Barbie F's it up again

[mercuryblues]

“Your robot puppy is so sweet,” says Skipper. “Can I play your game?”

“I’m only creating the design ideas,” Barbie says, laughing. “I’ll need Steven and Brian’s help to turn it into a real game!”

What the fucking shit, Barbie?

This is where you assume Skipper will be like, “Oh, why do you need boys? We can do it ourselves! Let’s learn and work hard and do things all on our own because a sense of accomplishment and knowledge are powerful weapons for adulthood.”

But no. Nope. Barbie’s just fine ending her work with the “design ideas” and a laugh. She’ll need the boys before she’ll have a “REAL GAME.”

Wait, wait. I need you to know something, and this is hard for me to tell you, because I’m guessing that like Helen Jane and me, you maybe believe in the good of people. You still hope that when we turn the page, there will be something empowering for Barbie and Skipper to experience. That maybe Steven and Brian are… I don’t know, maybe they could still be girls? But, no. It’s about to get even more misogynistic up in here.

http://pamie.com/2014/11/barbie-fucks-it-up-again/#.VGoU8DY3Y1s.twitter

What the fucking shit is my favorite quote of the day.

[Warpy]

1. Apparently, poor Barbie is "special"

and can't do anything without the help of men. This isn't as dismal as pediatrician Barbie telling Skipper (and the poor little girls) that her job as a pediatrician means she knows how to feed and diaper babies. No, Barbie, I think that job description is "Mom." Pediatricians do just a little bit more than that, like treat sick kids.

I would love to see this horseshit off the shelves but sales are probably brisk in the churchy parts of the country where men are men and women are fluff who work like rented mules behind the scenes.

As bad as Barbie has been for years, having her talk through these books makes her a hundred times worse.

[MadrasT]

2. Ah yes... the 2014 version of female "empowerment".

Smile and flash your tits and get boys to do stuff for you.

I weep for our daughters. Truly.

[Blue_Adept]

4. Not that it matters...

but it was written in 2010. And because of the furor it's been discontinued by the publisher.

The woman who wrote the book was interviewed a bit about it today and she was talking about how she had it designed so that her going to the guys for help to actually code it was about emphasizing teamwork. She noted that one of the instructors in the book was a woman to show the positive side of that as well.

[ismnotwasm]

6. Computer Engineer Barbie's Story Just Got Even Worse

http://www.refinery29.com/2014/11/78333/computer-engineer-barbie-author-apology

[cyberswede]

3. Gah!

My 12 yo daughter just finished the Hour of Code and goes to "computer club" every week. She made an app yesterday. Programming is her favorite thing to do in school. "What the fucking shit, Barbie?" is right.

[ismnotwasm]

5. Hacker Feminist Barbie

Last edited Sat Nov 22, 2014, 01:46 PM - Edit history (3)

Meet Feminist Hacker Barbie, avenger of girl nerds

http://boingboing.net/2014/11/21/meet-feminist-hacker-barbie-a.html

[Luminous Animal]

7. Ha! I was just going to post something similar!

Here are some links:

You can download the book here:

https://cfiesler.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/barbieremixed.pdf

Other blogs, comments and feminist submissions here:

https://computer-engineer-barbie.herokuapp.com

http://mic.com/articles/104602/the-internet-has-a-perfect-response-to-the-barbie-programming-book-sexism

http://caseyfiesler.com/2014/11/18/barbie-remixed-i-really-can-be-a-computer-engineer/

[ismnotwasm]

8. +1

[eridani]

9. Cool! Thanks so much for this link! n/t