The burkha Barbie:
One of the world’s most famous children’s toys, Barbie, has been given a makeover – wearing a burkha.
Wearing the traditional Islamic dress, the iconic doll is going undercover for a charity auction in connection with Sotheby’s for Save The Children.
More than 500 Barbies went on show yesterday at the Salone dei Cinquecento, in Florence, Italy.
‘I know Barbie was something seen as bad before as an image for girls, but in actual fact the message with Barbie for women is you can be whatever you want to be.
The last sentence is missing a few words word: it should read, “the message with Barbie for women is you can be whatever your husband wants you to be.”
The question is, is this an attempt at an Hegelian dialectical syncretism between Western decadence and the Islamic ritual oppression of women, or is it just some nut in Mattel trying to sell more dolls?
