Barbie: An American Icon

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News correspondent Pauline Frederick once commented When a man gets up to speak people listen then look. When a woman gets up people look; then if they like what they see they listen" (Women's Wit and Wisdom 10). Ironically, the harsh reality of this statement is given life by the ongoing controversy of America's most recognizable and sometimes notorious toy. Barbie. Barbie has become this nation's most beleaguered soldier of idolatry who has been to the front lines and back more times than the average "JOE." (Varney 161). This doll, a piece of plastic, a toy incurs both critique and praise spanning all ends of the ideological spectrum. Barbie's curveaous and basically unrealistic body piques the ire of both liberals and conservatives, each contending that Barbie stands for the distinct view of the other. One hundred and eighty degrees south, others praise Barbie's (curves and all) ability to unlock youthful imagination and potential. M. G. Lord explains Barbie best: To study Barbie, one sometimes has to hold seemingly contradictory ideas in one's head at the same time . . . The doll functions like a Rorschach test: people project wildly dissimilar and often opposing meanings on it. . And her meaning, like her face has not been static over time" (10). In spite of the extreme polarity, a sole unconscious consensus manifests itself about Barbie. Barbie is 'the icon" of womanhood and the twentieth century (Ducille 50). She is the American dream (Varney 161). Barbie is us" (Lord 17). The question is always the same: What message does Barbie send? Barbie is a toy. She is the image of what we see.

At her inception in 1959, Barbie created a wave of fear among the general male population as well as the conservative population because ...

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