PINK

Beginning to make a website, I was totally clueless as to what I'd want to write about.  I thought to myself, "What most describes women?"  I came up with an answer---PINK.  From the day we are pushed out of the womb, us girls have a pink ribbon, pink blankets, and lots of other pink things surrounding us. I wanted to know more about pink.  It's my favorite color.  Lots of little girls love pink.  I wanted to know why.  I've never questioned a color this deeply, but then I wondered what about Pink the artist?  What about the breast cancer ribbon?  There are lots of things associated with pink.  I want to answer the 'whys' of Pink.  So that is exactly what I'm doing.

It's quite a broad topic, so I may have some difficulty making this idea work, but my biggest issue with it will be the technology aspect.  I am hopeful that everything will be sorted out.

Not quite an orphan, yet not quite part of a family...

"Barbie in Therapy" is about what Barbie would say if she ever were to talk to a therapist about her life.  She can't express feelings unless they are expressed via materialistic images.  Her personality was programmed in her.  She doesn't even know what anger is.
   "She never had time for any kind of childhood. 
     Not quite an orphan, yet not quite part of a family
     Barbie finds she's been given so little vocabulary
     to talk about her feelings."
Barbie has been forced to enter adulthood too early unlike Sue in Barbie's Queer Accessories (page 107-108).  Sue preferred Ken, but asked for a barbie.  Once she got her, Barbie was despised.  Sue wanted to go outside and leave "girl toys" inside.  Sue says, "I resented being supposed to do the girl thing all the time.  I wanted to do the boy stuff.  I think the Barbie thing was also about being treated as too young.  I was the youngest of four girls, and my family kept treating me as younger than I was...It was another example of how my family did not want to let me grow up."
   Barbie was forced into adulthood and Sue continuously was pushed into the childhood Barbie never had the chance to experience.  Totally different right?  Wrong.  Both were misfits to their families.  Both had little they could say to change the situation.  Funny how family works like that. 

I picked these passages mostly because I really liked the idea of Barbie being in therapy. It wasn't overly difficult to understand, but there were many hidden messages that spoke to me throughout the passage.  It just seemed to be in line with how I feel Barbie feels.  As soon as I read the line about her not quite fitting in, I thought of Sue and how her family treated her differently too.  Both books were interesting.  Barbie's Queer Accessories wasn't really my cup of tea, but it had a lot of information that was interesting in it.  But Kinky was more fun for me to read.  I liked the way the passages worked together to create a book that had meaning.  Reading one on its own was interesting, but felt empowered after reading several at a time.

MB & BO Readings and Reactions

I read "Experience" in Mondo Barbie and "My Brown Face" in Body Outlaws. 
"Experience" discusses how horrible Barbie feels about her own perfection.  She tells the author not to be like her, to be her own person.  "I know I look nice.  I'm what everyone wants.  I'm fulfillment, confection, art.  But Barbie said, You don't want it, just trust me."  The writer didn't look at Barbie and desire her perfection, instead she saw the sorrow in Barbie's contradicting, smiling face. 
     "My Brown Face" describes some of what it is like to be as admired as a barbie doll.  Writer, Mira Jacob, was a beautiful Indian woman.  Men couldn't stop from wanting her because she was so beautiful.  Like Barbie, Mira didn't want this kind of life.  This attention got to her, made her feel less important as a person.  She says at one point in the story, "Every part of my body had been itemized into comedic value, and a mere glance would set me smacking any tender portion into a window display, a caricature."
     The biggest difference between Barbie and Mira is that Mira can change herself.  Barbie has to keep her plastered smile, her pointy feet, and her boring personality.  Mira will always be Indian, and probably always beautiful and mysterious, however she can use her personality to be who she wants to be too.  She can change her own clothes, make her own friends, and go where she wants to go.  Mira is in charge of Mira. And near the end of "My Brown Face," Mira writes, "It is this woman (her perception of her) who is at the center of me, the one the men on the street will never see;  this woman who is simultaneously on fire and rising from the ashes."  She is working through her issues---and Barbie never can.  

Finding My Role

I am my mother's daughter and all I wanted since I was an infant was to grow up and be just like her.  I still admire everything about that woman.  Fortunately, my whole family must have been cool with the idea.  My mom is the mom everyone wants; she'll let you play in dirt piles all day, cook ya dinner, and kiss you goodnight without a second thought.  She wanted me to be a tom-boy, but be able to turn it on and off depending on each situation.  That was great with me.  I was able to play barbies and dress up right after I came in from skinning my knee from climbing a tree.  My religion (Catholicism) expected me to be well behaved, modest, and motherly as I grew up.  I was born with a want to be well-behaved.  I fit well into my socioeconomic class, my gender and my ethnicity were cool with me. I pretty much eased right into what everyone else wanted of me just naturally.   

I remember the look on my family's face when I told them that I wanted to be a high school cheerleader.  Ha!  It was priceless.  My brother told me I'd end up being a slut and that he couldn't have that.  My mom and dad were their usual selves in holding back his real feelings to support my decision, but I could see the fear in their eyes.  My mom later spoke with me privately having several very awkward conversations about my virginity and modesty.  I said, "Why can't I be the one to prove the stereotypes wrong?"  Looking back I can totally see that she knew me.  She knew I had always just done what other people asked me to do.  I am the naive girl that just wants everyone else to be happy.  Of course she didn't want me to be involved in a group who can easily be taken advantage of.  But my whole life I was told I could be anything I wanted to be and not to judge others based on stereotypes.  I was determined to prove everyone wrong.  And I did.

