in sex with them. So, Ruth took this doll to the United States and could not find anyone to make this doll for her. She finally found an ex-scientist who worked for NASA. The two of them worked together to make the first Barbie. July of 1959 was the debut of the barbie doll and it did terrible. All the investors where men and did not understand the reason that little girls needed this doll. Barbie went on to show all of them that they where wrong . Barbie was a hit because now young girls had a way of project their adult fantasy on to something. We see early in barbie’s carrier that the is what we called a problematic influencer. In 1963 Barbie came out with this set that included a scale that was permanently set at 110lb and a book that instructed young girls not to eat to stay skinny. I believe that this reflects the time many commercials that aired were focused on women’s weight. Throughout the 1960 barbie was able to step into carriers that women had never been allowed to such as astronaut. Barbie branded herself as girls can do anything, so barbie had many jobs, But there was still the issue of what barbie perpetuated. She was thin, white, blond and to many was the ideal girl. So when 1970 rolled around we saw a decline in her being bought by families, Before that Barbie was responsible for making Mattel a force 500. This cause Ruth to commit fraud and ultimately cause her to lose her seat at Mattel. In the 80’s we were a resurgence in barbie because by that time women had enter the work force and were told to have their blush match their nails. Which is what Barbie does best fashion and working. So we see an increase in her sales . We can also thank the CEO of the time Jill Barad who was a woman who understood the modern 80’s woman. I ended my project with 2020 and seeing where Barbie is now . Barbie is no longer the white woman plastic doll any more , she is tall , curvy , petite , she in a wheel chair and is bald . Barbie has come a long way and there is still a long way to go, But without the moms and women fighting for their rights we wouldn’t have the barbie we have today .
Category is : The Master’s Tools will Never Dismantle the Master’s House
The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House by Audre Lorde gives us this statement from her writing “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house “where she describes the master house as the patriarchy. She then gives names to the “master’s tools” such as homophobia, racism and illudes to others such as classism and ageism. With this information I would have to agree with Audre Lorde’s statement. The reason why I agree with her in this defined context is because we cannot continue to perpetuate these ideals if we ever want to unite and dismantle the master’s house. The tool were created to divide the excludes so that they will never work together. So, by us using these tools we are in fact becoming the master and cannot fight to take down our own house. Because using these tools creates exclusion and when you excluded you are missing out on the bigger picture of it all. This being a great piece of writing I would like to see some modifications to this writing. In this writing Audre Lorde writes from the perspective of a black lesbian woman which Is the view from one lenses I would love if Audre Lorde would update this work with naming more of the tools that the master has under their belt such as transphobia, xenophobia, islamophobia.
Categories is : Barbie
Throughout my research I have found that Barbie is more than a doll. She represents so much more like for instance the creation of Barbie was such an incredible act of what feminism stand for, Ruth Handler being a woman of the 1950 the creator of her and part of the creation of Mattel a 7 billion dollar toy company . Barbie being the reason why Mattel became a multibillion dollar company, with her creating a whole new toy categories “fashion dolls” where young children are able to express themselves in a creative way. Now does Barbie have her fault. Of course she does, Barbie is a representation of the current trends and demands of society. Which is why I believe she is such an iconic figure within feminism.
Category is : Annotated Bibliography
Cramer, M. (2020). After All These Years, Barbie Is Still Reinventing Herself. The New York
Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/business/mattel-barbie-dolls-vitiligo.html
This article talks about the newer wave of barbie and how she continues to keep her promise of inclusion. This article goes into detail about the newer barbie molds such as prostatic legs , wheelchairs . This article provide insight into how barbie is doing in 2020/
Dockertman, E. (2016). Barbie’s got a new body. Time. http://time.come/barbie-new-body-cover-story/
This article pairs with the documentary of tiny shoulders. This article talks about the revamp of barbie. This article provide information of how the public perceives barbie in 2016 and how they will feel about the new barbie bodies,
Nevins, A. B. (2018). Tiny Shoulders, Rethinking Barbie. Hulu.
