Hello ‘new Barbie’. ?

psych psyche

Yes I agree too DL. My own memories of playing with that type of doll and observing my granddaughter with hers, there is a brief window of interest in them, yes roughly 5 -7 before children move on. It's all about styling the exterior, no interest in the body underneath or any imagined psych the doll might have. . My boys did ponder on the fact that Action Man didn't have a willy, insomuch as he wouldn't be able to go to the toilet, but quickly came to terms with the fact that he was a plastic inanimate object so he wouldn't need to, but small boys are very taken with the lavatorial aspects of life at that age, or the ones I knew at any rate.

Yes indeed. So we have to ask who started the "fanfare" about it being a trans doll?

Clue: it's not Mattel.

Kids will just see it as a new barbie*… *I think that's the point.
So it’s completely defeated the purpose by the fanfare of a trans doll why make it more than a new barbie by giving it a trans title
???oh my word hold head in hands and off to tidy the garden and talk to the birds

Spot on DiamondLily.

From my experience, the age of children playing with Barbie and Action Man dolls, tends to be the 5-7 year olds.

At that age, none of this stuff is relevant, so I wouldn't be buying the "new" doll, let alone be discussing all this with children of that age.?

Let small children be children - Barbie dolls are just about dressing them up, and imaginative play.?

Good for Barbie for celebrating women.

I wasn't a fan for a long time but i realise now that, Barbie is Barbie, doesnt actually affect the changing fashion for body type. Although I hope the current trend for big thighs and bottoms sticks around for my own sake.

Children are far more capable of understanding and accepting than people give them credit for. Any indoctrination has always come from adults around them into narrow minded views.

I remember when adults with narrow minded views were terrified children would be encouraged to be gay by education.... Rather than the truth, which was to be their authentic selves which isn't a choice and accepting of others differences.

Another black dolly from the 50s owner here. I mithered and mithered my poor nan until she gave in and spent a good bit of her pension on my beloved Minnie. I have her still.

Kids see what they want to see in toys, as posts upthread illustrate by children 'customising' their Barbies, Sindys (love the White Lightning and fags stylee maggiemaybe) and Kens to their own imaginations.

I had never seen a black person in real life to identify or make a judgment for or against, I just saw a beautiful little dolly. My nan clearly had the same view simply buying it for me without comment.

I’m not sure these dolls are even being marketed for children. I suspect they are for the adult doll collector market instead.

kids will just see it as a new blonde Barbie

I think that's the point.

Well will a 5/6 year old have heard of Laverne Cox ( I hadn’t either)
Isn’t it better to just have a doll does it need a sexual representation at all that s my question ?
Should a 5/6 year old be looking at a doll and seeing that it fits a category ….. no, nor should adults it’s no one’s business where you have an unused bit extra or not
I don’t see why for a minute we have to know ANYONES blooming sexual orientation and surely a small child doesn’t have to understand that some men want to be women etc etc

The doll is just showing that whoever you are you can be a Barbie but it’s not is it as there is nothing to show it’s a man dressed as a woman most kids will just see it as a new blonde Barbie not Bobby turned Barbie

Well clearly lots of people have heard of her, including people on this thread. I'd never heard of the astronaut who's got a Barbie representation either. I don't think we're Barbie's target audience though.

My DM didn’t approve of “teenage” dolls, so I’m still jealous of you lot who got the Tressy. I did have a black doll in the 50s that I took everywhere, till we crawled out of a den I’d made and I found her face had been bashed in on the way. Oh, the trauma!

My DDs eventually remodelled their Sindys with Kappa tracksuits, tattoos, White Lightning and fags. I’m not sure who their inspirations were.

I have never heard of Laverne Cox, so the fact the doll is modelled on her meant nothing to me.

BlueBelle I don't know much about trans people and I don't know much about children, so maybe I've got this all wrong, but this is my interpretation.

The doll is a plastic figure made to represent Laverne Cox. Cox is an actress who happens to be trans. The doll kinda looks like Laverne, but Barbie doesn't have visible sexual organs. When they brought out the Rosa Parks doll, or the Sarah Gilbert doll, there was nobody complaining that it was a travesty, that the dolls couldn't represent those women. Nobody is complaining that the Ken doll is a waste of time because it doesn't have the male bits on show.

The doll is just showing that whoever you are you can be a Barbie. Whether you are a civil rights activist, a vaccine researcher or if you were born a man and appear in Television dramas.

But some are jumping in the trans bit, starting threads that get people all indignant, or suggesting that it's the sexualisation of children. It's just a doll representing someone who was born a man. That's all.

Are they doing a trans "Ken" doll as well??

Volver I don’t understand… if the barbie looks completely like a woman how is a child of 5/6/7 supposed to know it’s a trans doll and why would a child of that age group need to know anything about these things
Perhaps this new Barbie should come with a doctor doll to remodelled her and that can be a new game make Ken into Barbie (sigh)
So basically it’s made for the adults to tick a box ?

Children do not need their lives complicated by adult issues
Let them be children for goodness sake

I also liked Tressy - her hair grew! ?

Oh what a fantastic story (the bird lady). I really love that. It appeals to my sense of humour! Thank goodness for our eccentrics, they bring a bright ray of sunshine into our lives.

Barbie would be unable to function if her proportions were in a human.
Neck too long, lots of physically impossible anatomical quirks.

He used to push a buggy to the shops with a football in it

Callistemon21

Aveline

Same as 'Action Man'

Action Man used to get pushed around in a pink dolly's pram, tucked up cosily with Sindy in our house!

No Barbies allowed.

That reminds me of one of my sons.

He used to push a buggy to the shops with a football in it.

A Barbie that is more representative of 'real women' would be a good thing, IMO. A skinny, busty doll is not giving children a realistic shape to which they can reasonably aspire.

I had this poster on my office wall in the 90s, where students could see it.

Aveline

Same as 'Action Man'

Action Man used to get pushed around in a pink dolly's pram, tucked up cosily with Sindy in our house!

No Barbies allowed.

Maudi

Perhaps an overweight Barbie with a few tattoos would be more apt.

?????????