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No, Mattel, It Isn’t Cool to Turn Eleanor Roosevelt into Barbie.
It’s really quite awful.
Forgive me if I seem a little breathless. I’ve had quite a shock just now. I’ve seen it and I can’t un-see it, so I’m here trying to make sense of this, trying to see how I can ever fit into a society that would accept my shero, Eleanor Roosevelt, as a Barbie doll.
According to the CNN article:
“One of the most influential women of the 20th century is being introduced as a role model to a new generation of girls.
Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt has been made into a Barbie doll as part of the company’s “Inspiring Women” series, which pays tribute to women throughout history. She’s the only first lady to have a Barbie doll named after her.”
Oy. There’s a reason, folks, why first ladies — especially first ladies like Eleanor Roosevelt — shouldn’t be objectified as Barbie dolls. Because no matter how much Mattel would like us to see their newest creations as anything but Barbie dolls, it’ll never happen as long as they look like freakin’ BARBIE DOLLS.
But if you’re still not convinced, let me just remind you that in her early years Eleanor Roosevelt was shy and insecure and saw herself as an Ugly Duckling, but when her husband, Franklin, became president and had to…
