Bitchy History - Barbie and Modern Womanhood

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Bitchy History, the irreverent history podcast that would like you to just sit quietly, not touch anything, and for God's sake, do not say that 2024 is your year.

00:00:11.340 We don't need to be jinxed.

00:00:13.000 welcome to the first episode of bitchy history for 2024 the first episode should have been on

00:00:33.480 the fourth but the fourth was also the start of my spring semester and there was just no way that

00:00:38.220 I was going to get an episode done and get an episode out at the same time, so here we are.

00:00:43.600 This semester I'm teaching again, having taken literally the least relaxing sabbatical from

00:00:48.860 teaching last semester that was ever possible. I seriously think that last semester was more

00:00:53.380 stressful than the semester where I was teaching four units of Intro to American History back to

00:00:58.220 back with no time for lunch. Don't ask me how, but it was. In any case, I'm back to teaching

00:01:04.480 history at the university, intro to American history for the incoming freshmen, and a couple

00:01:09.160 of upper division courses, including American history from 1945 to present, which was a wildly

00:01:15.260 stressful class to put together because my perfectionism is at its absolute worst when it

00:01:20.380 comes to topics I'm passionate about, and the American Cold War is kind of my wheelhouse,

00:01:25.760 at least as far as the cultural and social history is concerned. Which brings us to the topic of

00:01:31.080 today's episode. Barbie! Yes, it's 2024 and we're still talking about Barbie. Though to be fair,

00:01:38.280 the point of today's episode isn't about Greta Gerwig's absolutely iconic 2023 film, because

00:01:43.900 this isn't a film review podcast, and also it's been a bit since that came out. It's a history

00:01:49.600 podcast, so instead we'll be looking at the history of Barbie and her relationship with feminism.

00:01:55.280 As a modern woman and feminist, Greta Gerwig movie aside, there's a certain way we're meant

00:02:00.760 to react to Barbie these days. In fact, Gerwig really grasped that social expectation in one

00:02:06.760 specific scene of the film.

00:02:08.520 Come on Sasha, give it to her. Destroy Barbie. 1.00

00:02:13.320 Okay Barbie, let's do this. You've been making women feel bad about themselves since you were 1.00

00:02:19.640 invented. I think you have that the wrong way around. You represent everything wrong with her

00:02:23.880 culture? Sexualized capitalism? Unrealistic physical ideals? No, no, no. You're describing 1.00

00:02:29.780 something stereotypical. Barbie is so much more than that. Look at yourself. I am technically

00:02:38.880 stereotypical Barbie. You set the feminist movement back 50 years. You destroy girls' innate sense of 1.00

00:02:44.100 worth and you are killing the planet with your glorification of rampant consumerism. Sasha and 0.75

00:02:48.700 her friends, ironically supposedly named for the Bratz dolls of the early 2000s, have what I like

00:02:54.460 to call a chronically online take about Barbie. There's some nuggets of truth buried in there.

00:03:00.260 I mean, Mattel sells Barbie as a mass consumer product that generates a fuckton of plastic and

00:03:05.820 paper waste. That can't be denied. But other parts of the statement are the stereotypical complaints

00:03:11.180 against stereotypical Barbie that ignore the historical importance of the doll and what she

00:03:16.120 meant to the women's rights movement when she was created. But again, Gerwig knew this and gave us

00:03:21.560 that information right up front. Since the beginning of time, since the first little girl

00:03:29.600 ever existed, there have been dolls. But the dolls were always and forever baby dolls.

00:03:40.840 the girls who played with them could only ever play at being mothers which can be fun

00:03:49.200 at least for a while anyway ask your mother

00:03:54.940 this continued until 1.00

00:03:59.680 yes barbie changed everything then she changed it all again all of these women are barbie 1.00

00:04:13.940 and barbie is all of these women she might have started out as just a lady in a bathing suit 1.00

00:04:21.260 but she became so much more. She has her own money, her own house, her own car, her own career. 0.95

00:04:30.980 Because Barbie can be anything, women can be anything. And this has been reflected back 0.96

00:04:37.760 onto the little girls of today in the real world. Author Deborah Monroe wrote on her blog about the

00:04:44.460 epic battle of the grandmothers that ensued over Barbies versus baby dolls as the toys she should 0.56

00:04:49.900 have as a child. Lois, the grandmother with the creative free spirit, bought her baby dolls. Ruth,

00:04:55.940 the traditional homemaker, bought her baby dolls in every size and shape imaginable. Ruth didn't

00:05:01.940 think Barbies were appropriate toys for little girls and believed that girls should play with 0.99

00:05:06.360 baby dolls in order to learn to be good mothers. This led to Lois absolutely buying every Barbie 1.00

00:05:12.360 and Barbie-related accessory for Deborah that she could get her hands on, just to spite Ruth.

