“I wish I didn’t find you so attractive. I’ve always had a weakness for dumb blondes.”

mckayrodney

Rodney McKay said this about the brilliant blonde Carter, but it could just as well apply to Barbie.

Growing up I had a neighbor who was a girl that I used to play Barbie with. She loved Barbie. I always got to be Ken and of course, we did all the Barbie things. We hung out in the Malibu playhouse, rode in the car, and did all the things that Barbie does. She even had the big head Barbie that she could apply makeup to. She told me that she wanted to be like Barbie, but she looked different than her and I told her that she was cuter than Barbie and more fun. I don’t think she believed me.

Now of course Barbie became a scientist, and a whole bunch of other professions as she grew up. Still, at one point she was just a babysitter and fulfilled the expectation of what society wanted for her. I never understood the attraction to Barbie myself. Even when I was Ken I thought she was kind of boring and there were more fun things to do than ride around in the car and do the Barbie things.

For me the Barbie movie is personal. I wonder if that woman that I grew up with will watch that movie and still feel unattractive. The last time I spoke to her she shared her photo and I said that she was beautiful as always and even better than Captain Carter above. She was still single and didn’t believe that she was beautiful. All of those compliments and friendship and time I spent with her, and she couldn’t accept how other people who cared about her saw her.

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We can appreciate something like a fictional Barbie, but we should never compare ourselves to anything in the media. We have to accept that we are unique and real imperfection is better than fantasy. I loved spending time with that woman and I wish as a girl she had never had the unrealistic idea that she wasn’t beautiful. I think that every woman and man can be beautiful if they accept the good inside.

We don’t need Barbie to see beauty. We only need to look into each other’s hearts.