Barbie's New Silicon Valley
Love her or hate her, everyone knows Barbie. She's an iconic American standard for all things female and boy oh boy does she get railed against. First it's her body then it's her tumultuous relationship with Ken (including last year’s ill-planned Ken tramp stamp tattoo), then it's her materialism and phew, when Barbie said "math is hard," it was the sound bite heard 'round the world. The girl can do nothing right.
So what's her next move? She's pulling an Elle Woods and proving to the world that underneath that Wonderbra and peroxide is a big hunk of everyone's favorite sex organ: the brain. Barbie done got herself a degree in computer engineering and a job at Microsoft. World, here’s "Computer Engineering Barbie.
She's got a Bluetooth smart phone and a hot pink laptop. She's sporting a binary code T-shirt and reading glasses, and she's ready to code some computer science data stuff. Unveiled at the Microsoft Mountain View campus on Wednesday to a bunch of Girl Scouts, no less than the Society of Women Engineers and the National Academy of Engineers weighing in on her nerd-over.
It's all some kind of attempt to give little girls a math and science role model, with the Mattel marketing person claiming, "We really believe that role-play ultimately leads to real life." And if our pink Corvette, stable of exotic pets, pilot’s license and blond beefcake boyfriend are evidence, we all learn a lot from our material objects of youth.
And yes, having a computer engineering Barbie is better than not, if dolls are the kinds of role models we aspire for our children, as opposed to, I don’t know, highlighting living breathing math, science and engineering female role models. But let’s remember, Barbie’s just a girl trying to make her way in a world where everyone has something to say about her and there’s no sense in hatin’. So good job dollface, you’ve come a long way. See you on the 545.
