Fuck it, I'll put you assknockers in my annotated bibliography. BARBIE TALK!

[The Good Reverend Roger]

http://0-search.proquest.com.library2.pima.edu/docview/420871677/13775B773023E5BDCF4/1?accountid=13194

Can anyone see this article?  It's an announcement of Computer Engineer Barbie.

What's the date on it?

Because it's only been a couple of decades since "Math is Hard" barbie.

[Elder Iptuous]

can't see, Freeky.  is it an actual mattel production?
i seem to recall a lab coat scientist barbie at some point.  don't know if it was an official release though...

[Freeky]

can't see, Freeky.  is it an actual mattel production?
i seem to recall a lab coat scientist barbie at some point.  don't know if it was an official release though...

Yeah, it's an official product.  It'd have to be anyway, because of that lawsuit Mattel won back in the 90's.

Here's the text anyway:

When Mattel Inc. asked Betty Shanahan whether computer engineer Barbie should don a lab coat, she told the toy-maker absolutely not.

"In my 24 years in the industry, I never once wore a lab coat," said Shanahan, CEO of the Chicago-based Society of Women Engineers and a former computer hardware designer.

Well, then what should she wear? "Contemporary clothes," she told Mattel marketers. "Something fun. Something casual."

And voila, there is Barbie, sporting black leggings, pink glasses and a tailored vest over a T-shirt decorated with computer code -- a string of 0s and 1s that, when translated, spells "Barbie." The Wall Street Journal declared Barbie was "getting her geek on."

And Shanahan and the society are a big reason why. Shanahan and her marketing director, Brian Knier, blasted an e-mail to the society's 20,000 members, asking them to vote at Barbie.com for the next "I Can Be ... " career doll. Computer engineer Barbie quickly overtook anchorwoman, environmentalist, surgeon and architect Barbie over four weeks of voting.

Mattel then contacted Shanahan to see if the society wanted to partner with them on the doll's development.

"After I got Mattel's message, I sent a voice mail back and I don't know how many superlatives I used to say how excited we are that this is happening," she said. "Little girls don't hear the word 'engineer,' never mind think of it as a career option."

Shanahan imagined the doll as a software developer and suggested Mattel place Barbie in front of a large computer monitor in a cubicle. Mattel went with a bright pink laptop and Bluetooth device.

"I would see on blogs, 'What's with the pink laptop?' " Shanahan said. "But then in the comments, I would see, 'Oh, my mom has a pink laptop. Oh, I would love to have a pink laptop.' ... Motorola's pink Razr flew off of the shelves."

The society hopes the doll generates interest among girls in a field woefully lacking in women and that Mattel will launch an online feature with its planned fall release, showing how computer engineers build the equipment used by baby-doctor Barbie and racecar-driver Barbie, etc.

"The challenge of portraying a computer engineer is that they are often a step away from the end user of the product," Shanahan said. "I'd really like to see a connection between all of these other careers Barbie has out there and what a computer engineer does."

[Elder Iptuous]

aaahhh. hahah.
saw these on the wiki site:
vintage barbie book "how to lose weight"

back of book, stating, "DONT EAT!"

Barbie scale permanently set at 110 lb.

[Elder Iptuous]

interesting, Freeky.
it also seems that they've changed the waist away from ridiculously impossible:

(although i'd argue that the newer one is probably more in line with contemporary idealization.  corsets aren't in fashion these days)

[The Good Reverend Roger]

interesting, Freeky.
it also seems that they've changed the waist away from ridiculously impossible:

(although i'd argue that the newer one is probably more in line with contemporary idealization.  corsets aren't in fashion these days)

Even the new one requires - for the vast majority of people - that two ribs be removed.

[Freeky]

Oh dude, talk about creepy Barbie the character product body image shenangians:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Reiff9nPXWo

CHILDREN IN A WORKOUT VIDEO.  A WORKOUT VIDEO FOR CHILDREN. 

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Oh dude, talk about creepy Barbie the character product body image shenangians:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Reiff9nPXWo

CHILDREN IN A WORKOUT VIDEO.  A WORKOUT VIDEO FOR CHILDREN.

I see no problem with a workout video for children, in and of itself.  Hell, I applaud it...depending, of course, what the end result is supposed to be.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Freeky, I got that pic from an image search, and when I went to the site, it was just a big spammy craft site.

Youtube video, lots of dolls in this one. Truly creepy and a lot of them have actual human hair:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-uW7Ek1wxY&feature=relmfu

in light of the evidence, the defense recuses itself from the case.


maginally related...
have any of you guys checked out the 'Japanese Ball Jointed Doll' scene?  i stumbled onto it, and some of those dolls are pretty slick.  if i had a daughter, i'd get/make her one of those instead of the barbie, or bratz, or whatever.

Uhh...same thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojYBcMFkdfY

interesting, Freeky.
it also seems that they've changed the waist away from ridiculously impossible:

(although i'd argue that the newer one is probably more in line with contemporary idealization.  corsets aren't in fashion these days)

Uhhh
http://www.corset-story.com/

[Cain]

(although i'd argue that the newer one is probably more in line with contemporary idealization.  corsets aren't in fashion these days)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18409752

Corset sales are booming, part of a massive trend for body shaping underwear, but the peaks and troughs of demand tell a story about feminism and body image over the past 200 years.

Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Miley Cyrus - there's quite a list of performers with a history of taking to the stage in a corset.

But sales figures suggest ordinary people are turning to one of the greatest symbols of the Victorian era. Corsets are making a comeback.

Rigby & Peller, the Queen's brassiere-maker, says sales of traditional corsets in May were 45% up on 2011.

Ebay has reported a 185% rise in the number of corsets being sold over the last three months, with 1,900 listed over the period. It says most corsets are bought in the UK (40%), the US (34%) and Australia (8.6%).

[Elder Iptuous]

huh.
i knew they were popular in the ren faire crowd, and the steam punk crowd.
i wonder if they could become mainstream again...

also, cant see youtubes behind nannywall, Anna.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

huh.
i knew they were popular in the ren faire crowd, and the steam punk crowd.
i wonder if they could become mainstream again...

also, cant see youtubes behind nannywall, Anna.

Why go to all the trouble to lose weight, when you can mash all your internal organs?

[Elder Iptuous]

i think you gotta be fairly slim to begin with for them to work properly based on my experience at the ren faires... 

[Freeky]

Fuck.  I gotta go to class, but I'll be back in a few hours.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

huh.
i knew they were popular in the ren faire crowd, and the steam punk crowd.
i wonder if they could become mainstream again...

also, cant see youtubes behind nannywall, Anna.

The youtube was a makeup tutorial. Some blonde giving instructions in fake Asian-accented baby talk about how to fix your makeup like a ball joint doll. Contact lenses, the works.

I don't have a problem with corsets if somebody wants to play dress-up for a night out. A few hours here and there might be ok.

What would be fucked is if this becomes expected. "Don't show up for work uncorseted", etc.