LOSING
HER EDGE
HUFFINGTON
03.02.14
JEFF CHRISTENSEN/GETTY IMAGES
partnership with Sports Illustrated and its famous swimsuit
issue, where Barbie has a feature
in the magazine.
“Because Barbie is an icon, she
often times gets dragged into the
cultural conversation,” said Michelle Chidoni, a Mattel spokeswoman. “Barbie is often asked to
apologize for what she looks like,
but she is who she is.”
NO STRANGER TO SCANDAL
When Barbie first launched in
1959, she was controversial for
different reasons. Unlike most
other dolls on the market, she
didn’t look like a kid. She was
17, buxom and a fashion model.
“Many people found her scandalous, and worried that she would
make girls think about sex,” said
Elizabeth Chin, a professor of media and design practice at the Arts
Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. Chin is working on a
book about the doll as a cultural
symbol, and how that plays out in
how kids interact with her.
Barbie’s creator, Ruth Handler,
reportedly first came up with the
idea for the doll after watching
her daughter revel in changing
the outfits on her paper dolls. Her
company, Mattel, launched the
The first iteration of Barbie
supposedly resembled a
German sex doll named Lilli.
first Barbie in 1959, after Handler
pushed the idea on her male colleagues for years.
It’s no wonder they were prudish. The first iteration of Barbie
supposedly resembled a German
sex doll named Lilli, who Handler
spotted on a trip to Europe. Lilli’s
“main function in life was to try
and chisel money out of men with
her looks,” according to Yona McDonough, the author of The Barbie Chronicles. (Mattel doesn’t
include Lilli in its official Barbie
origin story, though McDonough
and other historians have cited
Ruth Handler,
a co-founder
of Mattel Toys
Inc. and creator
of the Barbie
Doll, holds a
Barbie that
was created
for the 40th
anniversary
party for the
doll in New
York City in
February 1999.