I have an Inkling

Transgender Barbie?

I was reading a friend's blog post about the Steve Austin- 6 Million Dollar Man doll (not action figure), and it reminded me of an incident in my past.

You see, I had the 6 million dollar man doll too- but it was my 'modifications' to a Barbie doll that I remembered.

You see like most girls, I had not one, but several Barbie dolls. I did not, however, have a Ken doll. Now this gets a little tricky when you want to play games with your Barbie. She could have dated Steve Austin (there have been numerous articles etc about her dating GI Joe), but that did not occur to me at the time I guess.

So I did the only thing I could think of. I turned one of my Barbie dolls into a Ken. I cut her long blond hair really short to give her a 'boys hair style'. But there was one more problem- Barbie's enormous breasts.
So being an innovative child, I decided to remove them. Not having access to tools and such, I took my Barbie doll out to the road outside our house and rubbed her boobs off on the ashphalt - thus making her into Transgender Ken (the doll formerly known as Barbie).

Now some people might say that this was a child's first steps towards a feminist backlash against the unrealistic proportions of the Barbie doll, but the reality of it was, that my parents could not afford to but a Ken doll.
Of course my opinion of the Barbie doll and it's figure has changed, and I now agree with many of the people in web land that there should be more realistic Barbie dolls out there on the market. Though I will still look fondly on my memories of playing with my Barbie's, Transgender ken in their purchased and hand made clothing.

posted by Capital Mum @ 1:00 PM