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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Barbie and Ken if you poor

142 replies

TkkkOnMe · 30/07/2023 19:28

So, I just had 2 x generic barbies, a skipper and a Ken.
We didn't have the money for all the 'sets' to make her doctor, showjumping, lawyer or whatever, so she was just a perfect blonde. Mum and I made her clothes and it was fun.
Ken was a love rat in my house who was shagging all 3 of them.
AIBU to see that it is only about money for Mattel, not the fricking 'mission for female empowerment' Helen Mirren is bleating on about on the film, and they didn't have a clue about how lots of girls, especially in the 80s, played with her?

OP posts:

MattDillonsEyebrows · 30/07/2023 20:26

Sindy & Pippa in my house! My parents wouldn’t buy ‘that American rubbish!’ 😂

i still have a fair bit of Sindy stuff at my mums and my children still play with it despite them being very misshapen and only having half a head of wild hair! The horses are in good shape though, although again, they don’t have much actual hair left.

3WildOnes · 30/07/2023 20:26

I never had a single barbie and neither of my girls do either.

Ontobetterthings · 30/07/2023 20:27

I had a sindy and Paul 🤣

Tiredalwaystired · 30/07/2023 20:27

Sindy all the way. She always struck me as the BBC to Barbie’s ITV.

landbeforegrime · 30/07/2023 20:27

wasn't allowed dolls so i had 0. second hand my little ponies and sylvanian families. otherwise it was craft kits and art stuff. oh and some care bears, glowworms and finders keepers.

EmmaPaella · 30/07/2023 20:28

I had (still have) a Crimp and Curl barbie, my sister’s Sindy doll and my brother’s action man. I preferred Care Bears!

LostFrog · 30/07/2023 20:28

OT but my Barbie had Sindy’s furniture anyway, it was way more tasteful.

LakeTiticaca · 30/07/2023 20:29

No barbies for me. Parents couldn't afford it. Next door neighbour had a Skipper. I was wel jel 😡
In later years my sister had a Tressy doll with the wind up hair 😄
I took my great niece to see Barbie this week. It was execrable. I can't believe the great Dame Helen Mirren would be associated with this steaming pile of dog crap, she surely can't need the money!!🤣

loveyouradvice · 30/07/2023 20:30

A Barbie, A Sindy and an Action Man... I loved the first 30 mins of Barbie ... felt SO accurate.... Barbie and sindy had a ball, doing lots of interesting things (mainly changing clothes, going on hikes and chatting!) while Action Man was definitely Inaction man - only needed occasionally as a bit player, otherwise just sat there ignored...

Original poster

TkkkOnMe · 30/07/2023 20:30

CoffeeRevelsForever · 30/07/2023 20:18

I never had Ken; the movie was spot on in sidelining him! I had zero interest in him. I liked changing Barbie's outfits and making up stories for her, mostly inspired by Sweet Valley High books. But I saw tons of adverts for all the different Barbies you could get, so I was well aware that Barbie could have all those other roles. She's a big cultural icon and you didn't have to have a Barbie at all to absorb the messaging - which was problematic in terms of beauty standards but was also a new direction of a doll being not a domestic/mothering role-play toy for girls.

The movie is written and directed by Greta Gerwig, who definitely does have a feminist message. It's clearly a Mattel project, but she's taken all the ideas around Barbie and the different things she represents in order to make a movie exploring feminist ideas. The meaning of Barbie doesn't begin and end with Mattel's intentions or with how any individual girl played with them.

Ken wasn't sidelined in my house - he had a harem.

OP posts:

BusySittingDown · 30/07/2023 20:31

See, I was a spoilt brat. I had a Sindy House, 3 Sindys (pop star Sindy, ballroom Sindy and one that was kinda "girl next door" - I hacked her hair off, bless her, so she looked a bit disheveled), one Barbie, Paul (not Ken, think Paul was Sindy's fancy piece) and here's where everyone'll be jealous...my elderly neighbours gave me the doll from their toilet roll cover! 😂😂😂

I played with her but she was always the baddy! 😂

viques · 30/07/2023 20:31

I had a Sindy, with a very limited wardrobe. My DD had a Barbie with a camper.

