So Molly is already talking about her birthday coming up and she has decided that she wants another wedding Barbie for her birthday. Yes, you heard that right. ANOTHER wedding Barbie. She already has a wedding Barbie, but she insists that when she plays wedding with Rayna or her friends, it would be nice if she had a wedding Barbie to share. (Of course her plan to to share her brand new one, I'm sure.)So I was at Target by myself yesterday and since that never, ever happens, I thought I would just scan the toy isle. There was no way I was going to by an exact replica of her blonde, blue-eyed Wedding Barbie, but I might be able to justify an Asian wedding Barbie. But the only wedding Barbie in stock was the blonde, blue-eyed Caucasian Barbie that she already has. I guess they were sold out of the Asian, African American, and Hispanic bride Barbies.
Later that night, my curiosity was killing me, so I decided to see if I could order my non-white bride Barbie online.
Not at Target, Walmart, Amazon, etc.
Okay....no problem... I will special order it from Mattel. Nope.
The wedding Barbie only comes in Caucasian. Blonde, blue-eyed, Caucasian. I could feel my blood boiling. Now don't get me wrong. I like blonde, blue-eyed Caucasians. I gave birth to two of them. But what kind of message are we sending to girls if the only dolls that come in a wedding dress are Caucasian?
But don't you worry! You can find an Asian Barbie in the FASHIONISTA line. Or an African American Barbie in the SO IN STYLE line.
Okay. This may be a little unfair of me. After all, you can also order the doctor Barbie in all races. I'm half tempted at this point to throw out all the Barbies. But instead, I composed a letter to my friends at Mattel. I was really ready to give them a piece of my mind. Stinkin' character limit. Oh, well.....they get the point.
To whom it may concern:
I am the mother of an Asian child and wanted to purchase her an Asian wedding Barbie. I was very disappointed to learn that the wedding Barbie only comes in Caucasian. I feel it is necessary to add other races to your Wedding line of Barbies.
The point is not that I want Molly to only play with Asian dolls. Quite the opposite. I want the girls to see that society and even families are made-up of many races. Real families are not always made up of all Caucasians or all Asians. My children have an uncle who is Indian and an aunt who is African American. NOT ALL BRIDES ARE WHITE!!
Anyway, I'm sure Mattel read my email and they are currently working on expanding their Wedding Barbie line in time for Molly's birthday. In the meantime, I do have the option of purchasing this absolutely stunning Indian bride from Ebay. For $200.
