When you mention Barbie, the image of a tall, thin but curvaceous doll dressed fabulously tends to come to mind.
And understandably so because these dolls do come out in these catchy costumes to make them more attractive to young girls.
Of course, Mattel, the company that produces Barbie, has also drawn some flak because of the unrealistic body proportions of its Barbie dolls.
This assertion only gains traction because of all those women who tried to become “human Barbie dolls” and had to undergo surgery to remove some of their lower ribs in order to achieve the ridiculously tiny waist size seen in the dolls.
And that’s not including the guys who try to become “human Ken dolls” and all the surgery that that project involves.
Watch to meet the new Judge Barbie in the video below.
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Video credit: Rumble
But to be fair to Mattel, it’s not their fault that people are trying to bring a popular product to life. Instead of looking at it as just a bad influence, we can acknowledge the huge impact these products have on people. It’s not necessarily the company’s fault that some people are trying to take things to an extreme by becoming the product itself.
As it turns out, Mattel is more than just about glamorous beauty because they’ve been coming out with so-called “career dolls” since 1959. And for 2019, they’ve decided that the year’s Barbie Career of the Year doll will be the Barbie Judge Doll.
The company made its announcement on Twitter, saying: “With over 200 careers since 1959, this year Barbie takes the stand as a Judge! The Barbie Judge Doll encourages girls to learn more about making decisions to change the world for the better.”
According to Lisa McKnight, senior vice president, and global brand general manager of Barbie, the company went this route after finding out that of the number of sitting US state judges, only 33% of them were women.
You have a choice of different skin tones and hairstyles although she does come with the black robe and lacy collar that looks like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s. The ensemble wouldn’t be complete without the gavel and round block “that kids can use to help her call the room to order and make important decisions,” said the company. You can get yours for $12.99 at Walmart, Target, and Amazon.
Barbie also joined up with GoFundMe to raise funds that will help “close the dream gap.” The funds will go to three nonprofits that promote female empowerment: She’s The First, She Should Run and Step Up.
The so-called “Dream Gap” stems out of research that shows that girls as young as five believe they can’t accomplish much because of their gender.
Mattel had recently released “Creatable World,” a line of gender-inclusive dolls. This allows kids to customize their dolls without the restrictions of gender norms.
Replaced!