00:05:17.160 A hilarious story, but one that highlights the very important issue at the heart of the creation

00:05:22.640 of Barbie. Barbie was the first mass-produced doll to not be a baby doll when she was released in

00:05:28.640 1959. It was a major change for the representation of women in the realm of toys, which are arguably

00:05:34.640 some of the most formative parts of modern childhood. The toys you play with, the games

00:05:39.560 you play, are going to impact how your brain develops. Baby dolls are, at their core, a

00:05:45.160 propaganda tool. Well, all children toys have been propaganda for a very long time, really.

00:05:51.400 Throughout history, toys have acted as tools of gender role socialization. Boys get action figures, 0.51

00:05:57.220 toy guns, and G.I. Joe cartoons, while girls get baby dolls, play kitchens, and makeup kits. 0.56

00:06:03.000 And nowhere is the difference between the marketing of toys for boys and girls more

00:06:07.080 noticeable than it is during the 1950s. This makes a lot of sense, considering that this is

00:06:12.120 also the period in which the specific gender color coding we've come to expect today,

00:06:17.220 pink for girls, blue for boys, became popularized. The 1950s becomes the breeding ground for the

00:06:23.480 modern ideas of what traditional gender roles and behaviors should be. Mamie Eisenhower's

00:06:29.000 inauguration pink ball gown in 1953 and her statements like, Ike runs the country, I turn 0.64

00:06:35.440 the pork chops, and I have a career, his name is Ike, really set the tone for the gender role

00:06:41.500 expectations for women in the post-war period. In any case, let's listen to a selection of ads for

00:06:47.720 toys from the mid-century. I've got a secret to tell you. Mommy! See? She has a new baby,

00:06:58.940 and so have I. Teeny Tiny Tears, and my baby can do almost anything hers can do. Teeny Tiny Tears

00:07:06.220 drinks and has to be changed, just like a real baby. And look at the fun you'll have

00:07:12.040 giving Teeny Tiny Tears a bath. Why, she's so happy, she's blowing a bubble. And you 0.96

00:07:17.700 can dress Teeny Tiny Tears in any one of many beautiful outfits you can buy. When she cries

00:07:24.080 teeny tiny tears sing her to sleep try your tears tiny tears you're my very old baby

00:07:34.320 mother's here tiny tears singing you a la la bye

00:07:41.520 teeny tiny tears with beautiful outfits at teeny tiny prices take your new baby home today

00:07:48.160 G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe, fighting man from bed to toe

00:07:54.200 On the land, on the sea, in the air

00:07:57.520 G.I. Joe attacks! Boom, boom!

00:08:00.960 G.I. Joe takes battle! Bam, bam!

00:08:04.220 Terrific battle!

00:08:06.160 Terrific equipment to have a battle with!

00:08:08.740 When you get G.I. Joe and the authentic G.I. Joe equipment,

00:08:12.820 you'll have the greatest realism,

00:08:14.940 the greatest fun you ever had in playing soldier.

00:08:18.160 box after box of authentic uniforms and equipment so you can change your G.I. Joe soldier into a

00:08:24.920 camouflage marine ready for battle. A Navy Frogman with complete scuba suit and inflatable knife

00:08:30.640 raft. An Air Force pilot with high altitude helmet and air vest. Get G.I. Joe and get G.I. Joe

00:08:37.620 equipment so you can set up exciting battle action whenever you want. Remember, only G.I. Joe is G.I.

00:08:45.760 Joe. Both of these commercials are advertising for dolls, but there's a marked difference in

00:08:51.260 the type of play that is expected from each kind and from each gender. Even the toy commercials

00:08:56.660 that were toys that were advertised as gender neutral feature a pretty clear message on gender

00:09:02.300 rules. One Lego commercial from the 1950s has both boys and girls playing with the toy, but when the

00:09:08.560 boy plays, he builds an airplane. When the girl plays, she builds a cute little suburban house

00:09:13.800 complete with landscaping and this isn't to say that barbie changed all of that barbie was still 0.99

00:09:19.460 part and parcel of a set of gender role expectations mattel marketed different toys to

00:09:24.700 boys and girls that filled those expectations as well take these two mattel commercials for instance

00:09:30.540 yesterday i bought a phone with death and i got a new boyfriend and i became queen of the prom

00:09:37.280 Queen of the prom?

