BARBIE AND SOCIETY

One tool that was perfect for the type of playing we did were Barbies. I think I had the most out of anyone, at least twenty by that time, everyone else only had about five. At the time, I found it very interesting the ways little girls were shown to play with dolls in the media. I remember seeing an episode of “Dexter’s Laboratory” that showed Dexter’s sister Deedee “playing” with her doll. All she did was brush its hair and change its clothes. At the time I found this puzzling, that’s not how you play with a Barbie. You decide on the clothes and hair before you start playing so that it can fit in accordance with the story you were doing. Another memory is of Sid’s sister, Hannah in “Toy Story”, the way she would talk to her dolls as if they were alive. I much more related to the way Andy was shown to play with his toys. Now that I’m older I think the reason for this is men, or perhaps all adults, don’t know how little girls play with toys, and that it’s really nearly identical to the way boys play with toys. He-Man is to My Little Pony as cowboy hat is to princess tiara. A gun is just the same as a crescent moon wand or a ring that can give you the power of a rag. (more on that later.)