Bad Attitudes: An Uninspiring Podcast About Disability

Episode 68: I'm A Barbie Girl

May 15, 2023 Laura Stinson Season 3 Episode 13
Bad Attitudes: An Uninspiring Podcast About Disability
Episode 68: I'm A Barbie Girl
Show Notes Transcript

CW: Eugenics

The new Barbie with Down Syndrome COULD have been just a nice thing for an underrepresented community, but NO. Can't have that, can we?

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TRANSCRIPT OF “I’M A BARBIE GIRL”

[rock guitar music]

MALE VO [00:03]
This is Bad Attitudes.

[rock guitar music]

LAURA [00:20]
Hello friends and strangers! Welcome to another episode of Bad Attitudes: An Uninspiring Podcast about Disability. I’m your host, Laura.

Mattel released a new Barbie with Down Syndrome. And of course, people have a problem with it because people suck.

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As always, I want to remind you that disability is not a monolith. My experience as a disabled person is going to be different from the experiences of other disabled people. I am one voice for the disabled community but I am not the only voice.

If you missed it, a couple of weeks ago, Mattel announced that a new doll with Down Syndrome was being released as part of the Barbie Fashionistas line. This particular line has Barbies with prosthetic limbs, vitiligo, and a variety of diverse body shapes, heights, and skin tones. And, of course, let’s not forget that wheelchair-using Barbie! I remember when the original wheelchair Barbie — called Becky — was released in the mid-’90s, and it was such a cool feeling! I mean, sure, she couldn’t visit Barbie’s dreamhouse because it wasn’t accessible, and none of the cars were adapted, but still, she was THERE! Until she wasn’t anymore.

But, I’ve forgiven Mattel. They brought back a new and better version of the wheelchair-using Barbie, added a ramp to the dreamhouse, and have gone on to include MULTIPLE disabilities and conditions to a toy that is synonymous with fashion and beauty when these things are generally considered polar opposites. Things are looking up. It makes me wish I still played with Barbies, but they don’t hold much appeal for me anymore, sadly. I do enjoy wandering the Barbie aisle in toy departments, though.

Now, with the release of this new Barbie, OF COURSE right-wingers had something to say about it. I didn’t do a deep dive into EVERYTHING being said because, honestly, who has the bandwidth for that, but there are two arguments I want to discuss.

On one side, we have some right-wingers saying that a Barbie with Down Syndrome is “too woke,” and that representation has gone “too far.” On the other side, we have some saying that this Barbie is ACTUALLY representative of the pro-life movement because the pro-choice movement advocates for eugenics. 

I should really buy stock in pain medicine because this shit makes my head HURT.

Let’s start with the first argument. What these right-wingers fail to understand is that “woke” is not an insult. They THINK it’s an insult because they don’t actually understand what it means. At its core, to me, “woke” basically means acknowledging that there are people in this world who exist outside of what is considered to be “normal.” And what is typically considered to be “normal” is cis, straight, white, non-disabled men, although women will do in a pinch. The point is, they are cis, they are straight, they are white, and they are not disabled. There is nothing “woke” about acknowledging that people exist who do not meet some or even ALL of these criteria. That’s just facts. That is literally looking outside your door and seeing that there are people who are different from you in some way. Even the most insular, isolated bubble of people has, at some point, interacted with at least one person who differs from them in some way. That’s not up for debate.

The idea that simply acknowledging their existence means representation has gone too far is baffling to me. That’s literally all this Barbie does; it acknowledges that some people exist who have Down Syndrome. There’s no agenda, there’s no hidden message. It’s simply saying, “Hey! People who look like this Barbie exist in the world!” But it’s too much for some people. It’s too much to bestow the idea of personhood on someone who this set of people would prefer to see and treat as less than human. By saying that this TOY — remember we are talking about a TOY — is too woke, what these people are really saying is they want to deny the existence of people who look like this, they want to just pretend they don’t exist so they can continue sweeping them under the rug and treating them like disposable garbage, the way we’ve been treating disabled people for all of human history. If we don’t have representation in popular media, in toys, in video games, whatever, that gives society permission to continue treating disabled people like shit. It means they don’t have to acknowledge us as people, and they don’t have to treat us as equals.

By saying a Barbie with Down Syndrome is “too woke,” they’re saying, “Hey, you won’t let me get away with treating certain people badly, and I don’t like that.”

Now, as for the idea that this Barbie is a symbol for the pro-life movement: As I tell my dogs, that’s a biiiiiiiiiiiig stretch.

I’ve said it before on this podcast, and I want to be upfront with it here: I have complicated feelings on the issue of aborting a pregnancy because the future child may be disabled. I can’t help that. I was born with a disability that there is genetic testing for, and, in theory, I could have been aborted. It gives me complicated feelings. However, I also recognize that that is a ME problem. I have no room to judge someone’s reason for getting an abortion. I may not agree with it, I may not like it, but it is their decision to make, and unless I am somehow involved, which I don’t see happening, I have no place to offer an opinion.

Let’s also acknowledge that disability is likely not the ONLY reason someone would seek an abortion. There are a multitude of factors to consider including financial stability, work-life balance, and simply the question of whether or not they want to be a parent. 

But the right is suggesting that the pro-choice movement is practicing eugenics. Which, I mean, that’s not even what eugenics is. The whole point of being pro-choice is to say that a person has autonomy over their own body. Yes, it’s centered on pregnancy and abortion, but it’s really the idea that ALL people have the autonomy to make decisions about their bodies, about their healthcare, and be able to access that care as needed without the government interfering. Being pro-choice means being pro-bodily autonomy for EVERYONE.

I do think I’m going to have to do a heavily researched episode on eugenics at some point in the future — that sounds depressing — but for the sake of this conversation, eugenics is, quote, “the selection of desired heritable characteristics in order to improve future generations, typically in reference to humans.” You know who does practice eugenics? Nazis. And if you think Nazis are no longer a problem in 2023, you are not paying attention. Literally, two days ago I saw a video of a group of Nazis marching into some sort of rally or festival, I don’t know where they were, fully decked out in uniforms with fucking swastikas on their arms and banners, and also fully masked up because they’re chicken shits. These are the people who are interested in eugenics. Eugenics literally failed as a branch of scientific study in the twentieth century because it was associated with Nazis! Come on!

And you know who the Nazis are voting for? It ain’t Bernie Sanders, I’ll tell you that right now. They are voting for the same right-wingers who are promoting this bullshit about a fucking doll. So don’t come at me, telling me that this DOLL, which is about shining a light on an underrepresented population and giving children an opportunity to see themselves reflected back at them, is actually a call to arms for the pro-life movement when at least half of those people probably look at Nazis and think, “Well, they’re a little extreme but you know, they’ve got a point.” 

People infuriate me. I love humanity, but I fucking hate people. This new Barbie didn’t have to be this big of an issue. It could have just been a nice thing to do for a population of kids and adults who just want to see themselves fairly represented in the mainstream. But, NO, we can’t have nice things. People just had to go and fuck around and try to make it mean something it doesn’t mean and co-opt it for something it’s not even remotely related to. Leave the Barbies alone!

Thanks for listening and I’ll talk to you in the next one.

[10:52]
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