00:09:39.200 And I'm going to do it all again today.

00:09:41.420 Again?

00:09:42.500 Sure, playing with Tal's wonderful Barbie game.

00:09:45.360 Here's how you play.

00:09:46.680 Start at home, finish up for a formal. 0.93

00:09:49.780 And your Barbie and Mitch dolls play along too.

00:09:52.760 And you get all sorts of surprises.

00:09:55.040 Go to parties.

00:09:56.220 You might even get a boyfriend.

00:09:58.080 It might even be ten.

00:09:59.720 Then you can go to the prom.

00:10:01.580 And if you win, you can be queen of the prom.

00:10:04.060 Just like Barbie.

00:10:05.060 Gee, queen of the prawns. 1.00

00:10:08.060 Well...

00:10:11.060 It was bedtime, all right.

00:10:13.060 But there was Billy playing a new game protecting Earth from flying saucers.

00:10:18.060 A flying saucer had landed, and out of it popped a saucer man.

00:10:22.060 Show him your new Mattel Thunderburp gun, Billy.

00:10:25.060 It fires with a real vibrating action in an entirely new way.

00:10:28.060 No caps, no batteries.

00:10:30.060 Pull the bolt, adjust the movable sight, and you're ready to fire again

00:10:36.580 That's not all, saucer man

00:10:38.240 Look at this new Mattel-O-Matic machine gun

00:10:40.660 Crank off a smoking burst

00:10:42.300 Or single shot

00:10:45.220 Too much for Mr. Saucer Man

00:10:47.340 Those guns are just out of this world

00:10:49.540 Okay, Billy, back into bed now

00:10:52.080 Yes, both of Billy's guns are those safe, sturdy Mattel toys

00:10:56.540 The bolt-action Thunder Burp gun is $3

00:10:58.900 and the Mattel-O-Matic 30-caliber air-cooled machine gun is only $1.80.

00:11:03.720 They're yours wherever toys are sold.

00:11:05.980 You can tell it's Mattel. It's swell.

00:11:08.860 Gotta love that shoot-first, ask-questions-later approach

00:11:11.880 to visitors from outer space that Mattel was pushing.

00:11:14.680 But outside that little issue, there's a clear difference in the marketing.

00:11:18.580 But that being said, the marketing between the baby dolls of the 1950s

00:11:22.220 and Barbie are also nearly night and day

00:11:25.040 in respect to the expectations and priorities of girls. 0.93

00:11:28.140 Take this advertisement for one popular 1950s doll, the Betsy Wetsy,

00:11:33.380 compared to the 1960s advertisement for the Barbie Dreamhouse.

00:11:37.660 Let's all swing along with Ideal's new Betsy Wetsy.

00:11:42.000 Come along, swing along with Betsy Wetsy, a baby doll that's really new. 1.00

00:11:50.040 Rub-a-dub in her tub with Betsy Wetsy, the doll Ideal made just for you. 1.00

00:11:57.020 Betsy's tub goes here, Betsy's tub goes there. Her hair is almost real. So bathe and dress and care for her. For you, she is ideal.

00:12:13.320 Ideal's Betsy Wets drinks and wets and cries and freds. 1.00

00:12:18.320 All Betsy Wetsys come with Layette. 0.98

00:12:21.320 And you can get Betsy Wetsy with wind-up swing 1.00

00:12:24.320 or with her own tub that fits any bathtub.

00:12:32.320 What's going on here?

00:12:34.320 A housewarming.

00:12:36.320 Right.

00:12:37.320 Now Mattel's famous Barbie has a brand new dream house

00:12:41.320 with special furniture that's fun to put together, and even a sliding door that really opens.

00:12:47.780 Inside, there's a big new closet with hangers for all the Barbie costumes you buy.

00:12:53.340 Best of all, Barbie's new dream house is lots bigger now.

00:12:57.180 You can actually change the size and shape of the rooms, like this, or this, or lots of other ways.

00:13:05.400 You'll love Barbie's wonderful dream house. It really is a dream.

00:13:10.100 Betsy Wetsy is a doll that you play with as a mother, practicing maternal instincts while you

00:13:14.800 bathe, dress, and change their diaper. On the other hand, Barbie is an extension of the girl herself,

00:13:20.520 someone she can imagine herself being. And Barbie is not a mother. She's the main character in her

00:13:25.820 own story. The story focuses on her, not her child. She has her own car, her own house.

00:13:32.340 Basically, she's the epitome of a Kesha song.

