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
• THE FUTURE OF GAY BARBIE DOLLS AND THE HISTORY OF EARRG MAGIC KEN
• THE YASSIFITN OF KEN: EARRG MAGIC KEN AND HIS ENDURG GAY LEGACY
• HOW EARRG MAGIC KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN
• IS RYAN GOSLG PLAYG THIS GAY IN KEN DOLL NEW ‘BARBIE’ MOVIE?
• KEN FOLLETT IS AN UNSUNG GAY IN
• 960 GAY MEN INS

HOW BARBIE'S BOYIEND KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN

"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? 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. 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.

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.

When to gay Barbie dolls, the Mattel toy pany hasn’t always been a pneer, but they have always been the center of the nversatn. And for all we know, Earrg Magic Ken stigated the unfound fear among agile mascule fathers regardg the notn that playg wh dolls uld lead to their sons beg gay.

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

Bee he f nearly every sgle early-90s gay stereotype, nversatns grew around Ken’s sexualy and he quickly beme a highly sought-after Barbie pecially among gay men—rultg the doll sellg out by Christmastime shortly after s but.

Between his purple mh top and fx-leather vt, bleach-blon two-toned hair, sgular pierced ear and necklace holdg a good sized rg (whatever termology you want to lend to ), Ken screams early-’90s-gay-rave-attene. Tryg to shove their accintally-gay Ken back to the closet by pullg him off the shelv, Mattel martyred him stead, makg Earrg Magic Ken a llector’s em and an in.

THE YASSIFITN OF KEN: EARRG MAGIC KEN AND HIS ENDURG GAY LEGACY

And clearly, no one red about Earrg Magic Barbie bee Earrg Magic Ken end up turng to a gay in and beme one of Mattel’s most profable dolls! This gave birth to Mattel’s early 90s gay nightmare (a betiful accint, if you ask me): Earrg Magic Ken looked like the plastic stereotype of queer fashn back then: drsed a lavenr mh t-shirt, a matchg purple leather jacket, tightly fted black jeans, and a pierced earrg at a perd when men havg pierced ears was still nsired taboo the Uned Stat. Earrg Magic Ken was wrten about by Dan Savage who is a popular lumnist and podster, 1993 when Mattel had bee the lghg stock of pop culture for their failure to unrstand that kids of that era found outfs by Prce, members of Right Said Fred, or Madonna’s backup dancers “ol” but they were nsired by the adults as simply… gay!

Though the Earrg Magic Ken cint evinced that LGBTQ+ culture had been absorbed to the mastream media at the time, Ken merely ntued to rema the butt of jok until Savage published his terpretatn of the gay-culture unrlyg msage nveyed by wearg the sex toy and fashn. Earrg Magic Ken: Queer In and Homophob’ worst nightmareIf Ken wasn’t mascule enough for some, 1993 found Barbie creators Mattel releasg the Earrg Magic Ken. Mattel had untentnally created a gay in (photo-Mattel)And while the 90s (and ocsnally even morn pop culture unfortunately) tend to get toneaf wh stereotypil reprentatns of gay men as flashy and flamboyant, many queer men actually loved the doll and bought large numbers.

But then wh the homophobic backlash, Mattel cid to stand wh s ctomer base of largely heterosexual parents and stopped productn 1994.

HOW EARRG MAGIC KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN

Pictur of the Allan doll have gone viral a few tim on social media, as many people believe that Ken, Mattel's famo doll who has historilly been marketed as Barbie's boyiend, is actually gay.

We already knew Mattel's Ken doll has a very hilar, very queer history, but se you need more proof that the Barbie character is an advertent gay in, here's a new velopment for you. In a now viral post om Twter er @byelacey, Barbie fans old and new are beg troduced to Allan, a handsome, brown-haired, and strappg vtage doll who serv as a pann to our gay in Ken.

Fance Watchlists My Portfol Markets Optns: Hight Open Intert Optns: Hight Implied Volatily News Vios Yahoo Fance Pl Screeners Personal Fance High-yield savgs acunt rat Crypto Indtri Contact Us S&P 500 Dow 30 Nasdaq Rsell 2000 C Oil Gold Silver EUR/USD 10-Yr Bond GBP/USD USD/JPY B USD CMC Crypto 200 FTSE 100 Nikkei 225 Is Ryan Goslg Playg This Gay In Ken Doll New ‘Barbie’ Movie? Consirg how important earrgs were to queer culture that era, you n probably gus where this is updated “ol” Ken looked so blatantly gay that ter folklore surroundg suggts that signers went to rav populated by queer men to figure out what, exactly, was a ol look at the time. \u201ci n\u2019t believe greta gerwig ma 1993 earrg magic ken real\u201d— spir-man: turn off the dark advote \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@spir-man: turn off the dark advote \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1655337722Whatever the te story about the sign may be, gay men bought enough Ken dolls that beme the bt-sellg Ken Barbie history, spe beg taken off the shelv wh weeks bee Mattel was allegedly worried about hurtg their image.

IS RYAN GOSLG PLAYG THIS GAY IN KEN DOLL NEW ‘BARBIE’ MOVIE?

