Barbie: A Toy from my Childhood

Dear Barbie,

What’s behind your plastic smile? You only smile because you were created to but I smile because it is in my nature, it’s a cure for a bad day . . .

You don’t know what a bad day is because you live in Barbie’s dream house.                 Where it’s always sunny no matter what.                                                                                  Where you are shielded from pain and nothing changes.                                                   Where you pretend everything is perfect.                                                                                  Even though the truth is you spend most days alone because Ken is out in a so-called big man’s world doing who knows what.

You want a set of pearls, but I want a set of books. Books that are located inside a               big sparkly building called law school where I can find pearls of wisdom.                       These pearls never lose their sparkle or become dull.                                                                   I don’t want to live in a world where everything sparkles.                                                               I want to live in a world where people smile because they feel so not because they           are forced to. A place where there’s no injustice and no child goes to bed hungry.

Even though I will never look like you, you will never look like me.                                          You will always remain young and beautiful but I will have the privilege to see             children, grandchildren and future generations grow before my eyes while you sit in your plastic box.                                                                                                                                  Society tells me to be like you but I say NO!                                                                                     I have outgrown you. I don’t need you anymore.                                                                              I choose to admire someone real just like me.                                                                                  I choose a real woman, my mother.                                                                                               She has real hips, a real voice and a real heart, which Mattel forgot to give you.                                   It’s not your fault for the way you look,                                                                                            but I’m not ashamed of the way I look either.

I’m brown skinned, you’re light skinned.

I’m me and you’re you.

I’m bold, proud and Latina.

By Beatriz Alfaro

 

Many Chicanas chose art as a vehicle to communicate their experiences and emotions. Also to raise awareness about the issues affecting their community during the Chicana movement. I decided to write an art piece because I was inspired by Mónica Palacios’ monologue “Tomboy” and Sandra Cisneros’ essay called “Barbie-Q.” Palacios’ piece is very bold because it challenges gender norms and heteronormativity. She poses a lot of questions, which can make people uncomfortable but it also gets them thinking. Art that is thought provoking is important because society rarely likes to think about what’s wrong with society.  A lot of people go on with life without really thinking about how others are made to feel because they don’t fit in the way society wants them too. Uniqueness, differences, diversity, etc., is often discouraged by society because it is easier to deal with homogeneity. It sends the wrong message to women and it places on them the burden to conform to what society has created for them. “Tomboy” is also very strong because despite what society has done to her she claims who she is without regrets or apologies. Palacios takes a stand and it motivates other Chicana women to do the same. It creates a space for all women to speak up and also to identify with each other’s experiences.

In Sandra Cisneros’ essay, the speaker displays the effects Barbie has on young girls and the toll it has on their self-esteem. The speaker feels very insecure and flawed compared to Barbie. Thus it greatly impacts girls who are very different from Barbie especially, racially but in her essay she also talks about socio-economic class. Girls feel the pressure to have the same things as their friends because Barbie promotes materialism and fakeness. However in real life that’s difficult to do and if they can’t measure up they feel inferior. Not everyone can afford to own multiple Barbies or even one single doll plus the multiple accessories that come along with her.  The majority of girls worldwide, even those whose parents can’t afford to get them one, have grown up with the idea that they need to be like Barbie to be happy. Although Barbie does not represent who women truly are, the toy continues to be bought by parents and desired by kids.

At the end of the essay similarly like Palacio, Cisneros acknowledges that she is different but she is proud of it. It is seen when she says, “—who’s to know” which shows that it doesn’t matter. By not caring about what others think, she’s affirms that she can be happy with or without it because she’s being herself. Both authors make a critique of society, but at the end they choose to be strong and not weak.

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