The Barbie Project

So I follow Barbie on Instagram.

Yep, you heard me correctly. Barbie has an instagram. It's pretty rockin' if you ask me, there is a lot of pink. And I generally hate the color pink.

As a child, (that sounds so weird to say, I still feel like a child sometimes even though I'm 19) I loved to play Barbie. Ask anyone who lived with me, and they will nod their heads, I loved Barbie. In fact, I still do. I still watch all of the latest Barbie movies that come out and I have kept my Barbies. Sometimes I pull them out and stroke their silky hair and put on a new pair of shoes (that never seem to stay on) and a new outfit. Each doll had a name and their own unique personality.

Stacey, a brunette doll, was my favorite. She was everything I wanted her to be. Some days she was a princess who had no memory of being one, and would go on a long quest to find herself with her horse companion. Other times she was a rockstar, donning leather pants and a red plastic guitar to rock her audience along with her band and dealing with the everyday drama of being famous. Other days she was a warrior, a paladin that fought for her people against the evil magics of her kingdom and rebelled against the wicked king. And sometimes, she was just a regular high school girl who dealt with everyday high school dram, the biggest drama of all always revolving around Prom. And I
always added a touch of romance.

Kara, Rachel, Stacey, and Logan (can you see the resemblance???)

Stacey had her two best friends: Rachel and Kara and her boyfriend/friend Logan (named after the X-Men). And then there was her rival Dominique, a distastefully fashioned girl who somehow was still the most popular girl in school. And she also had a mother, who was always just Mom, and two little sisters: Yasmin and Kelly.

You're probably wondering, "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Because of the Barbie Project. One day, I went onto Instagram and Barbie's Instagram had hash tagged #BarbieProject. The Barbie Project is something Mattel started after Barbie's named and image began to be labelled as an influence in self-esteem issues and the wrong role model for little girls. I proceeded to watch every YouTube video that Mattel posted on Barbie's YouTube channel about the Barbie Project. I found that I was seeing myself in the little girls featured in the videos and I also found myself giggling at how sweet the message is in the video.

For me, Barbie meant bonding time. I remember that my favorite time with Barbie was when I played with family and friends. My sister especially, she would always help me dress Stacey and braid her hair in just the way I wanted it. I felt loved by my sister, because she took the time to play Barbies with me. She even had her own special Barbies too, I'm pretty sure she kept them too. I remember being so excited when my cousins were old enough to play with Barbies. I took my precious troop of dolls to my cousins and shared my magical world with them. We would spend hours on heroic quests and we'd never finish the story in just one day, so I'd come back another day and another and another, until the quest was completed. And then we'd just start all over again with a brand new cast of characters and a brand new story. I loved seeing my cousins, it was a special time for me and I hope that they feel the same looking back too.

I have Stacey and her crew to thank for my spark to write. When I played with my cousins, I would go home afterwards and write down the adventures Stacey had gone through, and I had so many plans to write amazing adventures that I hoped to publish when I was older. Looking back, those stories were far to childish to ever publish, but Barbie was a major influence on me becoming a writer, she helped me to love writing.

To me, I never saw Barbie as an influence to be something I wasn't. I never felt like I was proportionally incorrect compared to her. I was raised by amazing parents who taught me that Barbie was not a standard to look up to, that she was only a toy. But Barbie was also my friend. Friends come in different packages, and for a long time, Barbie sort of was my only friend. My parents taught me never to judge people based off of their appearance, and I never did. I applied those same morals to Barbie too. I didn't care that her feet were way to small to hold her up. I didn't care that her waist was small. Just like I never cared if my best friend was skinnier than me, or maybe a bit chunkier than me. It isn't the package that matters, but what's inside.

I think Mattel did a great thing starting this Barbie Project, because it shows that a doll literally has no power over a child except for fueling imagination. The little girls featured in those videos never once mentioned that they when they grew up they wanted to be a model or Barbie herself. They wanted to be rock stars, teachers, doctors, vets, authors, scientists, astronauts, costume designers, beat boxers. Those girls had big and powerful dreams and Barbie doesn't inhibit those dreams, but enhances them.

A mother herself said, "There is no such thing as one perfect female form and every form is beautiful. Barbie is beautiful, and so am I, and so is my daughter and so are all the strong, wonderful women I know. If anything, what Barbie can teach us about our bodies is to not allow ourselves to be defined by how someone else sees us but rather, break down those stereotypes and become dreamers, leaders, and history makers. You know, kinda like what Barbie does across the world." (I highly suggest reading this whole article here).

Barbie isn't just one thing, she is infinite, so many possibilities. She is who you want her to be.

Wow, I think this article may have just beat my Hobbit blog post on cheesiness. Sorry guys!

The Whole Mattel Barbie Family

And I regret to say that in the process of this photo shoot,

Dominique was brutally murdered.

She had it coming.