Thanks Barbie, for delivering a truly feminist message to girls
BARBIE has copped it over the years for sending unrealistic body-image messages, but she’s made up for all that now she’s shown herself to be a true equality activist, writes Wendy Tuohy.
Wendy Tuohy
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WELCOME into the feminist tent, Barbie, let me hold the door for the newest voice of empowerment for girls.
I know it seems unlikely, given the flak this polarising piece of plastic has copped over the decades, but all that is behind Barbie now she has shown she is a card-carrying equality activist.
Barbie’s latest message to girls is so strong and useful, all her past, ridiculous body-image, sins are forgiven.
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In her latest YouTube vlog (4.7 million subscribers), Barbie urges her “friends and sisters” to stop constantly saying “sorry” — for being excited, feeling sad, asking for something basic, for just existing, really.
Constantly apologising over nothing, a signal of exaggerated humility girls and women are about a gazillion times more likely to exhibit than boys and men, is, as animated Barbie tells us, a “learned reflex”.
Whether, as some psychologists have written, it is a sign of anxiety, low self-esteem or insecurity, the impression a trail of unnecessary “sorries’’ leaves is of someone apologetic simply for taking up space.
I worry about passing that dreadful habit on to my daughter. It’s difficult to break.
Enter Barbie to put a stop to all that. She wants girls to have “power”, and never to make excuses for the crime of being “too big”.
“There’s so much more power in saying thank you, instead of sorry,” she says, sitting in front of her PC in her virtual bedroom.
“We get excited and exuberant about something we’re really excited about. And then we instantly say ‘sorry’ like we’re afraid of being too big. If we’re sad we say ‘sorry’ because we’re worried about making someone else sad.”
The character makes the excellent point that continually apologising erodes self-confidence (let alone being downright annoying, let’s face it).
Mattel had already been working hard to bring the doll and all she stands for into the present tense, especially with its Never Before limited edition Barbies, issued on International Women’s Day this year.
In Australia, the series included dolls representing high-profile professional roles women had not yet occupied, including chairman of the AFL, commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, governor of the Reserve Bank, head of ASIO and president of the Australian Olympic Committee.
Those dolls encouraged girls to reach for the stars, but the most useful thing about the latest vlog is that it begins to show them how to get there.
Do not put yourself down unnecessarily is the key message here, don’t humble yourself to make the other person comfortable, do expect to be taken seriously without needing to apologise. This is how your generation of girls will — mine hopes — reach full equality at work and home.
Thanks Barbie, this is authentically helpful, and great to see.
Now we just need Ken to hit his own socials spruiking the message dads who share the childcare and housework are, absolutely, real men too.
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