The future of gay Barbie dolls and the history of Earrg Magic Ken - Queerty

Contents:

• HOW BARBIE'S BOYIEND KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN
• KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND
• IS ALLAN OM 'BARBIE' GAY? 5 REASONS TO THK HE MIGHT BE
• THE FUTURE OF GAY BARBIE DOLLS AND THE HISTORY OF EARRG MAGIC KEN
• RENNTRE GRATUE GAY à PARIS, (75)

HOW BARBIE'S BOYIEND KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN

'Gay' Earrg Magic Ken Hs the Shelv. "He's always read gay, " said Dan Savage, ternatnally renowned lumnist and podster, an email, "but has he ever read gayer than he did wh a gay sex toy around his neck?

KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND

Savage origally wrote about Earrg Magic Ken the summer of 1993, when much of the pop culture world was havg a good lgh at Mattel's lack of unrstandg that while ltle kids saw what Prce, the members of Right Said Fred or Madonna's backup dancers were wearg simply as "ol, " the adult world was clued to how gay was. The doll flew off the shelv, pecially sce gay men, cludg Savage, shed out to buy a Ken doll. Though the Earrg Magic Ken cint showed that LGBTQ culture at the time had filtrated the mastream (or, arguably, been -opted by ), Ken might've simply remaed the butt of late-night jok until Savage — who's sce gone on to serve as one of the untry's most proment sex and relatnship advice lumnists — published his explanatn of the gay-culture subtext munited by wearg the sex toy.

IS ALLAN OM 'BARBIE' GAY? 5 REASONS TO THK HE MIGHT BE

And a form of , specific placements on clothg uld imply certa sexual preferenc among the gay crowd; you n read Savage's more tailed acunt of the nuanc the Chigo Rear's archiv. "I don't thk a gay man unr 40 would even know what we we're talkg about, " he said. Adam McDonald is a 36-year-old gay man and film cric for the Bored as Hell podst.

Many nsired the doll a gay in. Mattel went on to remove the phrase om the doll’s programmg and also offered refunds to those who did not wish to own the Barbie READ: Is Barbie gay and why is the new movie rated PG-13? He’s Barbie’s gay bt iend.

The film won’t say , but a post-creds punchle about Ken’s handwrg, plete wh hearts and stars surroundg his name, tells what we need to heavily implied nature of Ken’s gayns Toy Story 3 harkens back to Hollywood’s tradnal gay bt iend-type characters. In the Hays Co era, explic referenc to homosexualy weren’t allowed, so characters like Van Buren (Frankl Pangborn) 1937’s Easy Livg, Kip (David Wayne) 1949’s Adam’s Rib, or Addison (Gee Sanrs) 1950’s All About Eve stead were imbued wh effemate characteristics, offerg a glimpse outsi of heteronormativy whout explicly beg of the characters were the same—some were tty, others sweet.

THE FUTURE OF GAY BARBIE DOLLS AND THE HISTORY OF EARRG MAGIC KEN

But each of the gay bt iends was trsilly fed by their relatnships wh their straight iends.

RENNTRE GRATUE GAY à PARIS, (75)

Des later, 2010, the gay bt iend was all the rage; Teen Vogue even went so far as to proclaim the GBF as the summer’s mt-have accsory.

But unlike the first half of the 20th century, today’s cema, the GBF is allowed to be openly gay.