!! OMG, Barbie has haters too !!
Surely we’re all excited about Greta Gerwig‘s new Barbie movie coming out this summer, but Barbie hasn’t always been celebrated…
Some people hated Barbie! So much that they formed an entire organization about it!
The Barbie Liberation Organization (BLO) operated in the early 1990s with the mission of drawing attention to the gendered messages conveyed by toys and children’s media!!!
The BLO was most well-known for its “operation,” which involved swapping the voice boxes of Barbie and G.I. Joe dolls. The group purchased hundreds of dolls, switched their voice boxes, and returned them to stores. This meant that when children pressed the button on their Barbie dolls, they heard G.I. Joe’s voice saying things like “vengeance is mine” and “dead men tell no tales.” Conversely, when children pressed the button on their G.I. Joe dolls, they heard Barbie’s voice saying things like “let’s plan our dream wedding” and “math class is tough.”
The BLO argued that this subverted the gendered expectations that are often placed on children from a young age. By swapping the voice boxes, they were forcing children to confront the absurdity of these expectations and consider the ways in which toys and media can perpetuate harmful stereotypes.
Do you think this is good activism??? Watch the video after the jump, and let us know!
