technology with intention
Computer Engineer Barbie
Barbie has been around for 51 years and there are 126 different versions of the doll! While popular around the world, there are many people who don’t like this toy because they say her body is unrealistic, she perpetuates a stereotype and she doesn’t represent real women.
Mattel, the company that makes Barbie, is trying to improve her image by creating dolls that give girls a positive role model – mainly by creating versions that have jobs. There newest doll is the Computer Engineer Barbie, a coding woman with matching pink laptop, glasses and accessories.
Students – feel free to respond to this story and answer one of the questions below using the blog “comments” field.
Do you think that Barbie is a role model (good or bad) for young girls?
Do you think this Barbie is dressed for work? Why or why not?
Is this new doll inspiring, insulting, or something else entirely?
i think that, despite the fact that this doll is promoting women in professional careers (such as sergeon and news anchor), to me it still seems to be sticking with the spirit of the barbie; flashy, tight clothes; and the need to be as skinny as possible, as demonstrated by the fact that her lower legs are as skinny as her upper arms (shivers). also, the fact that her clothes (which say barbie in computer keys) has a picture of a monitor on a background of binary. kinda scary. this is how mattel describes it:
this is supposed to be about her job, but the description is all about her clothes. mattel, think about how you advertise your products
Thanks for the thoughts Griffyn. Rebecca Zook has a different opinion, posted online at Mashable:
http://mashable.com/2010/03/09/computer-engineer-barbie/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Mashable+(Mashable)
At least Barbie is portraying an educated woman with a career. Better that than another beach blanket barbie!
[...] teach a class like this someday. I read a post about a new Barbie doll that is coming out called Computer Engineer Barbie. Another reader talked about how it was still a typical Barbie doll in tight clothes. I replied [...]