Engineering with Barbie: Two Steps Forward, Five Leaps Back

When I wrote my last post, I didn't have much of an idea of what this blog might consist of. I only knew that I kind of missed writing things. Yesterday, I made a commitment to Jeff (my boyfriend whose name will likely come up a lot on here because he's a pretty central character in my life) that I would start posting at least once a week. I read a lot of articles that I find interesting--often they're about feminism, or population growth, or poverty, or climate change, or totally unrelated things--and I have a lot to say about them, and I usually just don't say anything about them.

This blog is me, taking a stand for saying things when I have things to say! Isn't that cool? If you don't know me, maybe not. I don't know. Anyways, I just read something that I thought was awesomely terrible, and I thought that would be a great place to start.

Barbie.

When I was a kid, my mom wouldn't let me have Barbie dolls, and she was a mean and terrible person for it. They had the coolest clothes and accessories, and I didn't understand her rationale at all. She told me that she thought that Barbies promoted unrealistic ideas of what women's bodies should look like, but as a 5-year-old I had no idea what a woman's body should look like, so I was pretty lost by that logic.

As a 24-year-old feminist who has had a normal share of body issues (really, does any female get through adolescence without any? Honest question), I get where she was coming from. I think Barbie's proportions are ridiculous, and the pink-and-girly theme is over the top and obnoxious, and I hate the way it shamelessly caters to ONLY GIRLS, such that any boy who might be interested in the vast fashion options or other themed toy options associated with the line is quickly shamed. Still, I do remember how appealing the toys were when I was a child, and I try to remember how few of the insidious messages that they send were actually absorbed when I played with them at friends' houses. I try to keep things in perspective.

So when I saw (yet another) alarmist headline about how terrible and misogynistic this Barbie book is, I was expecting it to be a gross exaggeration. The book is called, after all, "I Can Be A Computer Engineer." That's pretty inspiring to young girls interested in pursuing STEM fields, right? The girly, popular idol can also be brainy and successful?

Okay! Pretty cool! She's making her own game! Granted, she's all in pink, in the kitchen, eating yogurt, but it's a great start. Way to go!

...Oh. I see.

But don't worry! It gets better! Right after this, she talks about how she always makes sure to back up her work. That necklace she's wearing (the pink heart, because that's what girls like) is actually a USB drive. She plugs is in...

...and it crashes her computer. Then she plugs it into her sister's computer, and it crashes hers. She goes to school and asks her teacher for advice, and then gets boys to help her carry out the instructions. THEN, she takes all the credit for having the advice work out. Steven and Brian save Barbie's and Skipper's computers, Barbie gets all the credit, Skipper gives a presentation about how much she admires Barbie as an older sister, and Barbie gets extra credit because her puppy game (that Steven and Brian made) turned out so well. 

I know, right?

Barbie put out an apology for this book because of all the scathing reviews it got. Here are a few of my favorites from Amazon:

This post is getting longer than I intended very quickly, so I'm going to try to wrap it up. Here are my main issues with this book:

1. Barbie, as portrayed in this book, absolutely cannot be a computer engineer, and shows no desire to be. She barely touches a computer. She does not apply herself in any way to computing. The title is misleading.
2. Barbie receives nothing but praise even though she bumbles, manipulates, and cheats her way through the book. She does nothing praiseworthy throughout the whole thing, but to a child reading the book, that would not come across at all. If I were four years old and reading this book, I would not identify that she had done anything wrong because no one reacts like she does anything wrong.
3. Women in the tech industry struggle every day with having their hard work and intellect ignored because of their female status. This book supports women being treated as intellectually inferior, less capable, and lacking in drive--as long as they are rewarded in the end for whatever product they stamp their name on. Given how many women work hard every day and are still treated like their efforts are worthless, this is maddening.
4. Is it really so important that EVERYTHING be pink?

That last point wasn't the most important; I just wanted to end on a lighter note. And with that, I leave you. Until next time.