Returning to Girliness

Speaking of therapy, we have just discovered the latest and strangest form-- the emotional support Barbie. Yes, indeed, today’s strong empowered women are getting their groove back by playing with a doll. 

Apparently, the emotional support Barbie allows them to get in touch with their inner child. Thereby, they can return to childhood and repair the damage they suffered by not spending enough time playing with dolls. Or else, they they can recall the days when Barbies were their world. 

Repeat after me-- strong empowered women need emotional support dolls. It’s a sign of adult independence and autonomy. 

We are grateful to Brooke Steinberg for her groundbreaking reporting in The New York Post. Apparently, the famously successful Barbie movie has caused a shortage of pink paint. Worse yet, it has inspired a new fashion trend, Barbiecore. 

No more, Paint it Black. So, the new trend is: Paint it Pink! How much more girly can you get?

True enough, everyone considers the movie to be a feminist tract,  but still, one can be forgiven for believing that, with the return to Barbie dolls, the nation’s women are correcting the feminist repudiation of femininity, i.e., the rejection of the feminine mystique.

You think that this is a joke. If so, try this, from CNN. If it is from CNN, you are allowed to believe it:

Since the film’s release, Barbie doll sales have reportedly spiked — much of which could be thanks to adult viewers on a search for their “emotional support Barbies,” reported CNN on Tuesday.

Recently, adults on social media have shared their newly purchased Mattel dolls, touting the toy in a bid to reconnect with their childhood, reported CNN on Tuesday.

We do not know whether these women want to return to childhood, to play with dolls instead of being adults, or whether they are trying to overcome a deprivation that their feminist mothers visited on them. By that I mean, what if these women, as girls, were deprived of Barbies because their mothers believed that that was a good way to save them from becoming housewives and homemakers.

No kidding.

Many TikTok users in the comments section of these posts reflected on the impact of their own emotional support Barbies, as well as other beloved dolls.

“My daughter bought me an American girl doll because I never had one as a child. It definitely heals something,” one person wrote.

“My parents couldn’t afford to buy me a Barbie. Time to heal my inner child,” another shared.

From there the issue becomes complicated:

The hashtag emotionalsupportbarbie has more than 1.9 million views on TikTok, featuring videos of girls and women — and even men — buying Barbies that look like them, represent their careers or inspire them to be their authentic selves.

Don’t laugh at it. Or, at least, don’t laugh too hard. What does it say about you, a thoroughly modern feminist, if you believe that your authentic self is a doll? Is it a good thing if you need to support your wish to have a career by finding a plastic replica of you as a career girl?

Is this not rather sad?

Naturally, mental health professionals have rushed out to offer lame explanations. Apparently, having a new Barbie does not just put you in touch with your inner child. It helps you learn playfulness. 

The clip’s narration mused: “As women we are expected to grow up and grow out of childish things like dolls and leave them behind. Men also have some pressure to grow up, but they still have man caves and video games and even Lego sets aimed at adults. Women don’t necessarily get to play in the same way men do as adults.”

As such, some mental health experts have come to regard the blockbuster as more than just an impressive marketing scheme: The “Barbie” movie’s ability to inspire adult “play” may indeed be emotionally beneficial.

Whatever do they mean by adult play? Is trading pork belly futures akin to playing with dolls? Is managing a company akin to setting up your doll house? Whatever are these people thinking? Are they thinking?

Using Barbie dolls to return to childhood and to reanimate women's inner child suggests that, for women, growing up has become a feminist plot designed to disconnect women from their inner girliness? So, women are nostalgic for a girlhood that feminism repressed?

Is this what feminism hath wrought? 

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