Story of Barbie

Barbie was born on March 9, 1959. Her creator is a woman named Ruth Handler. While creating this doll, her main inspirations were her daughter Barbara and another doll called Bild Lilli.

While paper dolls were so popular then, Ruth thought they weren't sustainable. So she decided to create a plastic doll with her husband who was already passionate about crafting things in plastic and they named her after their daughter, Barbara. Her full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. They created Barbie as a teen-age fashion model.

Since the day she was born, people seem to not getting her message at all. She was created in the late 50s and the beginning of the 60s. She was an independent young woman. Ruth intended to make a single, fabulous, successful, and career-oriented lady. She was first a model then had so many other careers. She was on the moon before any man. She was in politics while there was no place for women. Her main message was always women can do anything. Be anywhere. Be anyone. And do it all by herself. Without men. She had a boyfriend, because why not? But she has done everything by herself. She was a success by herself. No conversation should take that away. Since she is in our lives, she was nothing but an inspiration. She was a self-sufficient woman. Nothing can take away her power movements. She showed young girls that they can be anything, that they have a voice, they have power within to fight for their rights to live like Barbie. She showed them that girls could do numerous jobs, could be in numerous fields, and that they could have dreamhouses. She inspired them to be themselves.

Of course, I am aware of the debates surrounding her appearance. But do we, really want to blame A DOLL for beauty standards? Her message was never look like this, look like that. She always told us "You can be anything!". Yes, inclusivity is so important. The creators were too late to add different body shapes. Ableism was at its peak. We only get disabled dolls recently. It is one of the greatest joys for doll lover children to see a doll that looks like them. So this was very important. Inclusivity should have been one of their priorities. I understand and agree with these critics. But she is a cultural icon. We can not blame her for corrupted societies.

She was and still is an inspiration. She was the OG girl boss. Numerous movies where she was portrayed as an actor, never try to give us negative messages. I know there can be women who are negatively impacted because of Barbie who are reading this and I am sorry about that. But was it really Barbie's fault? Or once again, even if it is a doll, society tries to put a woman at the center of the blame.

I hope I was a success while I was trying to soften your hearts about my dear, lifelong friend Barbara.