Our barbies, ourselves: an exploratory study of girls' play with Barbieâ„¢
Date
2004-10
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
Barbie has been a significant icon in mainstream Western culture since its
debut in 1959. Adults have imposed their own visions of children's play, most of
which were negative. At the same time their assessments of children's play were
based on assumptions rather than on actual observations. This thesis explores the
ways in which young (7-9-year-old) girls play with Barbieâ„¢. Through a unique
methodology that incorporated open-ended interviews with the girls, role-playing with
the dolls and a demographic survey completed by the parents, this study produced a
window into the girls' world of Barbie.
Beauty, dating, marriage, heteronormativity, male privilege, competition,
power and agency emerged as significant themes which informed and structured the
girls' play. The girls imagine themselves as the dolls, leading glamorous and
exciting lives while at the same time imagining the dolls as themselves experiencing
the girls' lives. Occasionally, the girls use the dolls to subvert mainstream ideologies
but most often Barbieâ„¢ is used to reinforce the conventional notions of femininity
which are inscribed onto the body of the doll as well as in the marketing strategies of
Mattel. One unexpected finding was the centrality of the Ken doll to the girls' play
which enabled the girls to practice heterosexualized romantic scripts (dating and
marriage). The girls played with Barbieâ„¢ as a way of imagining their future lives as
women in a patriarchal society. They see the benefits and rewards that can be
acquired by becoming successfully "feminine". It became apparent that the girls
were using their interactions with Barbieâ„¢ to balance the tensions and pleasures of
growing up female in a patriarchal society.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Women's and Gender Studies
Program
Women's and Gender Studies