What to Expect When You're Expected (Part 1)

By M.R.R

I reached down below my desk to turn on the computer and as I looked around me, changing from my winter boots to office-appropriate footwear, it all seeed strangely familiar. Not familiar in the sense that it was Wednesday and I had been at this job Monday through Friday for the past six months; it was familiar in the sense that I had done all this only several hours ago. It was as if I slept in the office or worked through the night, as thoughts of mentoring and public awareness (or, to use a detestable phrase, "branding") encroached upon my inexplicable, albeit incredibly important, R.E.M. cycle.

Yes, i had dreamt about work again. But what was worse was that i had solved a problem, figured out a task that had stumped me, and, as soon as 9am rolled around, i could execute my solution.

So it worked; i found a missing file that had been misfiled and it took me all of half an hour to fix it. Then I looked up from my desk in the basement-level office out the large window where I cannot see the sun itself, but I can see the color of the sky and I can see glares and reflections. I sat and thought about other people. Other people were sleeping in right now; other people were walking their dogs, meeting other people walking their dogs; other people were starting and then subsequently finishing something that they wanted to start and then subsequently finish. And I was refiling existing information.

Barbie: Every girl?

By Anna Mae Green, Guest writer

Barbie claims to be “every girl.” Rather, the toy company Mattel claims Barbie is every girl; “from urban teen to fantasy queen, she’s every girl!” Realistically, is Barbie any girl? In America and worldwide, Barbie is a phenomenon, representing American culture and catering to millions of children. Barbie represents an impossible attainability and subliminally preaches perfection to the world’s youth. Mattel created Barbie in a perfect light, with a perfect life, becoming a catalyst for the demoralization of the worlds girls in their strive for the impossible. Barbie’s dimensions are physically impossible to attain; “she has excessively long legs… her feet are eternally on point, she also has large breasts, long hair” (Gamber). However, now more than ever, girls and women of all ages are regularly getting plastic surgery, dying their hair a certain shade of blonde, and even becoming anorexic and bulimic, knowingly or not becoming more and more like Barbie. Barbie is not every girl, but a representation of the perfect girl, the girl we are supposed to strive to be like.

