Hate, Torture, Inanimate Plastic, Matel

What do pre-pubescent British girls hate more than school, not having the right lipgloss and Muslims? Barbie. Barbie Hate is real, I tells you!

So, what did you do with your Barbie dolls when you were just a lil' bit too old for them?

I packed mine up into an old suitcase, along with Disabled Ken (one of his legs was broken off in a tragic incident when I was about 3 or 4), MC Hammer Ken (yes, he had the big pants, even as a doll, and came with a nice taped message about stayin' off the drugs, but I think I must have been on some to have gotten him in the first place..!) and all of the Barbie knick-knacks I'd collected over the years (you know the sort of things ~ clothes, shoes that don't actually fit onto Barbie's feet, Barbie car, Barbie doctor set, and so on).

I still have that suitcase, although I haven't opened it for Lord knows how long. Not even sure if the catches work on it any more! (The suitcase is pretty old ~ it belonged to my Nanna and then my Mum and then Barbies). Who knows, the Barbies may have even been eaten by mutant silverfish *lol*

Reading this story made me think about having *not* tortured Barbie, Ken and Skipper into an early plastic pink Barbie coffin. Maybe things have changed from when I was little with the way Barbies were treated when finished with, maybe not, who knows. Perhaps kids are starting to take out their feelings about frustrations with being female/other females/adult females/feelings of stereotypes/need for scapegoatey things on Barbie!

I mean, in this study, boys expressed nostalgic feelings about their dolls like Action Man, but when it came to girls and Barbie... "The doll provoked rejection, hatred and violence." Maybe it's to do with the girl thing of wanting to occasionally destroy other girls ;) Girls aren't team players by nature, at least not with other females.

Who knows... maybe it's just Barbie Hate.