Happy Birthday to My Favourite Plastic Doll!

Last year, while living in Europe and working closely with the Muslim Women’s community, I had the honour of interviewing a former Miss World Canada, who was born in Iran and fled the country with her family during the Revolution of 1979. Her father, the manager of a popular hotel, was targeted for serving liquor and playing music at his establishment.

The unspoken truth was that while many Iranians enjoyed such pleasurable and lively activities, they were living under the rule of an iron fist government that banned them from partaking in their own freedom of will and interests.

As former Miss World Canada put it, “The Iranian leaders have a very backward perspective, but I want people to know that this is not what the Iranians, in general, are like.”

I had not soon forgotten her words, so it was with great intrigue that I read The New York Times’ March 9th op-ed article by Porochista Khakpour, titled “Islamic Revolution Barbie”.

Some of you may know that Barbie is celebrating her 50th birthday this year (oh, joy!), capturing the hearts of young, impressionable girls all over the world with her fantasy 5’9 (1.75m) 39-18-33 frame.

As validated by Khakpour, Barbie’s reach really was globe-spanning, as she entered the Iranian market…and the ‘must-have’ lists of Iranian girls; albeit, as what Khakpour refers to as a “national threat of Jane Fonda magnitude.”

In an interesting parallel, Khakpour’s family had also left Iran overnight (during the 1980 Iran-Iraq war), first seeking refuge in Paris and then settling in Los Angeles. Barbie’s journey, equally nomadic and perilous, is referenced by Khakpour:

Just as Barbie was coming to mean less and less to me, she was coming to mean more and more to the folks back in Iran…Wary of Western influences and her nation-corrupting pulchritude, the government battled the presence of Barbie in bazaars — the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults developed sibling dolls named Sara and Dara, Muslim versions of Barbie and Ken, with headscarves and prayer books in lieu of convertibles and boomboxes. The government also raided stores that carried Barbies — but this mostly resulted in black stickers on the packaging to hide the dolls’ calamitous contours.

The battle continues to this day. Last April, Iran’s prosecutor general, Ghorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi, warned Iranians about the culturally ‘destructive’ consequences of importing Barbies and again promoted Sara and Dara as ace alternatives. And yet, at three times the price, and mostly a black market moll, Barbie manages to reign supreme in the Islamic Republic.

I suspect that Iran is not the first society in which Barbie has wholly been frowned upon, although, in this instance, the reasoning has little to do with Barbie’s propensity for instigating unrealistic beauty ideals and perpetuating the self-esteem crisis plaguing young women the world over.

Barbie has become both internationally idolized and loathed. She has achieved cross-cultural popularity and notoriety, has influenced generations of girls, and has also been met with fierce protest and objection.

Barbie and I parted ways years ago, and Khakpour claims that Barbie’s entourage of followers isn’t what it used to be, based on declining sales in the United States. Still, if Barbie’s star, in spite of backlash, can continue to shine so brightly in societies like Iran, it really makes me question the likelihood that Barbie will soon fall off of our radars.

So, without further ado, Happy 50th, girlfriend…and, remember, if those crowsfeet start to blemish your otherwise perfectly plastic face, there’s always Botox!