Look at Barbie now ... she’s gotten all smart and nerdy!
“Mattel recently conducted an online poll asking girls everywhere to choose Barbie’s next occupation from the following choices — surgeon, architect, news anchor, environmentalist and computer engineer.
The overwhelming choice among the girls was news anchor. But adults in the blogosphere, on Twitter and Facebook launched their own campaign for computer engineer Barbie.
Mattel relented and decided to go with both, news anchor and computer engineer Barbie. ‘We couldn’t ignore the outcry,’ said Michelle Chidoni, a spokeswoman for the company.”
Of all the toys in America, none seem quite so controversial—or potentially influential—as Barbie.
There are anti-Barbie and pro-Barbie moms.
I guess I fall on the “anti” side—mostly because I don’t want to be picking up tiny plastic pink shoes. But then there are the pro-Barbie moms who see her as a role model for young women.
These are the moms, I suppose, who voted for her to become a computer engineer.
I always find it fascinating to see the “messages” we attempt to send our kids with the toys we give them, the television we let them watch, and the goals we subtly suggest for them.
In the end, though, kids like what they like. We can take away boys’ guns and they will shoot us with their fingers (and possibly get suspended for that). We can tell girls to pursue careers in math and science, but the majority of them will opt for relationship-based careers instead—nursing, teaching, and social work are all female-dominated fields. Or they might even (gasp!) put marriage and family ahead of their career paths, despite our best efforts to encourage them to do otherwise.
I remember at the end of “Career Day” in fifth grade, my teacher pulled me aside to ask, “Which career presentation did you like best? The doctor? The lawyer? The engineer?”
“The cosmetologist,” I told her.
“No you did not!” she gasped, much to my 10-year-old surprise, “A smart girl like you!”
I was a girl. I liked hair and make up.
And that’s what I find so amusing about this latest “Computer Engineer” Barbie. She still has fabulous hair. Whatever message Mattel might be trying to give our girls with career Barbie dolls, they know not to mess with the hair. That’s what the little girls are there for.
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Fabulous hair and cute clothes; and if i remember correctly, the point of ‘playing’ with a Barbie is that you change her clothes and do her hair, ad infinitum!! So who cares what she does in real life, as long as she looks good doing it!! ( OF course, I could be dis-remembering, since I had two boys, so a Barbie has never entered our home; AND when I was that age, I thought it was boring to dress and re-dress her, so I think I spent a couple of weeks of my entire life playing with her!)
Let’s see: the girls themselves think that being a celebrity news-reader on TV sounds like the most fun, but the feminists want to encourage girls to become engineers. A question: do any of the feminists who campaigned to tell young girls to be hard-working nerds when they grow up work at hard-working nerd jobs, or do they just want other women to work at those kind of jobs?
It is good to see Barbie becoming a bit of role model. There were so many years where the doll seemed to be very demeaning and frivolous. Children are influenced by everything, and what they play with and how they play is fundamental to their development and identity.
There is an interview series of professional women in online journalism that you might enjoy.
http://www.ourblook.com/Table/Gender-Studies-and-Media/
It was conducted by the University of Iowa Gender and Mass Media Class this past fall and offers some unique perspectives and insights to the future of online journalism.
How do I begin…Barbie “Dolls” are totally not appropriate for any child to “play” with !!I believe with my whole being that these toys corrupt childrens self image.No matter what career we may choose for “Barbie"what does she say to the children of this world???look this way dress this way and you too will be successful in life…NO!! we MUST stop the spread of this way of thinking.Let’s look to the bible for direction…Mary the mother of Jesus is our role modle…a divine example!!
Maybe there are more parents in the computer/engineering industry that voted for this Barbie, not just “feminists”. Why jump the gun and assume that computer engineer was chosen to send a message to our girls to become math/science/technology savvy?
My first reaction when I saw this Barbie was “Cool!!” cause, well, I’m a software engineer. The outfit isn’t too bad either. We mostly wear jeans and some kind of nice shirt to work and then accidentally dress it up with a blazer or sweater to combat the air conditioning at the office.
Sure, the girls voted for news anchor. That’s something they might see on a daily basis. They know and understand what that is. The only reason she would vote for computer engineer is because that’s what her mommy does. Eh, we buy toys mostly because they relate to us, the parents. Why do you think Strawberry Shortcake and Transformers are in toy stores today? Cause the adults with the buying power remember and love them. I don’t see a big controversy with this new Barbie and the adult vote.
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