It was more important to me to be what my mom and my church and my friends wanted of me than what I wanted for myself.  I think that had a lot to do with who I became--who I am now.  I'm still told by numerous people that I let myself get walked all over, but I think you can view things in two different ways.  If it's going to improve someone else's quality of life, I'll suffer a while.  I know where my limits are and when to say no.  I am proud of being a woman, but mostly I'm just proud of being me.

Body Obsession?

I've experienced so much in my life that has been wonderful; my life has been beautiful so far.  I really try to concentrate on the positive always, but I really have my parents to thank for that.  I guess when nothing goes drastically wrong in your life, it's a little bit easier to like.  (Take the "Rate My Life Quiz" I found online!)   I grew up with a mom and a dad (married) and an older brother.  I went to a Catholic grade school, attended church each Sunday, wore hand-me-downs to ballet and softball, and loved every part of every day.  I really lucked out because even when my cousin found out about her brain tumor or when my grandma passed away from cancer, I understood that this was just a part of life and that each person has obstacles to overcome--but what were my obstacles?  I really never had any.  Through adolescence and high school years, I wanted to learn what my strengths and weaknesses truly were.  I joined everything.  I was involved in cheerleading, musicals, teen institute, pep club, student council, church choir, and was a tour guide on a canal boat during what little free time I had.  I found out that I am good at doing all of those things.  I became captain of cheerleading, president of teen institute, vice of student council, and got raises several times at work.  I am a people person and that makes me proud of myself.  I love helping others and I know I'm good at it.  I'm a horrible story-teller, can't argue to save my life, but I am good at counsel and involvement.  I never really worried about my body until my sophomore year in high school, and when I had time to consider it even being there, I didn't dwell on it.  The more that overly-active body slows down, the more I notice the things I don't like in my body, but I always try to focus on the good in my personality.  I try to remind myself that I have had the perfect life and that others have it much, MUCH worse than I do.  I also remind myself how I look at others.  Unless something drastic happens to someone else, it goes unnoticed by everyone except for that person.  Others will not even notice when I am broken out and bloated, but I do.  On those days I try to focus on my personality and maybe wear a cute bra or some new shoes, that always seems to help! 

Identity Crisis!

Understanding identity can be quite challenging for some and Diana Courvant in "Body Outlaws" is no different.  She, as a trans-gender going through the process to become a woman needed to be overly exposed and accepted to finally accept herself.  She writes, "Though I wasn't ashamed of being a trans woman, I began to realize the safety issues inherent of my growing visibility.  Being a freak was dangerous."  It sucks that that is true.  No one really wants to stand out.  Covering Barbie's MOD'rn cousin Francine's melted foot with her new "Prom Pinks" outfit could leave her fitting in with the crowd in "Mondo Barbie: Barbie Q."  And in "Mondo Barbie: The Barbie Murders," the thought of being different is unheard of so much that they consider any one barbie's action a collective group action.

The readings for this weekend really got me thinking about the future of plastic surgery. How can so many people just want to lose their own identities to become something so stereotypical.  It's unbelievable that people would pay so much for bigger boobs or a smaller waist when there are starving children all over the world.  What a waste of money.  Not to mention the risks of surgery.  It just seems like an overall bad idea unless it is to fix an actual problem.  My thoughts are---accept the way YOU are. YOU are beautiful the way you are, so just let the true YOU shine!

So, In any part of language, all words are said and interpreted differently depending on the speaker/listener.  When it comes to writing, there is no difference. However there are many clues as to what a typical female vs what a typical male would write, specifically dealing with topic, details, and emotions.  As a woman, I fell that my topics are always focused more on emotions and described with further detail, or more fluff.  The emotional connectivity to the story is more important than the facts within what's written.  Online, I feel like the differences are even more pronounced.  Typing words I focus on visual ways to bring an audience in and try to make what I say fun.  Many men just get to the point because adding all the "fluff" is useless to them.  They probably don't want to read the extra stuff, so they leave it out.  Seems simple enough to me!

About Me =)

My name is Lauren Baer and I am currently a junior HSLS major hoping to become a speech-language pathologist in a children's rehabilitation center or elementary school.  I work as as a peer adviser here at school and work doing various other random things in my small town when I'm home for the summer. I am taking this class as my Junior English and was thrilled to learn the content of the course revolved around Barbie and her image. I have always loved writing and I've always loved Barbies, so why not bring the two together?  I'm sure Barbie will bring up some intriguing topics to discuss throughout the quarter, so I am anxious for what we will be doing these next few weeks

I have several barbies still left in a toy box somewhere in my basement.  My mom is determined to save all of my treasured toys to keep for her future grandchildren, so in the basement they stay to wait and gather dust until some crazy kid comes into this world to play with them.  My favorite barbies included a rockstar barbie with long blonde straight hair (which I immediately cut and didn't understand why it resulted in me getting scolded), a barbie that balanced a bird on her palm, and the barbie I could take in the bathtub because she actually could swim with a battery pack oxygen tank, flippers, and hair that I could never understand why it turned green (in our well water).  As I got older, I liked American Girl Dolls and other dolls with more hair I could cut, braid, wrap, or curl...and now I just use my roommates.