# UL? Was Barbie doll developed in Germany as a sex toy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 23, 2004, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ul-was-barbie-doll-developed-in-germany-as-a-sex-toy/241571 "2004-04-23T03:53:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ul-was-barbie-doll-developed-in-germany-as-a-sex-toy/241571/1 "2004-04-23T03:53:53Z")
I was hit with this little nugget today and my bullshit meter went off the charts. Basically, Barbie doll was invented as a sex doll during or a little after WW2 in Germany. I can see the entire Blonde hair/blue eyed, Aryan Master race ideology coming into play with this, but a sex toy…wha…I won’t even insert a dildo joke here. ( Ha…I said insert a dildo) I checked snopes and came up dry (ha!) Help me out Obi Wan Dopi, you are my only hope! ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ul-was-barbie-doll-developed-in-germany-as-a-sex-toy/241571/2 "2004-04-23T03:59:00Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > I was hit with this little nugget today and my bullshit meter went off the charts. > > Basically, Barbie doll was invented as a sex doll during or a little after WW2 in Germany. > > I can see the entire Blonde hair/blue eyed, Aryan Master race ideology coming into play with this, but a sex toy…wha…I won’t even insert a dildo joke here. ( Ha…I said insert a dildo) > > I checked snopes and came up dry (ha!) > > Help me out Obi Wan Dopi, you are my only hope! That’s not quite accurate, depending on what you mean by “sex doll”. See: [http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1997/11/26harlot.html](http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1997/11/26harlot.html) ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ul-was-barbie-doll-developed-in-germany-as-a-sex-toy/241571/3 "2004-04-23T04:00:59Z")
Based on a German sex toy/gag gift doll named “Lilli”. > [@](#): > > Ruth Handler had noted that her daughter Barbara preferred playing with paper dolls that looked like adults rather than like children. When in Europe, she noticed a German doll named Lilli and bought it for Barbara. > > Lilli was a gold-digging character from a “racy” comic strip drawn by Reinhard Bentheim for Das Bild, and the Lilli doll began to be sold in Germany in 1955. It was marketed to adults, not children: M. G. Lord, in her Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll, characterized the original doll as a “gag gift for men, a pornographic character.” [Link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie) ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ul-was-barbie-doll-developed-in-germany-as-a-sex-toy/241571/4 "2004-04-23T04:03:59Z")
How much of a sex toy could it have been? It was only ten inches tall! The original, according to a documentary I’ve got around here somewhere, was based rather heavily on a German doll popular during the 1950s in West Germany. It was… um… well, a hooker. I believe her name was Lilli, although I could be mistaken. The doll was not intended for children, but as a sort of gag gift for grownups. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ul-was-barbie-doll-developed-in-germany-as-a-sex-toy/241571/5 "2004-04-23T04:04:55Z")
I’m not going to bother with the Google cites: do it yourself, after reading this: So. It’s Bollocks. Barbie was invented in the U.S.; it was modeled after a similar doll in Germany. The German doll was based on a cartoon character who was very “modern” and sexy. She was NOT a sex toy or a prostitute, but she was for adults. Barbie, OTOH, was a replacement for children’s paper dolls. Google for Barbie and Lilli. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ul-was-barbie-doll-developed-in-germany-as-a-sex-toy/241571/6 "2004-04-23T04:17:46Z")
This has to be the fastest answer for a question yet. I will have to remember to always put \*Sex Toy \*, _German \* and \* Barbie_ into every GQ thread title from now on. The results are spectacular.