Was there really a Barbie doll that bore the tattoo “Slut” on her arm?
I’m sure somewhere, someplace, there is.
Heck when we were kids Barbie made a real cool mistle when launched from the roof.
missile not mistle. Sorry Xmas is coming and well…
Not only did she have tattoos, but one of my Barbies had a mohawk and piercings all over. She was mainly our voodoo doll.
I’ll be there
Where I’ll teach what I’ve been taught
And I’ve been taught…
I once conceived of the Barbie S&M Love Slave™. She came in her own Love Coffin™ (sold separately) from which you could draw her forth for your infernal pleasures.
I think “Barbie” is a religious icon. That is to say, the debates about her “meaning” are protracted, profound, sanctimonious and frequently hostile.
There are people who point out that her outrageous proportions send a bad message to young girls. There might be something to that.
Other people, however, point out that Barbie is cast in a wide variety of roles, and might be seen as a really “with-it” woman. Bolstering this opinion is the relative insignificance of Ken, who (in his various incarnations) seems to be merely a convenient dick (although admittedly he doesn’t have one, if you want to split hairs).
Is Barbie a slut? Well, let’s not forget that the original doll was inspired by a German doll which was designed for adults. What those adults did with that doll is a mystery to me. Mind you, I suspect there are a lot of males who have undressed Barbie to ponder her beauty. What this did for their sexual development is a matter for speculation.
… and I’ve always wondered whether the fact that her head and arms came off so easily, have lead to children becoming immune to violence.
I’m not so sure I want a peek into Dex’s toybox… 
So close, yet so off the mark…
The original Barbie was patterned after a German sex gag gift for men, which was, in fact, supposed to represent either a whore or sexually aggressive woman. Someone spotted it after the war, brought one back and patterned a doll for little girls after it. Which explains now the thing I wondered 30 years ago, as a horny 12 y.o. (who took the clothes off of a Barbie and fingered the little plastic breasts), why in the world they gave such a ridiculously sexy body to a little girl’s doll.
Of course, a whole generation of women grew up thinking that was what women were supposed to look like, and a whole generation of men grew up trying to find Barbie in the flesh to have sex with. 7 of 9 (on the UPN series “Star Trek: Voyager”) is patterned after Barbie. Generations X and Y are now starting to get away from Barbie as their ideal.
JoltSucker: 7 of 9 is “patterned” after Barbie? You mean she was designed by somebody? (All right, you wags out there, I just know somebody’s itching to say she was “designed” by the Borg. That’s not my point.)
I find the woman’s proportions impressive, but they just don’t look right to me. I guess that’s because my sisters never had Barbie dolls.
Barbie a slut? Maybe, but did she ever want to use a strap-on on Ken?
Yer pal,
Satan
I remember an ad on tv for hiphop Barbie.She had a pager,a nose ring…oops.That was a parody on SNL!
The poster beneath me is really smart!
" . . . a whole generation of women grew up thinking that was what women were supposed to look like . . ."
Jolt, my sister and I played with Barbies as children, and we were certainly bright enough to know “this is a doll,” and neither of us grew up feeling inferior or thinking we needed 10" waistlines. I guess it may effect really stupid children, but on the whole, little girls are bright enough to get the, umm, “point.”
My Barbies were sluts, because these were the old early-60s models that still looked like the German Lili dolls: heavy makeup, lewd expression. Loved her! Much better than today’s vacant grin dolls.
Hey Flora, I’m just parroting the feminist line. I’ve heard more than one woman complain about how we get our ideas of female beauty from Barbie.
As far as 7 of 9 being “designed”, that’s exactly what I meant. The casters picked Jerri what’s-her-name, a tall thin blonde with a reasonably proportional chest, and stuck her in a ridiculously tight padded suit and HEELS. I always wondered why a an ex-Borg felt the need to wear heels…
So obviously us males are having sex sold to us (as a walking, talking Barbie figure). I should be indignant for being played for a chump, but I’m too busy staring and fantasizing…
There are lots of people who make and sell modified Barbies, Kens and rest of the gang. They buy the regular dolls and then do their own work on them. My mom has a good friend who does this for a living. She even made some Ken dolls modeled after me with my name on them. Really long curly hair (back when I had a lot of hair), an earring, black leather jacket, real denim blue jeans. It was pretty cool. Don’t know how well they sold, though. Hmmm…maybe I should inquire about royalties.
I have seen whole exhibits of Barbie paraphernalia on display, at SFO, here in San Francisco. In one of the display boxes was a group of “reconfigured” Barbies, including the most famous, Trailer-Trash Barbie. But I also spotted Hells Angel Barbie, Punk Barbie, Clubber Barbie, and the best one I have ever seen: Cross-Dressin’ Ken, complete with sequins and a feather boa.
Wouldn’t Mattel sue the living bejeebers out of people who “reconfigured” their products? Mattel is well-known for having no sense of humor or irony.
There was a Barbie with a tatoo made by Mattel, but it was of a butterfly, not the word slut. Mattel stopped manufacturing it because of parental complaints. Apparently, they didn’t want their little ones playing with a freaky looking doll.
Since we’ve mentioned 7 of 9 and also modified dolls, I once saw something on TV that made me laugh: a Star Trek fan had a collection of various Trek dolls, including one he’d made himself: it was apparently a ball of fur with various tubes and other protuberances.
When asked what it was, he said, “It’s a Borgified tribble!”
I still giggle when I think of that.