The current Barbie doll career-related accessories are all pretty traditionally "feminine": "baby doctor" (wearing a pink frilly top and capri jeans), pet boutique owner, swim instructor. They all appear to reinforce the notion that women's jobs are all about "nurturing" children and small animals, while always looking very femininely fashionable.Mattel is apparently trying to branch out a bit, with their new limited-edition doll: Space Camp Barbie, who comes with space suit and helmet. And Barbie has two friends who are also at space camp, Teresa, meant to be a Latina, and Nikki, who is supposed to be African-American (all three appear to be the same doll with different skin and hair color). While I do think it's nice that it does promote space camp as a girly activity, it's disappointing to me that they have the dolls heavily made up and dressed in pink and shiny outfits.
It makes me wonder whether there are dolls out there for girls who aren't into pink and frills and who want to make believe they are astronauts or bug or rock scientists (using kid terminology) or engineers.
Tags: barbie, space camp
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