Like most companies today, Mattel has created a virtual world that Barbie lives in. Girls can interactively play with Barbie and model their Barbie world after the one online. The Barbie website has a link for parents that leads to webeliveingirls.com, a website more about the strength and power of girls than the strength and power of Barbie. Obviously fashioned for the over-protective mother who may see through Barbie, the website is geniusly designed to focus on the children who may be purchasing a Barbie doll rather than Barbie herself. In this important move, Mattel is able to show that Barbie can and will lead to strong, independent girls and young women. As life has confirmed, however, Barbie leads us down a treacherous path of trying to prove ourselves to the world and to each other through beauty and all things pink, not, on the contrary to a life of happiness and strength. The website features girls of all ages and nationalities, unlike the doll itself who is either white or white with black skin (i.e. all white features but clearly simply dyed differently). Some children, at least one child, altered her African American Barbie to become more versed in African American heritage; “the doll’s hair has had treatments applied to it, treatments that would be found in the African American community” (Gamber).
Barbie, fashioned as a white middle class teenager, was deemed to be a role model for young girls growing up in America; she was “an icon of what it means to be an American” (Gamber). As time progressed, Barbie spanned her arms worldwide to become a more versed and cultured Barbie. Incidentally, Barbie sent a negative message to countries worldwide, adding to the American influence across the globe. Later, Barbie adapted to the diversity of the world and altered Barbie for different national identities; “they are not using the same copyrighted face…they have marked her features differently” (Gamber). Barbie now has a different persona for every country she is sold in; however “at the core, Barbie is still this white, western ideal” (Gamber).
My mother and Barbie are the same age; both were born in 1959. My mother remembers growing up with Barbie; she received one in a red bathing suit as a gift from a neighbor when she was about 6 or 7. She recalls however, that Barbie was a representation of the 1950s idealism and representation of women, but as the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s took over Barbie’s popularity waned. With women’s liberation, Mattel combated the movement by modernizing Barbie by marketing her in a police or doctor uniform instead of the typical bathing suit or dress originally included with the doll. Despite this attempt at modernization, Barbie remained a sexual and provocative figure. The new packaging and outfits included with Barbie was a farce; Barbie’s eyes were still bating with perverse motion, surrounded by intense eye makeup. Her breasts were still the center-point of an outfit and her feet were even now modeled forever on point, only able to wear high heels. As if placing Barbie as a police officer or as a presidential candidate undid the negative stereotyping associated with the doll, the marketing scheme worked. Barbie’s popularity was growing more now than ever before. However, there has been a recent resurgence of the original stipulates of the doll, almost reversing the women’s movement all together. Barbie remains an icon of the 1950s; her modernization plot was a clear ruse.
In the last few weeks and months, a court case has developed between Mattel and MGA, maker of Bratz dolls. Bratz dolls, slightly shorter than Barbie dolls, portray urban teenagers with slightly more attitude than girly-girl Barbie. Bratz’s popularity since their creation in 2001 has exponentially risen, outselling Barbie in the United Kingdom as well as in other parts of the world. Bratz dolls don’t pretend to be sophisticated and friendly like Barbie, but instead illustrate a rude demeanor with obvious sexual intentions. Mattel, feeling that the idea of Bratz was stolen from Barbie, is suing MGA, proving that the true intentions of Barbie are blatantly sexual ones.
Barbie preaches independence and intelligence but is the opposite. Mattel has given specific press conferences as to the marital or dating status of Barbie: at one minute she’s with Ken, at the next she’s not, then they’re together again. The relationship between Ken and Barbie presents a purely heterogeneous one. They live their perfect lives together, sending the message to young girls, the average consumer that to be happy is to be blonde, disproportionately slim, beautiful, and in a relationship with an equally beautiful man. Although put back on the dating market by Mattel, Barbie couldn’t be alone; what message would that send to young girls!?! Can one be happy without being romantically involved? The answer, made clear by Mattel is no; therefore resulting in Barbie reentering her relationship with Ken. Although intimating and insinuating sexual intentions, sex amongst Barbie and Barbie’s friends is unheard of; her permanently tattooed underwear would prevent this from happening anyway. Therefore, Mattel advocates a message of abstinence but has deep sexual intentions for Barbie and her lovers.
We live in a world today of conflicting ideas and interests, raging wars, a weak dollar and a deteriorating environment. Barbie lives in a different world. Her world is perfect, just like she is, emphasizing consumer culture and lavish lifestyles. If most of the world’s girls cannot even afford a Barbie doll themselves, how could they relate to a girl, albeit Barbie, who drives several cars at once, has hundreds of different outfits, and infinite accessories for every activity? Barbie is not every girl; she is not even one girl.
As time progresses, perhaps Barbie will become a thing of the past, she’ll be stuffed in boxes in basements and garages beside beanie babies and yo-yos, a passing fad that was popular once. Barbie’s fall may be due to competing products or ideas, or may be because her idealism is simply old fashioned and will finally become obsolete. Instead of representing what girls should be, Barbie might become an image of what girls should not be. Until mothers and daughters decide to make that change themselves, however, Mattel will continue to be successful. Barbie would not be successful were it not for the average consumer buying her at a rate of once every three seconds (Gamber). To be beautiful and rich is something to be treasured in this country so young girls will continue to gravitate towards such a role model until change by mothers and daughters is brought about.

What Art Isn't

Never has the American art world functioned so efficiently as a full-service marketing industry on the corporate model. Every year art schools across the country spit out thousands of groomed-for-success graduates, whose job it is to supply galleries and auction houses with desirable retail. They are backed up by cadres of public relations specialists — otherwise known as critics, curators, editors, publishers and career theorists — who provide timely updates on what desirable means.

