Being an independent, self-actualized, card-carrying feminist, I banned the Barbie. When my first daughter was born, I placed an embargo on the minx from Mattel, instructing family and friends not to consider eleven plastic inches of skewed body image appropriate for gift-giving occasions. Given the personalities of the people in my life and gene pool, this was really just a challenge. I might as well have waved a red, Barbie-covered flag to incite them to purchase. Before she was two years old, Keilana had an entire Rubbermaid tub filled with Barbie, her sisters
, her friends, and their clothes, toys, and various accessories. None of which was purchased by me. So pervasive is her influence that it is fruitless to fight the Barbie battle--she is everywhere. In addition to a universe of dolls and their stuff, there are Barbie toothbrushes, board games, laptops, and legions of miniature bras for little girls who can only aspire to falling short of measuring up. Since you cannot fight the Barbie tide, and Scarlett is my third daughter, I have redirected my efforts into raising my daughters’ awareness of who they can become rather than who (God willing) they will never be. Since Barbie is such a heavily-marketed pink-butterflies-and-purple-unicorns temptress, it is no surprise that, in our book-finding trip to the thrift store, Scarlett would be magnetically drawn to Sue Kassirer’s Barbie Sleeping Beauty in all its cotton candy-colored splendor. After all, Barbie’s kind of like the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. http://www.walmart.com/ip/2194851?wmlspartner=GPA&sourceid=44444444440069217841
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