What Barbie Is Teaching Grandma, Mom and Me

You Should Stop Asking That Question

“What do you want to be in the future?”

If I could just earn $1 every time somebody asked me that, I wouldn’t have even bothered finishing school. I bet every single one of you had been addressed that same question over and over.

It doesn’t matter whether it be at school, home, or college; People NEED to stop bombarding children and students with that annoying, overrated wonderment.

I’ve never been the kid who had life figured out since kindergarten. OK, sure I have some friends who — after 3 years into this world — decided they wanted to become vets or whatever, and for some, it did work out but I’m not one of those people. And, it wasn’t until recently, that I’ve come to realize the majority is like me and not the other way around.

Barbie: My New Career Icon

I’ve never really liked Barbie dolls in my childhood, for some reason, despite being immensely popular among my friends. I’m not alone though; Mattel has been stipulating controversial debates since the 1960s and my grandma’s generation, to the point of Barbie’s sales dropping by 25% from 2012 to 2017.

In hindsight, Barbie was representing a version of a girl that none of us could relate to, whether it be for race, sexuality, body, or her seemingly perfect life. The thought of coming up with the hundreds of career uniforms Barbie had, sounds like such a progressive idea.

However, there was never a message behind it. As a kid, I always associated her with a simple dress up game, which I was not a fan of.

Barbie was able to pull off any possible job but didn’t have any goals or aspirations. It all looked disingenuous, inauthentic, and highly stereotypical of how certain professionals look like.

• Where is the story behind each of the outfits?
• Why don’t we see her go to school or higher education?

When my teacher asked me, on my 1st ever school day, what I wanted to be when I grow up, nothing but void and built-up pressure crossed my mind. I didn’t have the slightest idea. It felt as though I must answer regardless, so I picked a random Barbie career that peeped out to me…I did that for 12 years all throughout school.

How were the other kids able to decide this early, and I couldn’t? Did they just pick their favourite Barbie uniform?

Rebranding Barbie is where things get interesting

In 2015, Mattel picked up on the problems Barbie is causing, and that’s when diversity is introduced into the Barbie world. However, that’s not why Barbie is my career role model.

Barbie is finally becoming a friend instead of the skinny mannequin she used to be. She created a growing Vlog channel on YouTube with now over 9 million subscribers, which boggles my mind. In her videos, Barbie addresses mental health issues, empowers young girls, and is leading a normal life that most kids can relate to.

There’s now a clear message destined to be heard by the kids, with Mattel’s campaign motto “You Can Be Anything”, but most importantly, the ‘Dream Gap Project’ using #MoreRoleModels.

When it first seemed like the kids were ‘copycats’ getting inspiration from the doll they probably found the most ‘attractive’, it is not so much the case now. Children are invited to think for themselves and form an opinion seeing the diverse Barbie careers based on real people, as well as forming a direct connection from her vlog channel — a lot more genuine.

Barbie and I didn’t agree much 18 years ago, but if I get asked about my future now, I’d honestly wish I was a Barbie. She gets to try all these cool careers and isn’t forced to specialize in just one thing.

A Real-Life Barbie Can Exist

2 years ago, when I was a senior in high school, I was expected to provide my major of predilection and apply to different colleges. All these years, I permitted myself to keep all of my options open — provided I would have chosen something by the end of school.

My curiosity about everything kept making it harder and harder for me. So hard to the point — believe it or not — I had applied to Med schools, Engineering schools as well as Pharmacy ones. At least, I knew I’m into STEM, but making up my mind had to be the most difficult thing ever.

A couple of years ago, I stumbled across a real-life Barbie, that has been inspiring me ever since. Michelle Khare, former Buzzfeed content producer and currently running her own YouTube channel. She is most famous for her ‘Challenge Accepted’ series where she takes unto many job training for some time and performs a final form of evaluation.

With over 9 million views, her most popular episode is her Marine Bootcamp training. Michelle might be doing it to honor certain jobs or challenge her physical ability. Either way, she is showing people like you and me that we shouldn’t be limited to our majors, job departments…etc. People who succeed nowadays aren’t actually specialized in one thing but are multi-skilled — They are Barbies!

Lessons I Retain for Writing

• Being Niche-less is completely fine. Writing about certain subjects works for some writers who are extremely knowledgable in those topics, but I personally love the freedom that comes with having no Niche.
• Stay Curious! It is nice to expand one’s horizons and explore multiple interests. Writing is a learning curve that applies to draft methods, as well as exploring new topics.
• If anyone asks you again about what you want to become in the future, just tell them you’re pulling off a Barbie.