Pictur) 1655308820\u201cwhen barbie stggl wh everyone so \u201cperfect\u201d around her (straight people) bee she\u2019s stuck a lovels lavenr marriage wh ken (gay) and that\u2019s what\u2019s preventg her om beg the all amerin girl she was produced to be\u201d— Not diane selwyn (@Not diane selwyn) 1655310525\u201cIt\u2019s givg drag kg wh a h Amazon cht plat\u201d— Tenroni (@Tenroni) 1655320749\u201cListen up lazy Halloween gays, \u2019s your time to SHINE\u201d— Katy Perry\u2019s Pizza (@Katy Perry\u2019s Pizza) 1655319027Unfortunately, we’re gog to have to wa a while longer to see where this world of pk plastic and perfect abs is head — Barbie is currently schled for release July 2023. M3GAN is one of the biggt movi Ameri right now -- and you n thank The Gays for what exactly is about the film that has gays flockg to the theater and brgg the straights wh them? Acrdg to M3GAN's wrer Akela Cooper, the queer muny is flockg to the movie bee of s a recent terview wh SFX Magaze, Cooper said that she actually talked to a gay iend about the excement the muny around her movie.

"I actually asked one of my iends who is a gay man about that and he was sayg this set-up is actually found fay, where this ltle girl has lost her fay, and she has to go live wh her nt, " she said.

"As soon as news s started reportg on Cooper's quote, gays across the ter chimed wh the real reason behd M3GAN's in that is very fely the theme of the movie (and we love for s portrayal of two women raisg a young girl together), that's not the reason we were first drawn to the movie - the found fay theme is jt the icg on the lic, mpy Twter er @kensucksss so eloquently put , M3GAN didn't bee an stant gay in bee of the them of the movie, she was one the stant we saw the first trailer. 1673462263Thoands of other Twter gays joed , echog the sentiment, and sayg they've loved M3GAN sce they first saw her silly ltle dance.

KEN FOLLETT IS AN UNSUNG GAY IN

"This is funny bee any other circumstance, this would be a good analysis on why gays feel nnected to a character due to the found fay trope, " Twter er @LothWolffe wrote. "\u201cThis is funny bee any other circumstance, this would be a good analysis on why gays feel nnected to a character due to the found fay trope.

”READ MORE Fun Wh Philosophil FictnSo the ia that cln of gay characters media is beneficial is well what if there was heterosexual male thor who reached lns of middle-aged heterosexual male rears, and what if that male heterosexual thor wrote about gays as if they were a normal part of our daily fabric—and even tossed a gay sex scene? “I live a world which there are gay people, and to leave them out would seem odd, jt as would seem odd to wre a story which there were no people of lor, or all the hero were men and no women were hero. ”READ MORE Overlooked Classic Books From FloridaEdge of Eterny clus not only Follett’s cheerleadg for the gay rights movements the U.

960 GAY MEN INS

In the prev novels the trilogy, there is a tenr love affair between two Amerin men who are the Navy, as well as a btal attack by Nazi Brownshirts who loose dogs on a gay man. Follett’s cln of gay characters isn’t a new move on his part bee tim have MORE Tuchman Is Still the Bt on WWIPillars of the Earth (1989), perhaps his most famo work, had a ank discsn of homosexualy’s prence society.

Lie Down wh Lns (1985) gave a shoutout to gays a lndry list of human rights to worry, 1993, Follett, who has always penned randier sex scen than his rivals, clud one between two men A Dangero MORE The Week’s Bt LongreadsThe scene qutn volved Micky Miranda, the tall, dark, and handsome sundrel allowg his fatuated and wealthy bt iend Edward to perform oral sex on him as a last dch effort to ensure his evil plan will succeed. I was a gay teenager the after A Dangero Fortune was published, and s gay sex scene was the first gay sex scene I ever read.

When I got past the ia that I had managed to fd a gay sex scene, even one as msed up as that, I also realized that my O’Reilly Factor-watchg father, whose py I was of urse readg, had also read that same passage.

”READ MORE Noam Chomsky—Infuriatg and Necsary Ironilly, while Follett has received no cred for cludg gays meangful ways his books— fact he was ught off guard at first that I was askg him about —he has certaly gotten the ill-will.

”READ MORE Dazzlg Beti on Italian StreetsThere are probably a variety of reasons why Follett’s seamls cln of gays has gone unnoticed. But, nversatns I’ve had wh fay and fay iends, the gay characters, and certaly that gay sex scene, did not go unnoticed by s straight male may not have gotten rid of any bigots, but certaly ma a whole lot harr to avoid.

In districts like Shju Nichōme, Tokyo’s gay neighborhood, Japane and foreign talk, drk, and mgle, long-standg private bars, clubs, drag shows, and on the streets outsi nvenience stor. Their relatnships most likely varied greatly by suatn and across time perds, but a typil nanshoku pairg rporated many dimensns: mentorship and stewardship, platonic iendship, as well as physil acts of homosexual sex. The practice only began to fa wh the Meiji Rtoratn the late 1800s, when scty om the Wt led to a refg of homosexualy and heterosexualy Japane society.

While historil pictns of Nobunaga and Ranma sometim fully portray them as gay lovers, we mt be reful to separate historic nanshoku and the figur there om LGBTQ issu today, and to avoid mornizg norms of that era to f our ncept of sexualy and romance.