Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Ch 14 - Hetero Barbie?

The chapter starts out by discussing how lives of heterosexual females becomes reliant on their relationship with boys at a very young age. At this young age they feel pressure to fit the mold of the "ideal women" through their features and characteristics. A prime example of the "ideal women" is the Barbie doll. The Barbie doll is glorified, however, the doll is not married and has no kids. With this being the case, why would a women that is different from so many other women be considered the "ideal woman"? This confusion leads to a multitude of interpretations.

The author specifies one interpretation as Barbie being not a woman, but a man in drag. This is evidenced by her manly features and assortment of makeup.These characteristics speaked the interest of homosexual men.  Furthermore, Barbies life is free of heterosexual norms, making the toy inciting to those who do no fit the heterosexual mold. These facts have lead to Barbie being constructed to fit many different molds. In fact, Rupaul has her own version of the Barbie doll which is part of a larger collection. The author then brings normative jobs into the occasion. Normative jobs are jobs which are expected to be a certain gender such as a soldier for men, and dancer for girls. Osborne, the owner of the Barbie collection, discusses how Matel can use Barbie to influence society in the way they desire. This can have a profound impact on the perception sexual identity.

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