Clit & Circumstance #31 - Barbie's Friend and Funky Facts of Life
The worst controversy, actually, over the Happy Family (tm) Midge dolls was that the original box the doll came in didn't portray her husband and other child. People were concerned about Midge being a single mom and so Mattel had to focus on how wonderful the whole FAMILY was. So Mattel had to add in a little cardboard representation of the father and other child into the Midge & baby box. It doesn't matter that most families don't match the Happy Family stereotype. I wonder how isolated kids feel when their family doesn't match ... There are no single dad Barbies and no Single mom Barbies because apparently we can't trust kids to deal with reality and instead must teach them the judgemental side of life where there is a famlial ideal that all should aspire to while most fail, thus, giving the world yet another reason to discriminate.
