Students from a women's studies class at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and local artists have modified Barbie dolls to be featured at an art show and auction. (Photo by Tamika Moore)
Posted on 04/16/2008 3:06:54 PM PDT by Incorrigible
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Students from a women's studies class at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and local artists have modified Barbie dolls to be featured at an art show and auction. (Photo by Tamika Moore) |
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — C-section Barbie or Pro-choice Barbie will not be available in toy stores this year, but they will be featured in the upcoming Liberating Barbie Auction.
For decades, Barbie — with her unrealistically proportioned body, pretty face and long blond hair — has represented femininity to young girls across the world. A women's studies class from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and local artists are coming together for a show Friday to liberate the iconic doll.
Lovers of Barbie's fresh-from-the-factory beauty might want to skip this one.
UAB associate professor Michele Wilson encourages students taking her class on Barbie to modify the doll, freeing it from the constraints of female stereotypes and ideals that have touched the students' lives.
For the past five years, Wilson has featured those modified Barbies in an art show and auction, raising money for women's studies at UAB. This year the show will feature local artists' interpretations of Barbie to display along with the students' dolls.
When Wilson started inquiring among the city's artistic community about whether people would be interested in participating, the response was immediate, she said. She started getting phone calls from people she had not even contacted.
Positive or negative, women have a connection with Barbie, she said.
Several artists have padded the doll's hips or stomach and modified the breasts to be more realistic.
One doll has a broken arm and leg, a black eye and a covered mouth. "Not all relationships turn out well,'' Wilson said. "She is indicating she has been silenced, abused.''
Pro-choice Barbie has several dead babies in the bottom of the box, the artist's interpretation of how some people view those who support abortion rights as baby killers.
At least one student in every class cuts off the head and places it on the chest, representing a desire by women for people to look them in the eyes, not at their breasts, Wilson said. One of her favorite dolls was created by a pretty sorority girl who put Barbie in a wedding dress and attached clinging babies. It represented expectations that she would just start having babies once she was married.
Kate Tully, a UAB junior, took the Barbie class last year. She transformed her Barbie into a robot to represent a former job where a male co-worker broke her spirit, Tully said.
During one staff meeting, the co-worker, who was not her supervisor, accused her of not taking direction. She became emotional and left the room. The next day her male boss said she shut the door too hard, in an un-ladylike manner.
Her metallic silver Barbie, with metal wire hair, represents how she felt when she was no longer allowed to express emotion or be heard.
"I just had to work and smile. Be a lady. Brush it off. Work and smile. No matter what anyone said to me or about me,'' Tully said.
She said the class was therapeutic for her.
"I don't think I ever really let myself get angry for how I was treated,'' Tully said. "I'm not a doormat anymore. And I'm definitely not Barbie — thank heavens.''
The stories behind the modified Barbies often provoke tears in Wilson's class as students talk about abuse, discrimination and the lack of acceptance, sometimes in their own families, Wilson said. They also talk about body types and Barbie standards that most women will never achieve.
Beth Borden, a Birmingham artist known for her kudzu sculptures, created the modified C-section Barbie, which is positioned in a yoga pose to show a Caesarean section scar and stretch marks. A Barbie lover as a child, Borden said she has wanted to participate in one of Wilson's shows since she saw the first opening a few years ago.
"I struggled with a negative body image and mild case of bulimia during college and I do not want that for my daughter,'' Borden said. "I think society, and I include Barbie in our society, fosters this negative body image from the time we are little girls and boys.
"I think a show like this is an excellent way to encourage all of us to stop trying to fit into an impossible mold and liberate ourselves to be the individuals we were created to become.''
(Lisa Osburn is a staff writer for the Birmingham (Ala.) News. She can be contacted at losburn(at)bhamnews.com.)
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
As a man, I've never understood the loathing that some women have for Barbie. My nieces had 2 dozen and within a few years, they were put away and forgotten. My 11 year old daughter has never had interest in dolls though she likes video games and sports (ahhhh, daddy's girl!).
