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When I was a kid, Barbie was the coolest. She had the dream house and a pink corvette. She was a doctor, a teacher, a lawyer, an astronaut… plus she had her hottie husband Ken, and a few great girlfriends. What little girl didn’t want to be Barbie?!
Of course, I missed out on the S&M Barbie:
The doll’s image is transformed with kinky fishnets, motorcycle jacket, black gloves and boots.
Makers Mattel say Black Canary Barbie, out in September, is based on a DC comic superhero of the same name.
But religious group Christian Voice said: “Barbie has always been on the tarty side and this is taking it too far.
A children’s doll in sexually suggestive clothing is irresponsible – it’s filth.”
Black Canary Barbie? Let’s be realistic here. Little six-year-old Susie isn’t going to have any clue who in the hell the Black Canary is (I do, but I’m a geek). This Barbie looks like some fetishized Dominatrix Barbie, complete with fishnets, boots, and leather. Here’s the Barbie:
No girl is going to look at that and think, “SWEET, ass-kicking DC-comics superheroine!”. They’ll probably still want it, and get it, but come on. How is this appropriate for little girls? I guess in the Bratz era, where girls are sexualized from the moment they’re able to smile, this is just fine and dandy, but not for me. There’s no way in hell I’d buy this for my daughter.
I kind of wonder if this is Mattel’s way of keeping up with the Bratz empire. The Bratz dolls are dressed like this on a regular basis, except even trashier, so maybe Mattel thought they needed to vamp Barbie up in order to compete. Screw Barbie the astronaut. Why encourage girls to be astronauts when they can be vapid S&M streetwalkers?
My worry is what will happen to these oversexualized little girls when they get older. What kind of issues are they going to have? How will this affect them as adolescents, teenagers, and adults? How will this affect their relationships and their adult sexuality? Although, I guess we’re already seeing the results. When we see half of all STD infections getting contracted by kids younger than 24, and kids wanting to be pregnant in high school, you’d think parents would understand. But nooo. They keep on slutting their four-year-olds up, and now we’ve got a slutty S&M Barbie they’ll buy for their kiddos. And the fault lies with the parents. Plain and simple.
So, what will happen with the S&M Barbie Black Canary Barbie? Will it die a slow death on the shelves with parents actually using common sense for once? Or will it be a huge seller like the skankalicious Bratz dolls? I guess only time will tell.
UPDATE: Several people are saying that this is no big deal because this is a “collector’s piece”, and little girls won’t want it or be getting it. To which I say, bullshit. I’ve seen the collector’s edition Barbies. And yes, maybe they are not marketed towards little girls, but they are usually displayed in the toy section with all the rest of the Barbies. And little girls usually still want them. You bet your ass parents still buy them for their daughters. I never had the collector’s edition Barbies because my mom said they weren’t meant to be played with, not because I didn’t want them. How many mothers and fathers still say no to their children, though?
And it doesn’t matter how you dress it up, or whether you call it a “collector’s edition” or not, because it still boils down to the fact that this is a toy for children, no matter what you do to it. And this is not appropriate for children.
MadKalnod says: I’m sorry Cassy, but I’m calling shenanigans. The outrage over this is totally misplaced. I agree that Black Canary Barbie isn’t that appropriate for little girls, but that’s only because they aren’t the intended market in the first place. These are intended for adult (technically…) collectors, just like the Supergirl, Batgirl, Wonder Woman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn Barbies were/are. Mattel’s been making high-priced collectible Ken & Barbie sets for years, like Captain Kirk & Yeoman Rand for the Trekkies, Agents Mulder & Scully for the X-Philes, and a line for The Lord of Rings devotees including Aragorn, Arwen, Legolas & Galadriel. Now I could see your hypothetical six-year-old girl interested in Tolkien Elven Royalty Barbie, but not so much Rand or Scully. Like them, Black Canary isn’t for little girls because that’s not what they want. As a lonely comics dork, I can assure you that, yourself being anecdotal evidence to the contrary, most girls just aren’t into that stuff, certainly not enough to base a marketing campaign upon them. While it may be available at Wal*Mart, at $35 a pop I predict that far more of them will be sold to 30-year-old comics fans through Diamond Previews than to parents thinking this is just perfect for their little Susies. These aren’t meant to be played with by Little Susie, they’re meant to sit on a shelf by the computer with the rest of Big Stanley’s Batman memorabilia.
zyrdh says: oh ,what’s this?