This Documentary takes a look at the creation of the new Barbie molded. We also she the criticism of Barbie by many feminist. We see a walk-through of how the company plans to rebrand barbie for a modem audience
Rampton, M. (2008). Four Waves of Feminism. Pacific Magazine.
https://www.pacificu.edu/about/media/four-waves-feminism
This website gives a brief view of the different eras of feminism . from women suffrage to the third wave of feminism. The reason why this website is important to my project is because it give the brief history of feminism highlight the reason for these different waves .
Volk-Weiss, B., & Stern, T. (2017). The Toys That Made Us. Netflix.
This documentary shows us the history of Barbie. It talks about the creation of barbie, why was she thought of. We learn about the company that created her Mattel. We get to know about the past drama that barbie has been a part of. We also see a history of the many dolls that have been made for Barbie and how different times have influence her .
Category is : Black Feminist
The goal of Black Feminism is to bring light to intersectional discrimination that black women face on a day-to-day bases. Black Feminism is fighting for justice for all but putting black women at the front of line unlike mainstream feminism. We see in Kimberle’ Crenshaw TED talk how we miss the issues that affect black women. She gives this example of this court case in which a black woman was discriminated against when it came to a job interview. The judge didn’t understand why this woman filed this suit due to the fact that the employer had hire black man and woman, he didn’t understand the intersection that this black woman stood in and why this was a case . Kimberle’ goes on to name victims of police shooting in an exercise to see how many people knew these names. In the exercise we see how many people recognized the black men names that were called out but many did not know the black female names. She uses these examples to prove that we live in a society that need to do better. She goes on to talk about the SAYHERNAME movement because a lot of time the media failed to mention these stories of black women being murdered by police. This is one of the many issues that black feminism are fighting for that our “mainstream” feminism are not really concern about. Audre Lorde pome “Who said it was simple “better elaborate the struggle that black women face on a day to day bases. “There are so many roots to the tree of anger /that sometimes the branches shatter /before they bear” this quote from Audre pomes expresses the anger that so many. Black women feel on a day-to-day bases. She goes on in her pome to talk about the different struggles that black women feel that are unique to them. Often the intersectional issues are erased under mainstream justice movements , the quality of being black and being a woman are inseparable.
Category is : This Bridge Called My Back
Invisibility is an Unnatural Disaster
Reflection of an Asian woman
Mitsuye Yamada
The Entry that I have chosen is Invisibility is an Unnatural Disaster by Mitsuye Yamada. The reason I choose this piece is because the way that Mitsuye talks about her experience as Asian woman in America. The way she talks about this invisibly she felt as an Asian woman in her role in society. I believe that this writing is very important to the body of work that is This Bridge Called My Back, because it brings light to way many Asian Americans women feel about their place in this society. Mitdusye talks about how being an Asian American woman in the united states is in a way synonymous with being passive and quiet. in her writing she states “In this age when women are clearly making themselves visible on all fronts, I, an Asian Women, am still functioning as a “Front for those Feminists” and therefor invisible.” In this line you can see how Mitsuye feels about herself within society. She mentions how all these women are making themselves “visible “which to mean that they are standing up for themselves within the workplace and other spaces where women have been taking advantage of because the space are rules by a man. In this passage you can also see how she believes herself to be a feminist but the realization that she has been so passive in her workspace which in a way means that she is invisible to the male hierarchy that is her workplace. Being that she doesn’t advocate for herself at work shows how she plays into the stereotype of the quiet Asian woman and that why she claims that she is functioning as a “Front for those Feminists”. To many time Asian American women are depicted as quiet and passive in many media outlets such as tv, movie and commercials. This stereotype is detrimental to all Asian women because they become the subject of many fetishization by men. We see how this fetishization can be a deadly problem in 2021 with the shooting of 8 Asian women in Atlanta. This is just one example of many that continue to take place today.