00:13:39.300 So instead of little girls being encouraged to imagine themselves as mothers,

00:13:46.880 you have a generation of young girls being encouraged to see themselves as independent women

00:13:51.480 who don't need a man or a child to have a fulfilling life.

00:13:55.120 Barbie is the prototype for the modern woman. 0.98

00:13:57.880 Of course, the main problem, as Margot Robbie pointed out in one interview for the Barbie film,

00:14:02.280 is that image of life wasn't actually attainable for women when Barbie first emerged on the scene in the 1950s. 0.65

00:14:08.720 Barbie went to the moon before women were allowed credit cards, and you're like, oh yeah. 0.99

00:14:13.300 And like Barbie did all this stuff at a time when they could not have any financial autonomy in their lives.

00:14:17.600 And you're like, surely that infiltrated our collective minds in some way and made us go,

00:14:23.460 I want a dream house. I want my own house. I want my own car. I want to do whatever job I want to do.

00:14:28.260 Anyways, that got deep. Sorry. Do you have a quick fun answer for that question?

00:14:31.380 No, that was amazing. 0.87

00:14:33.020 By the time the Supreme Court had decided that states couldn't ban married women from getting birth control 0.74

00:14:38.300 with Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965, Barbie had already been a fashion designer, flight attendant,

00:14:44.560 registered nurse, ballerina, and a professional tennis player. By the time the first state passed

00:14:49.820 a no-fault divorce law in 1970, and the Supreme Court decided that states couldn't stop single

00:14:55.320 women from getting birth control with Eisenstadt v. Baird in 1972, and abortion was legalized by 0.99

00:15:01.920 Roe v. Wade in 1973, Barbie had been an astronaut and a fashion magazine editor. Around the same 0.62

00:15:08.640 time that women were guaranteed equal access to credit cards and mortgages by the Equal Credit

00:15:13.420 Opportunity Act in 1974, Barbie was an Olympic skier. The same year that my mother was denied 0.89

00:15:19.720 a library card in Lake Charles, Louisiana because my dad wasn't there to give her permission to have

00:15:24.880 one, Barbie became a fashion model, Olympic swimmer, and actress. That's a story you'll hear

00:15:30.100 more about in may for my mother's day episode by the way you'll also get to meet my mom and by the 0.99

00:15:35.580 time the 50th state in america finally criminalized marital rape in 1993 barbie had been a veterinarian

00:15:43.480 rock star travel agent small business owner unicef ambassador figure skater member of the united

00:15:49.440 states air force rapper and police officer barbie was an icon barbie is an icon are there problems 0.97

00:15:58.020 when it comes to her measurements, crass commercialism, and the slow adaptation of Barbie

00:16:02.540 to diversity? Yeah, of course, no one is perfect, and she was made by Mattel, the same company that

00:16:08.220 encouraged young boys to shoot saucer people with wind-up machine guns in the 1950s. We take what we

00:16:13.940 can get. But Sasha has it more than a bit wrong when she says that Barbie set back the feminist 1.00

00:16:19.240 movement 50 years. I'm not going to give Barbie more credit than she's due. I'm sure the feminist

00:16:24.600 movement would have done just fine without her, but she didn't set them back. If anything, she

00:16:29.400 encouraged a generation of women to look beyond the foregone conclusion of a life dedicated to

00:16:34.480 motherhood because their childhood was shaped by dolls that required diaper changes because they 0.54

00:16:39.540 really wet themselves. And for that, we should be grateful.

00:16:43.320 thank you for tuning in to hear me bitch about history again i know this is a slightly shorter

00:16:56.520 episode than usual but i am more than making up for that fact with a 90 minute episode next week

00:17:01.460 with a special guest bitchy history also has a new merch store find it at tpublic.com slash user

00:17:07.760 slash bitchy history and check out the new merchandise designs that i'm going to be rolling 0.86

00:17:11.980 out there. Also, if you'd like to donate to my 2024 conference fund to help me afford my academic

00:17:17.420 conferences, I'm slated to present research at two different conferences this spring. You can

00:17:22.460 donate at ko-fi.com slash Professor Meredith. I'll see you back here next week for a very detailed

00:17:28.440 bitch session about the Puritans. Trust me, you will enjoy it. Unless you have fond feelings for 1.00

00:17:33.680 William Bradford, Marjorie Taylor Greene, or Lauren Boebert. But in that case, you were already

00:17:38.380 listening to the wrong podcast, and I don't know what to tell you.

00:17:41.980 Thank you.

Bitchy History - January 11, 2024

Barbie and Modern Womanhood

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