The students quoted in this article seem unbalanced. And this is supposed to be educational?
Do the students get a ‘Liberally Indoctinated, Skull Full of Mush Barbie’ certificate at the end of the semester?
This is Hugh. I suggest the State approve a $250,000 educational grant to further the studies of remaking Barbies into Provocative Statements.
No. Better make that an even half million. Trailer Trash Barbie could be an entire course in and of itself.
That’s not art.
Man, I was just thinking what a great contest it would be for a conservative talk show host to hold a “Conservative Barbie” contest.
Mutilating Barbie isn't something new-age. Just ask any brother who's gotten hold of his sister's dolls.
I was an Art History major my last time through college (shhhhh), and while it may or may not be art, it is absolutely in no way original, as it has been done about a million times.
Far worse than not being original, though, it's not even edgy. Mattel has lost no fewer than 2 lawsuits over what artists have done to Barbie. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie#Parodies_and_lawsuits
That doesn't even take into account the fact that the Barbies being sold today do look like hookers. It seems Mattel has beaten these idiots to the punch. If you can't beat em, etc.
So, meh.
My ex was 5’7” with lush blond hair, striking blue/green eyes and measurements of 36-22-34, it was close enough to Barbie for me.
How about Preggers (by Scott) Skipper, Gangsta Ken, Druggie Midge, Slutty Francie, Alcoholic Alan, Insestuous Relationship Staci and Todd, Streetwalkier Stacey, Crackhead Casey, Child Molester Brad, etc. Sure, keep sending the money!
dollars to donuts somebody shows up with a “liberated” muslim Barbie.
Islamic Barbie
What, no Klaus Barbie?
How sexist and intolerant.
But t someone stole all our good ideas and wrote a play ....
The Vagina Monologues.
During one staff meeting, the co-worker, who was not her supervisor, accused her of not taking direction. She became emotional and left the room.
Great concept, but that one needs about 40 extra pounds to be realistic.
LOL! I hadn’t seen that one yet!
When I had Barbies I was too little to understand the subtle differences between Ken and GI Joe...
My hubby plays army with the kids. They set up two bases, an airstrip and a hospital. Barbies are used by both sides for the hospital, espionage and to distract the other side...
It even had Ken dressing in Barbie's clothes to get out of the draft. :)
Does anyone remember when "feminism" was all about obtaining equal pay, and not about learning to blame others for what you haven't accomplished?
As a sideline, I had a Letter to the Editor printed a few days ago, and today a got a dyed in the wool, angry, sneering, bile filled hate letter, unsigned, from a local Liberal. My letter contained no curses, singled out no one for race or religion, and just opined that the same people that are handwringing over the dangers of ALL the CIVIL RIGHTS we have LOST UNDER BUSH are the ones that want to tell me by law how I can protect my family, where I should donate my money, what issues I am allowed to disagree with, and whom I should be forced to tolerate. As many of you probably have already encountered in life, this open, publicly state opinion earned me a poisonous, bitter, personal, caustic attacking. These are the people who wany YOU to tolerate sodomy, ignorance, and every goofy Point Of View in the school your kids attend...well, every POV but YOURS, that is.
Anyone who goes to the site mentioned here will have to laugh that they go out of their way to point out that the site for the auction is “kid-friendly!” Man, LOL, “Kids, come along with butch-mommy to see how we have taken one of everyone’s favorite symbols of childehood and cut her up, mangled, battered and genrally whizzed on her!”
Being an art history major, can you define what is artistic as opposed top self expression covered under the first amendment?
Sometimes/often self-expression is artistic or the outcome is the creation of a work of art, so I'm not sure I'm getting exactly what you mean.
How do you separate "self-expression" from "artistic"? And why would you do so?
Also, could you define "Art"?
Obama calls that one “Pennsylvania Barbie.”
That’s interesting.
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