Sign Of The Times: Barbie’s A Tech Geek

So, for those of you who don’t feel like reading the article, here’s a brief summary:  Mattel has made a “Techie Barbie.”  I’ll let that sink in for a moment.

Barbie…the embodiment of vapid, brainless, “looks over brains”…is now, in addition to everything else she does…a “techie.”  If I may, I’d like to go down through the things that I find the most wrong with this creation.

1)  ”Techie” Barbie - Ok Mattel, you get partial credit for trying this, but if you’re going to do this, I’d say you’d be better off going in one of two different directions.  Either specify what she is, say “Programmer Barbie” or (god-forbid) “Blogger Barbie”; or go the other direction and make it intentionally less specific, but use the proper term.  That’s right, “Geek Barbie.”  It’s ok, Mattel, we’ve reclaimed the word.  Geek is in.

2)  The outfit - I have seen a lot of geeks in my time, and I have never…EVER…seen one dressed like “Techie Barbie.”  First, lose the sport jacket.  You get partial credit for her wearing a t-shirt, but lose those points for making it some random, generic binary thing.  For a good selection of Geek-wear, head over to Thinkgeek.com or Jinx.com.

3)  Accessories - The doll apparently comes with a smart phone, bluetooth headset and laptop travel bag.  First, lose the bluetooth headset and smartphone.  True, most geeks would have them, but at that size, are they even recognizable?  Second replace her weird, silver lunch-box lookin’, laptop bag with a backpack, which I believe would be a more accurate geek accessory for laptop and other gadget transportation.  Also, for the love of god, give her a nice, comfy pair of sneakers or something, and a nice pair of jeans.  There we go…that’s more like it.

4)  Body shape - This has been a complaint about Barbie for years, of course.  Her dimensions are just bizarre, but even more so for a Geek.  (capital G)  I’m certainly not saying that she should be fat…just…realistic.

So I guess, in summary, “Techie Barbie” does a good job of looking like a hollywood actress who’s trying to play a geek in the latest blockbuster…and I can’t believe that I just wrote a blog entry about Barbie.  :\