I had to chuckle over the news article on the invention, if we could call it that, of Rev. Barbie. Yes, that Barbie, who has taken on a number of different roles through the years, including a princess, a firefighter, and a ballerina. Now she is a woman of the cloth. The creator of Rev. Barbie is Julie Blake Fisher, an Episcopalian priest in the States who began making vestments for Barbie to illustrate them to children. Well, now she has won fame or notoriety with her "soul-searching" Barbie. Blake Fisher says her husband, also a priest, finds the Barbie wardrobe quite amusing.
Rev. Barbie even has her own Facebook page. You can check out some of her other outfits: http://beautytipsforministers.com/2010/03/28/the-genius-of-the-rev-julie-blake-fisher/
So, how are we to interpret this? Barbie has been a controversial figure through the years for her...figure! Buxom and impossibly small-waisted she has been criticized as a negative role model for girls and young woman. On the other hand, Rev. Barbie reinforces the role of women in ministry. Okay, I can't believe I'm actually writing in a serious way about a plastic clergyperson!
There are four women in ministry that I know of who read this blog. C'mon, tell us what you think. Of course everyone else is welcome to comment.
8 comments:
Sad.
WHAT? Certainly makes it more difficult for those of us raising daughters to teach them that beauty is within.....
Wow.
Not a lot of daily bread floating around inside that 1-inch waist ...
I say "ugh" to Barbie, but I do think it's great that she is branching out into different roles, especially roles usually held by men. Maybe young girls will imagine themselves as ministers or priests. (And maybe someday they will modify Barbie's measurements.)
I looked up the website. Another "UGH!" The name of the website is "Beauty Tips for Ministers - Because you're in the public eye, and God knows you need to look good." God know us women ministers don't need the added pressure of looking beautiful on Sunday morning.
Add another UGH.
Can I clear up a couple of misconceptions - Barbie's measurements have changed over the past years - her bust is smaller and her waist is thicker. The website that David quoted is not Rev. Julie's - it is someone writing about her although Rev Julie's web address is quoted within the article.
I thought Rev Julie's idea about explaining the vestments to the children of her congregation by using Barbie was a great idea.
I think I am going to be the lone voice in the Barbie debate. I don't find Barbie offensive. I played with Barbie as child and I have played with Barbie with my 2 nieces who are 9 and 7. I intentionally have even given them culturally diverse Barbies and Kens. When we play Barbies - we are playing dress up and make belief work. As for the image issues - I appreciate the beauty and ideal figure concerns but for me there are other more influential things that impact on our young girls than their dolls.
Barbie is less of an issue these days than other, more sexualized dolls like 'Bratz.'
THOSE, my friends, are downright scary if you have little girls at home.
One final note on Barbie: I used to enjoy popping the heads off of my sister's, or mixing and matching them with Ken's. I used to take a pounding for it, but man was it worth it.
Any other brothers out there have as much fun as I did ... ?
Yesterday morning I said to Ruth that I could hardly wait to see the responses to this blog. Some subjects are blogger gold!
Honestly, I think Rev. Fisher must have her tongue firmly in cheek with Rev. Barbie. And while the link was not her blog, you may have noticed that she did respond herself with good humour.
I have two daughters who played with a veritable cheerleading squad of Barbies. While my wife who took a number of women's issues courses at university did some soul-searching of her own, in the end she decided that there were other ways to encourage them to be independent, fully realized women.
Why does your Barbie and Ken torture not surprise me Ian!
And remember Deb, we are all beautiful when we step into the pulpit.
Thanks everyone.
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