I’m with you, Cassy. If someone gave one of these abominations to one of my granddaughters, I’d call the police to see if it was actionable. Contributing to the delinquency of a minor, or something. No child should be exposed to something like that. If someone wants to tart up a Barbie doll, let them buy the clothing separately. Keep this garbage away from little girls. They have too much to deal with as it is.
MadKalnod, thanks for injecting a bit of sanity into this. Your point of view is not one that I’ve heard aired until now. I’m betting most of those who’ve adopted a view on “S&M Barbie” have not even heard of the things you have mentioned.
The funny thing is, I keep hearing about these oversexualized little girls, but I also hear plenty about parents who are concerned about doing all they can to fight back. Some buy their daughters clothes from the boys’ section (since those are less revealing), limit their access to TV, and numerous other methods of what you’d call “responsible parenting.” That really is what it comes down to – I don’t think S&M Barbie is really going to either make or break a girl sexually…in fact, I’m having a hard time even seeing it as the proverbial straw breaking the camel’s back.
If parents are concerned about this doll having an adverse effect on their kids, the most obvious step is to not buy it. If they want to do more, the next step would be to write to Mattel and express their outrage.
I can’t say this item from Mattel is a surprise. I first read of a skantily-dressed Barbie in 2002, which was purportedly aimed at collectors, much as Black Canary seems to be. Of course, this begs the question who would have a lingerie-clad doll in their ‘collection’, but that’s a different thread entirely.
You hit the nail on the head, Cassy: There’s no way in hell I’d buy this for my daughter. So long as there are responsible parents with that attitude, these dolls will not make their way to kid’s rooms, to be their play things. The same goes for a linked aricle on The Sun’s webpage about saucy clothing aimed at kids; I doubt 7 year olds are buying the sexy thongs for themselves, and the parents are the ones who should ask themselves if their actions are at all responsible.
I dunno…Black Canary Barbie could deal out a little pain to the bad guys! That could be construed as S & M, …if they liked it!
GoKings57 says: As a collector of 1/6 action figures (think really expensive and really detailed 12″ GI Joes), there’s a pretty big sub-set of this hobby that focuses on, how shall we say, umm, female figures in provocative clothing. In fact, you can even buy after-market “breastplates” to give your figure a very-large set of breastages.
So yeah, this is definitely geared towards the collector’s market.
Dntctheprob says: Sorry, I don’t see the problem. This barbie has clothes on that can be changed like any other. She doesn’t have body piercings or tats, I don’t see any whip and chain accessories either.
She looks better than Cat Woman in the last Batman movie. Did your kids watch that?
If you’re worried about sexualizing little girls, keep them away from some of the graphic and violent video games and off the internet. Easier to just lock them in a closet until they are 18 because in these times, you cannot sheild them from it.
Stop by the mall on the way home today and check out some of the goth chicks outside the music store. Now they are scary, graphic, sexual and living and breathing, not a doll that you have the choice to look at or not, let alone buy.
Stop by the mall on the way home today and check out some of the goth chicks outside the music store. Now they are scary, graphic, sexual and living and breathing, not a doll that you have the choice to look at or not, let alone buy.
I always have to resist the urge to call out, “Hey! Halloween isn’t for three months yet, ladies!” Geesh…didn’t the punk movement go out of style about 20 years ago? What are these teenagers THINKING?
And on that note, can someone explain to me what all the ridiculous “goth” accessories has to do with the original Gothic peoples of Germany, if anything? Were the Roman legions battling people dressed like that or something?
jack says: They just got outraged? Do they live under a rock? There are numerous ‘tarted up’ Barbies with fisnets, miniskirts, leather jakets and what have you. There’s lingerie for Barbie.
This is so last century.
If you’re gonna be outraged, try to keep up.
So does it come with the little handcuffs that a “real” S&M Barbie would obviously have? (If not, why?) And if so, would that make it better or worse to the prudes? All this has done is get the doll a lot more hype than it ever would have had before, thus boosting sales. great marketing ploy.
And now because of this, I also know who Black Canary is. 3 hours of Wiki links to various superhero pages later… Comic book people need lives.
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