In this together: On dolls and toys and messages they send
The opinions stated in this article are solely those of the author and not of The Davis County Clipper.
So who's going to tell them?
The Barbie people at Mattel apparently tried to be politically correct, make everybody happy and drum up more business besides by making Barbies that are taller, shorter and wider.
I haven't yet heard if it worked, but I can guarantee it wouldn't have worked for my mother.
As near as I can tell, my mother didn't buy me or my four sisters a Barbie doll not because of the impossible figure, but because of the focus on shoes, clothes and fashion.
In the old days when little girls played with dolls, they were often baby dolls and they would rock them to sleep, feed them bottles, burp them, comfort them, sing to them.
So think what might happen if instead of playing at nurturing motherhood, you start playing at wearing revealing clothes and shoes with big heels and focusing on what you looked like and what you wanted.
The late 60s and 70s is what happened, just when the first girls to play with the doll came of age.
And then the 80s, when women had to come up with euphemistic titles like "domestic engineer" rather than admit they had chosen to stay home to raise children.
Saying this is going to cost me more friends than a controversial column on politics or journalism, but Barbies are not the best or the most necessary toy for girls.
And when the toy is spun to make it look like it is somehow empowering girls, it is especially ironic.
I'm all about women having opportunity and being able to choose whatever they want to do however they want to do it and for equal pay to boot.
But does dressing up a doll like an astronaut really engender a love of science and space and start a path to a future in the field?
How can having the accessories of a detective or a dog owner or a mermaid develop skills in searching or training or swimming?
And back to the everything-but-motherhood.
By now, 57 years later, where is the Barbie with the SUV and the children?
If there's a Ken, shouldn't there be a little Billy and baby Bonnie at some point?
And if the only viable future for girls is in the workforce, how does a large wardrobe prepare one for that?
I didn't need to put designer clothes on a super skinny, super buxom doll to learn the skills and determination I would later need in life.
I didn't need a doll to tell me I could do anything I wanted to do. That message came from my mother.
There was never any doubt in our house but that I would get a college degree – not in case I wasn't a mother, but because I would be one.
There was no doubt I could choose any future I wanted – not because I had a doll but because I had a mother who helped me develop both ability and confidence.
I gave my granddaughter Legos when she turned four recently. Princess Legos, to be sure, thank you Legos.
I hope she will play at building and creating and designing and then rebuilding and recreating and redesigning.
Why play at dressing up like an engineer when you can be one.