13
Mar 2010
Computer Engineer Barbie
This topic is probably not news for many, but the recent unveiling of Computer Engineer Barbie, from Mattel has been the topic on the blogs including the New York Times Blog ‘Bits’. I don’t know what it is about this topic that keeps sticking in my craw, but I’m hoping it will all come to light as I bang this blog post entry out (sorry, for those of you who actually choose to read it).
Gizmodo reports ‘Computer Engineer Barbie has a PhD in FUN (And Breaking Down Stereotypes). Mind you, I have worked with hot tech women (and currently in our London office we’ve got a woman who probably increases conference attendance by a good 10% when she registers), albeit not many of them. I’ve also worked with good looking tech guys. I sort of wonder if there’s any really point in, well, pointing out that there exists good looking IT folk out there. Who cares?
Even worse, or more to the point in my opinion, is that back in my day of feminist rabble rousing (college days, early 90s), Barbie was an icon most women were trying to break away from. From checking various sites on the interweb I found these statistics:
- If Barbie were life size, she would stand 7 ft 2 inches and have a neck twice the size of a humans
- Her measurements would be: 39-23-33
- She would have to walk on all fours in order to move
Today’s career woman, let alone ‘computer engineer’ or tech chic has enough to live up to as it is, respect in the industry, trying to achieve equal pay and work/home life balance, etc without adding on to it the impossible to achieve ‘look like Barbie’. I’m grateful for the women in our industry in whatever form they come in and throw out an extra woot woot for the ones who can hold their heads high, hot or not.
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Hello:
Some facts for your consideration.
Barbie is 1/6 scale. That means that Ken, who is 12″ tall, is 6 foot even in scale. Barbie, at 11.5″, is
5 foot 9 inches. Thickness of neck is necessary to keep the necks from breaking all the time, just
as clothes are, unavoidably, too thick in scale.
1/6 is exactly twice the size of standard dollhouse scale, which is 1/12 (one inch to the foot). So Barbie
and her kin are twice the size of dolls made to go in standard doll houses; but easier for small children
to play with.
Some models (for example, Gymnast Barbie) have nearly full articulation of knees, elbows, etc., but
these models are more expensive to manufacture.
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