He's (Not) Just Ken: The True History of Barbie’s Beau
There's More to That
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The Relationship Between Barbie and Ken
Emily Meade talks about the racial politics of Barbie and Ken. She says that even when Barbies universe expanded to other body types and skin tones, it didn't necessarily change the minds of consumers. The 1950s and 1960s were a period where American Jews grappled with their ambivalence about what being Jewish meant in America. And here comes Ruth Handler inventing this very stereotypical young man, young doll, and literally selling it as the white picket fence dream.
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