CHICAGO \u2014 When I was a kid, I hated Barbie.<\/p>\n
I mean I hated her.<\/p>\n
But Christmas 1980, I found \u201cWestern Barbie\u201d under my tree. This was long before I knew the terms \u201crace,\u201d \u201cethnicity\u201d or \u201cidentity,\u201d and long before learning about the groundbreaking research that Drs. Mamie and Kenneth Clark did in the 1940s, when they found that black children internalized white supremacy and preferred Barbies to black dolls.<\/p>\n
Unwrapping Barbie was a blow.<\/p>\n
The dreaded doll came from my favorite uncle, the one who seemed to understand that I liked playing with his toolbox and hanging out in the garage more than organizing tea parties, so it really hurt that he gifted me a reminder of all I would never be.<\/p>\n
She was tall, thin, blond, blue-eyed, busty and had impeccably straight teeth \u2014 everything every man and woman in America seemed to cherish. I could take one look around at the women in my family and know that there was zero chance I would ever measure up. Even my teeth were hopelessly crooked.<\/p>\n
Plus, Barbie was boring. I had wanted a Lego set, but what I got was a stiff, plastic white woman with a ridiculous cowgirl outfit and high-heeled boots. What was I supposed to do with that?<\/p>\n
I tore her hair out and threw her in the garbage long before New Year\u2019s Day. I never told my uncle, who had merely attempted to give his favorite niece the \u201chot\u201d toy of the season, that I had been insulted.<\/p>\n
But that was all eons ago, long before there were brown and black Barbies, Barbies in wheelchairs, Barbies with prosthetic limbs, Barbies wearing hijabs and short Barbies with curves.<\/p>\n
There are now professional Barbies, including military, artist, politician and banker Barbies.<\/p>\n
And, today, there are queer Barbies, too.<\/p>\n
The new line is called \u201cCreatable World,\u201d and it is touted by Mattel as \u201cdesigned to keep labels out and invite everyone in \u2014 giving kids the freedom to create their own customizable characters again and again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The labels in question are gender-identity labels and, boy, does that make some people mad as heck! So does the very premise, which sounds like it accurately reflects real, current life and is not subversive: \u201cSwitch long hair for short hair \u2014 add a skirt, pants or both. It\u2019s up to you! Mix and match, swap or share.\u201d<\/p>\n
A post on the conservative website Vigilant Citizen captured a certain type of outrage, with the uncredited author writing: \u201cThe Mattel dolls are yet another attempt at indoctrinating children while they\u2019re young, planting the seeds of gender confusion in their developing minds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another post, on the progressive website Medium, had its own criticisms.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if it is a craven, trendy cash-grab, it does reflect how far society has come in terms of trans and nonbinary acceptance in just a few short years,\u201d wrote Devon Price, a nonbinary person who teaches sociology at Loyola University Chicago\u2019s School of Continuing and Professional Studies.<\/p>\n
Still, they \u2014 \u201cthem\u201d and \u201cthey\u201d are the pronouns that nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people like Price (and me) use to avoid being gendered \u2014 were disappointed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAssociating moderate\/soft features with androgyny is a problem because it is racist,\u201d wrote Price. \u201cWhat types of people have small foreheads, narrowish jaws, relatively little body or facial hair, and lips that aren\u2019t \u2018too full\u2019? White people. White [assigned female at birth] people, to be exact. In so many ways, our commonly accepted social portrait of gender neutrality is just a rehashing of norms of white, female beauty \u2014 the ideal nonbinary person is expected to be a stereotypically pretty, lithe, thin, light-skinned white person, with relatively little body hair, no facial hair, and features that are narrow and European.\u201d<\/p>\n
Realistically, thoughtful parents of all political persuasions worry that they\u2019ll accidentally indoctrinate their children in some negative way. And yes, trans and nonbinary people are misrepresented, demonized and fetishized far too much in the media.<\/p>\n
But there is one important truth: These dolls look like America\u2019s public school children.<\/p>\n
All races, all bands of the gender spectrum, all styles of clothing and hair. Girls who \u201cdress like boys\u201d and boys who love pink and sometimes pretend they are feminine, in addition to girly girls and scrappy boys. Plus, shaved heads on either gender.<\/p>\n
I work in an elementary school in rural Wisconsin \u2014 trust me, even there both boys and girls disregard \u201ctraditional\u201d gender norms.<\/p>\n
So, if it\u2019s no biggie for kids, let\u2019s not let it cause too much fuss among the so-called grown-ups. And we might even think about adding this new line of Barbies to our shopping lists this holiday season.<\/p>\n
Esther Cepeda\u2019s email address is estherjcepeda@washpost.com<\/a>, or follow her on Twitter: @estherjcepeda.<\/p>\n