Episode 54: Barbara Millicent Roberts: Dirty Little Secrets

CW: Death, Microaggressions, Sex Work, Financial Issues
Barbie is a cultural icon that has been spoofed, marketed, and copied into the mainstream! But what dirty little secrets has she been hiding in her closet? With a new movie coming out and dozens of shows, games, and doll lines, we thought we would take a peek at what Barbara has to hide. “I crave vengeance!” Me too, Barbie, me too.

Here’s a timeline of the Barbie with information about the original inspiration for her look and then some key release dates with images.

Here is some history about the Lilli doll that Barbie’s appearance was based on, and it includes a comic strip in here as well as images of both Barbie and Lilli.

Let’s look at these comparison images right here on the page.

Lilli on the left, Barbie on the right

This link will take you to some info about the Jewish origins of Barbie. We talk about the Jewish part in particular in the second part of our Barbie talk, but I’m putting this here so you can go ahead and read about it and about Ruth, the woman who invented Barbie.

And this one is all about Ruth and it doesn’t focus solely on the Jewish part of her but on Ruth as a whole person.

This article is a fun piece about the Earring Magic Ken doll that we opened the episode talking about.

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