Barbie: ABC Update
ABC News reports that the Barbie web site originally had "I don't know" for the third answer, and changed it to "I don't want to say."
So, OK, Concerned Woman for America Bob Knight was not lying about the wording, and I apologize for saying he was. They just used the wrong "DK" wording.
But ... really ... what leaps of logic does it take to conclude from "I don't know" that Mattel is promoting the "homosexual activist agenda?" To even suspect that -- what leap of logic does it take?
"This was just an innocent oversight," says Lauren Bruksch, a spokeswoman for Mattel. As a rule of thumb, Bruksch said, the questionnaires at barbie.com always try to have a neutral answer or nonresponse option. For gender, this third option should have been "I don't want to say," rather than "I don't know." The Web site has since been fixed.
Knight had said CWA would contact Mattel to investigate the matter, but Bruksch said Mattel first heard of the complaint when ABC News called for comment.
So, OK, Concerned Woman for America Bob Knight was not lying about the wording, and I apologize for saying he was. They just used the wrong "DK" wording.
But ... really ... what leaps of logic does it take to conclude from "I don't know" that Mattel is promoting the "homosexual activist agenda?" To even suspect that -- what leap of logic does it take?
posted by JimK at 8:04 PM
2 Comments:
WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 3, 2006 — The Concerned Women for America were … well, concerned. Outraged, even. Was Barbie becoming part of the transgender movement?
This is the lede of the ABC News article.
Had I known that Barbie was trans I would have had a much happier childhood :-)
I think asking 4-8 year olds what their sex is and providing a third choice is much ado about nothing. Who can possibly be harmed by this, one way or the other? I wasn't affected by the lack of a third choice as a child, and had I been given one on the internet (had it existed) it would not have affected me either. Children know quite well what their sex/gender is, since they're born with it. The great difficulty is what to do when you have a serious physical incongruence and a hostile family. What has been of enormous benefit over the past ten years was the internet providing resources and support for people who had no idea what to do with their conflicted selves. Barbie was nothing but an unreachable role model for all girls, trans or otherwise.
I find the trans panic of Knight and the CWA personally insulting, but more pathetic than anything else. What they are afraid of I have no idea.
I am not sure what 4-8 year olds are doing on the net answering surveys. How many times do we tell our older kids(or I do at least) that there are all sorts of people out there trying to get information about you(a teen) for no good purpose. Now I don't really suppose that Mattel is full of perverts who want to contact 4-8 year olds and try to meet them or have on-line sex conversations with them. I think this is all part of marketing- you get info on the age and sex of the child- and then with other questions develop a product marketing strategy. I think marketing Barbie is more what we need to worry about-if FOTF had complained about Barbie's image and some of her personas(Catwoman Barbie-don't let your children under 16 see this one!, we would have something to agree about. There is nothing right about Barbie-from her body(why can't she even have normal feet!!) to her clothing to her pretend occupations. I would never let Dr. Barbie take care of pregnant Midge-(this is a real Barbie gift set) and I wouldn't let Teacher Barbie near a school!
Post a Comment
<< Home