--NYT, Feb. 15, 2009

ICELAND—By the Urridafoss waterfall, anti-industrialization protesters hold a banner demonstrating against the proposed damming of the Thjórsá River, which is under threat of housing a new power station. The waterfall has the highest volume of water passing through it in all of Iceland, 2007.

Barbie: Baller

On her 50th birthday, Barbie is a controversial role model. Some say she represents an unrealistic image of women. She is the standard of American beauty: blond hair, blue eyes, a tiny waste and tits to topple her over. Others contend Barbie, who has been a doctor and a pilot, is an entrepreneur and a role model. While no little girl should aspire to have her plastic breasts, I say that Barbie is a baller.
Barbara “Barbie” Millicent Roberts was modeled after a German doll in 1959 by a woman named Ruth Handler. Her daughter, Barbara (a.k.a. Barbie) was tired of her baby dolls and Handler was attracted to the German model which was an adult woman doll. Handler brought the idea to her husband, a co-founder of Mattel. The company was unenthusiastic with Handler’s idea and I need not say how rare a businesswoman was in the 1950s. Yet Barbie debuted in her great zebra bathing suit and the rest, as they say, is history.
I’m a feminist and I’ve never had a problem with Barbie. In fact, I love Barbie. I played with Barbie from the time my thumbs were opposable to the time when boys were more important than Barbies (fifth grade, ok?). I kept my Barbies in a big white bag filled with fabulous clothes and an array of little plastic multicolored shoes. I had over 20 Barbies, all different in appearance and personality. There was Theresa, a no-nonsense brunette with killer legs, obviously. There was Barbie’s teenage sister, Skipper, whose hair my sister shored to a buzz-cut before we got any male Kens. …A total lesbian now that I think of it. And then there was Keira. Keira was my favorite, Asian and awesome, with a streak of light brown in her beautiful jet black hair.
Like any famous woman, Barbie is surrounded with controversy. The most common criticism of the doll is that she is an inaccurate and unrealistic of women. If Barbie was a real woman, her body could not hold her internal organs and she would be unable to stand due to the weight of her breasts. Yet, Barbie is not a real woman; she is a doll. Margaux Lange, who creates jewelry from Barbie’s appendages, said “I think people have a hard time separating Barbie from a real woman.”
Barbie was a staple in my life for nearly a decade and not once did I think, “I want to look just like Barbie.” She was skinning and I was not, but I had parents telling me I could do and be whoever I wanted and a sister teaching me about self-confidence.
Girls are inundated with negative images of women daily, but Barbie is not just big boobs. Teen magazines that tell girls what “real” guys want from “real” girls but Barbie asks girls what they want from themselves. Barbie herself has had numerous careers, a lot of friends, and never married.
I do not regret one day I spent with Barbie. My sister and I played Barbies endlessly and can remember us going to bed one night, so excited to play Barbies the next morning. But my best times with Barbie were when I played with all my Barbies alone in my room. Through Barbie I developed a limitless imagination and a keen interest in people.
Barbie’s popularity is waning and her stocks are dropping but I hope Barbie is around for another 50 years so my daughters can imagine who they want to be. And the alternative is pretty frightening.

Love is not proud, you know.

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.
I don't know if I want to get married. I think weddings are pretty awful (the electric slide, drunk relatives, reading awesome poems like "Love is not proud, love is not boastful..." Ick.). I think that the normative family structure isn't so much traditional as it is unrealistic. Also unrealistic? Monogamy. But mostly, I'm just incredibly skeptical that I will meet a nice boy, fall in love and stay in love until that nice boy becomes a nice old man.
Yet, aren't I lucky. As a heterosexual woman in the 21st century, I have the luxury and the privilege to question marriage. Or if I meet a nice boy who, resembles a lumberjack, looks good in a suit, cooks, adheres to no preconceived gender constructs, and will hyphenate our babies' last names, I can marry him whenever I want.
I wish that every bigot who believes that same sex marriage is about more than simply two people committing to each other for life would watch this video. It made this marriage skeptic cry.