Category is : Intersects analyzes
The person I am choosing to do an intersexual analysis is on the mother of the House of Abundance Elektra Abundance from the hit show Pose. Pose is a show based on the ballroom scene in the 1980. In the beginning we are introduce to Elektra as the mother of the House of Abundance a legendary house within the show context. Within the Ballroom scene Elektra is at the top. But in the society of the 80’s Elektra is at the bottom of the “socially acceptable hierarchy “because of the fact that she is a black trans woman in the 80’s. Throughout the show we see how this identity intersects and cause for a lot of the problems a lot of queer people had suffer in the 80’s and even today. For example, we learn that Electra early on has a
“sugar daddy” that supports her living expenses and helps her family live in a nice condo. Throughout the show we see how Elektra struggles with her body as a trans woman in the 80’s. We find out throughout the story that Electra’s sugar daddy only supports her due to the fact that she has not yet had bottom surgery and he would prefer that she not get the surgery. Elektra comes into to some money that allows her to get the surgery and she does it because it is what she wants. With doing so she lose all the financial benefits that she was receiving from her sugar daddy. Which leaves her in the streets of New York looking for a home. Lucky, she ended up with one of her daughters. There she faces with her identity and how she fit into society in the 80’s.
Throughout the show we see Electra walk through life as a black woman in the 80’s. This is maybe one of the very few privileges she does have as “passing “. Passing in the context of gender means that a trans-person is perceived as a cisgender person by society. We see this is some occasions where Electra is able to find work in a classy restaurant and many of the other trans-women of color in the show only options is to sell their bodies on the streets. Even though she does have that privilege she faces adversity everywhere she went. For example, the way she was able to afford her surgery was because she robbed a salvation army Santa clause. This in itself shows how Electra’s being a trans black woman was difficult due to the many intersecting aversity she faced.
Category is : Making a Plan
For My project I will be exploring Barbie and how feminism has affected Barbie over the years.
What I need to know about my topic is the history of barbie. For this I plan to watch documentary about her called the toys that made us: Barbie, also Tiny shoulders: rethinking Barbie. I will also have to research feminism from the 60’s till today. I will then have to understand the correlations between barbie changes through her years and how feminisms have affected her. The reason why I want to do this topic is because no matter what toy it is some form or another, they effect how we learn how to function in society. So, I believe Barbie is the perfect subject because of the history she has had and the influence she has on modern day society .
Category is …..Gender, Identity, intersectionality
When we are born the doctor looks at our sex and say this looks like boy / girl, then our parents look at us and say well that looks like boy/girl. So, then society tell us if we are boy or girl. For many that intersection works for them. For me they did not get it quiet right. Walking through this world has always felt like wearing a really bad Halloween costume. Like the really bad witch costume that you would get when you were eight years old and you parents forgot to get you a costume, but wearing that costume allowed you to be in places of real witches. It has always been hard for me to figure out how to navigate this world as who I really am because of the way society has told me I needed to act to make it through the world unnoticed. As I have gotten older, I have learned how to expresses who I truly am through clothing and makeup. I have grown a family who accepts me for who I am and not who they were told I was. Growing up we are always told what to do by society “boys can’t like the color pink” or “girl can’t play “insert sport” because that’s for boys “or this one “boy can’t play with doll; dolls are for girls”. Society forces us to fit this mold of the “ideal man “or “ideal woman”. Those of us who don’t fit these “molds “are subject to torment by other because we just want to express who we are. We are told every day that we are meant to be man because we look like a man or we are a woman because we look like a woman according to societal standers, but our outside costume doesn’t fit our inside being. For me I have learned how to decorate my costume with clothing, nail polish and make up to help me feel more like myself. I remember when I was younger, I had always gravitated to dolls and as a child I was told by my school friends that boys couldn’t play with dolls because dolls were for girls. I remember thinking that that can’t be true because
I was never told that as a kid but that same day I went home and turned on the tv to my favorite show Pokémon and right there on that tv I saw an ad for this Barbie doll, and I notice that only girls were playing with dolls. There were no boys in sight and I then I saw a commercial for race cars and I only saw boys playing with race cars. That was one of the first time I could remember seeing those “ideal man” and “ideal woman” molds. From there on out I watch how societal expectation of gender told me what I wore, what colors I had to like and how I had to handle my emotions.
