My Heros: the Barbie Liberation Organization

I’m currently re-reading Margo Maine’s excellent book “Body Wars” – to add useful information to my documentary script.

In the chapter “Barbie Dolls & Body Image” Ms. Maine writes about the group Barbie Liberation Organization:

One group, the Barbie Liberation Organization, formed by a graduate student from the University of California at San Diego, went so far as to swap the speech mechanisms of the Talking Barbies with those of G.I. Joes, causing havoc for the toy stores that received the tampered merchandise. The Talking Barbies were saying things like, “Vengeance is mine,” while the G.I. Joes were saying, “Let’s go shopping.” This political art expresses the distress many feel about the status of women in our society and the symbols that threaten the self-esteem of females.