I thought it would be interesting to explore the idea of pregnant given some of the discussion of gender and the lack of both parents and children for Barbie. There’s seems to have been a pretty clear distancing from addressing certain aspects of sex in the Barbie franchise in the past. Notably Barbie (and Ken) don’t have any genitalia making their gendering very much a product of social construction, for example how Barbie is presented “as a woman” in terms of her accessories, and material possessions.
Creating a pregnant doll, such as this one from 2003, may have been a direct attempt to correct this issue and acknowledge Barbie as a woman through maternity. However, I thought it interesting that it’s not Barbie herself who is pregnant, but a “friend of Barbie.” The bottom of the packaging show Barbie as a doctor, presumably working with her friend’s pregnancy. I thought was also interesting just because I wonder what then is being said about pregnancy for girls that specifically identify with Barbie not her pregnant friend.
Great post – it seems poor Midge is always burdened with the difficult stuff.
Another interesting aspect of this toy is the packaging – Midge is not called “Mrs.” or associated with a husband, and yet she has a baby and is depicted with some guy and another kid at the bottom of the package. Is this a child out of wedlock? Is Mattel condoning such a situation, or is the box vague about Midge’s marital status for some other reason? Also, that guy looks strikingly similar to Ken – I guess this explains Barbie and Ken’s break up..
Wait, I just did some quick googling, and apparently that guy is named Alan, and the pregnant Midge doll caused controversy for multiple reasons – she looked too young (promoted teen pregnancy?), she didn’t have a wedding ring (at first), and she was packaged without that Alan guy (at first). Seems being married before having kids is still a big deal in America.
Finally, by the appearance of Barbie’s internal organs in Jacob’s post, Barbie is probably incapable of getting pregnant due to her lack of room for a functioning uterus. Just a guess!