[Square] Why Does the Barbie Doll Keep Transforming?

Jojongran, President of the Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled

The Barbie dolls we played with as children usually have small faces, long legs, and the appearance of blonde white people. When we meet someone flaunting unrealistic beauty, we use the idiom "looks like a Barbie doll," which suggests that Barbie dolls have subconsciously become a symbol of beauty in our society. However, since Barbie's debut in 1959, there have been continuous criticisms that her appearance has standardized the conventional notion of beauty. Perhaps in response to such criticism, a Black Barbie was released in 1968, followed by Barbies representing various races such as Asian and Hispanic. Recently, we have even seen Barbies without hair, Barbies with vitiligo, Barbies with prosthetic legs, and Barbies in wheelchairs.

Regarding the doll company's marketing, some praise it as a reflection of the spirit of the times and a step toward embracing diversity. However, others still criticize it as merely a surprise event aimed at selling more products.

Yet, both the praise and criticism stem from the same thought: a reflection on whether Barbie dolls are presenting and even imposing a uniform standard of beauty in our era. Now that the dolls’ appearances have changed, can the standards or archetypes of beauty ingrained in our consciousness also be neatly transformed?

In fact, children playing with dolls have not yet developed an understanding of social orders or systems. However, through consuming dolls that are white rather than Black, blonde rather than black-haired, they begin to recognize these differences and realize that there is a hierarchical relationship between them. Those placed lower in the hierarchy are unconsciously excluded. Furthermore, negative images are created about the subordinate group, and a new unconscious is formed that believes these images as if they were actual events or facts. Therefore, the first step in eliminating discrimination is to examine whether the thoughts within ourselves, formed without our awareness, are creating irrational exclusion.

In this context, our government is also actively making efforts to form a community that embraces diversity and coexists. At the institutional level, it prohibits discriminatory and hateful expressions to promote diversity, and at the awareness level, it pursues cultural practices such as expanding civic education and fostering a healthy media environment. So, what is the level of our society’s consciousness toward people with disabilities, who are relatively classified as minorities, and how can we examine it? Is there even an opportunity to check our own thoughts about people with disabilities during our lifetime?

The Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled has strengthened "workplace disability awareness improvement education" as legally mandated training to question and reconsider the fixed stereotypes and discomforts about people with disabilities in our society. Practicing diversity enhancement through laws and systems is a duty that public institutions must fulfill and aligns with the national movement to overcome discrimination and exclusion.

To effectively improve disability awareness and spread the value of employing people with disabilities, more than 1,000 instructors are trained annually, about 35% (750 people) of whom are people with disabilities themselves. It is a dream to think that social awareness can change overnight through a single lecture by a disabled instructor. However, the process of asking and answering where our consciousness about disability or people with disabilities stands can be the beginning of practical action against discrimination and exclusion. For such practice, how about attending the "workplace disability awareness improvement education" conducted by people with disabilities themselves this year?

Jo Jong-ran, President of Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.