The boys upstairs and next door had Action men, but they didn’t have enough jeeps, so one of them used to squeeze into Barbies camper when they went off on garden manoeuvres.

Pluffe · 30/07/2023 20:32

I don’t think I ever played games with them. I just loved changing their outfits. Until my brother cut all their hair off.

MumUndone · 30/07/2023 20:33

I had a Ken whose hair changed colour in hot water, went from brown to blond. Only interesting thing about him, had very poor conversational skills.

Recycledblonde · 30/07/2023 20:33

I had Pippa but none of the accessories, I used to dress her in dresses made out of tissues! I couldn't have a tiny tears either as they were too expensive.

CoolShoeshine · 30/07/2023 20:33

I had lots of Sindy dolls. They were beautiful until you washed their hair. They put on lots of fashion shows.
My dolls had horses, a gig’, caravan, horse box, buggy and 4 storey house with lift! Most items were made with plastic covered cardboard which kept collapsing.
I don’t remember hardly anyone having Barbie’s in the ‘80s. Everyone I knew had Sindys.

Possimpible · 30/07/2023 20:34

I didn't get the impression it was a 'mission for female empowerment'. I thought the film was great actually, with its tongue firmly in its cheek. Would be curious to know how many of the people criticising have actually seen it. Plus we'll all take different things away from films.

They also didn't assume that all children had all Barbies. The stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) belonged to one little girl. The other Barbie's in Barbieland presumably all had different owners. At no point did they make out anyone in the real world owned all the Barbies.

(I wasn't a Barbie child, think I owned one or one Sindy, couldn't even tell you. But I loved the film)

CoffeeRevelsForever · 30/07/2023 20:34

Totally different to me then @TkkkOnMe , I found the irrelevance of Ken to Barbie in the film chimed so perfectly with my memories of her! Also @loveyouradvice do you mean yours had a ball as in a dance or just a good time? Because it sparked a memory of taking my Barbie over to my best friend's house so they could have a Cinderella style ball! They had beautiful dresses and heels, and I think we just imagined men to dance with. Or maybe they danced with each other.

watersprites · 30/07/2023 20:35

My Barbie cheated on Ken with Paul as Paul was much cooler

FoxyFeeling · 30/07/2023 20:35

My Barbie dated Action Man 😉

Begonne · 30/07/2023 20:36

I had a Sindy and I really enjoyed pulling her head off and popping it back on. Fidget toys weren’t really a thing back then and it was so satisfying. I was fascinated by her hip joints too but I was afraid of getting into trouble if I broke her.

We made clothes out of paper tissues and sellotape and shoes out of márla. I remember bringing home a book of knitting patterns for barbie clothes from the library and absolutely pestering my mum to knit them.

One of my classmates had the house, car, several Barbies and Ken’s and so many clothes.

DrSbaitso · 30/07/2023 20:37

I had a Sindy but she had a creepy sort of smile and I didn't like her. I used her as a villain for the My Little Ponies and they trampled her.

Thewolvesarerunningagain · 30/07/2023 20:38

I wasn’t allowed Barbie, Sindy or any of the others and sadly have grown up to be an underachiever anyway! I think you’ve missed the irony in the narrators role in the film OP. It’s not intended to be accurate

Twospaniels · 30/07/2023 20:39

i think back in the day we probably played in a more imaginary way than kids of today would. I didn’t have Barbie or Sindy - I had Pippa - remember her? She was smaller than Barbie and Sindy. I had about 3 of them and did have some sets of clothes and I had the horse. BUT I made a whole load of clothese for her. I made a stable from a shoe box, filled it with a bit of hay for bedding and made a haynet from a fruit net. I don’t think kids today would do all of that. I spent many an hour making clothes etc for my Pippa’s.

BestIsWest · 30/07/2023 20:41

This was mine, circa 1971. She came with a wedding dress which I thought was absolutely beautiful. I made most of her clothes or dressed her in Action Man’s outfits.
I made the Blue Peter doll’s bedroom for her too.

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