Wh Greta Gerwig's Barbie set to h theaters this July, we cid to take a look back at the past, prent, and future of gay Barbie dolls.
Contents:
- THE TE STORY OF MATTEL ACCINTALLY RELEASG A SUPER GAY KEN DOLL
- MATTEL MA A GAY KEN DOLL THAT WAS IT'S BT SELLG KEN DOLL EVER
- HOW BARBIE'S BOYIEND KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN
- THAT TIME MATTEL ACCINTALLY MA KEN GAY
- THE FUTURE OF GAY BARBIE DOLLS AND THE HISTORY OF EARRG MAGIC KEN
- MEET GAY BOB, THE 1977 DOLL THAT URGED PEOPLE TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET
THE TE STORY OF MATTEL ACCINTALLY RELEASG A SUPER GAY KEN DOLL
Simply put, Ken isn’t ol — and Mattel isn’t havg . The children’s answers, likely rmed by media (some would later ce Madonna’s background dancers) and club-culture trends, spire Ken’s new look and what would bee an famo nightmare for Mattel. The doll was lled Earrg Magic Ken, which is the absolute bt name for an accintally gay doll. * gay ken doll worth *
” — only a whole lot Cyle Suz for In The KnowThe doll was lled Earrg Magic Ken, which is the absolute bt name for an accintally gay doll. Te to his name, his ear is pierced on the left si, which was largely nsired to be “the gay ear” to pierce at the time and a vert way of ditg queerns. And that’s not all to mentn, his necklace was almost cidly moled after a sexual accsory trend of leathers and club-kids the doll’s 1993 release, activist and wrer Dan Savage, who at the time was workg for queer-foced newspaper The Stranger, wrote a piece about the doll’s cidly “gay” look.
“New Ken, ” as he was termed, was officially “Gay Ken. Even before Earrg Magic Ken, gay jok surround fashn-lovg Ken for his sat sus and affiliatn wh the hyper-feme world of unlike the jok about Ken’s sexualy, Earrg Magic Ken was the first time queer people weren’t the butt of the “gay Ken” joke.
In fact, that year, 44 percent of the natn believed “gay relatnships” — not marriage, simply datg someone of the oppose genr — should be 1993, Mattel (or any other brand, for that matter) would have never knowgly released a product for queer people bee would alienate the brand’s re nsumer: nservative married moms middle Ameri who are buyg Barbie for their Katie Dupere for In The KnowEarrg Magic Ken likely stck such a chord wh gay men and queer people bee was reprentatn when no one wanted to reprent . The toy giant now sells Creatable World dolls which allow for genr exploratn and Ken dolls that, let’s face , are gayer than Earrg Magic Ken ever was.
MATTEL MA A GAY KEN DOLL THAT WAS IT'S BT SELLG KEN DOLL EVER
Remember when Mattel accintally ma a super gay Ken doll? We do. And queer people ma him the bt sellg Ken doll, ever. * gay ken doll worth *
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HOW BARBIE'S BOYIEND KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN
* gay ken doll worth *
While he fs to some gay stereotyp, (pecially om the early '90s), ’s the necklace that really got everyone’s gay thor and journalist Dan Savage explas a lumn about the doll om 1993, the late '80s and early '90s, bis beg a sex toy, a ck rg was the queer fashn statement of the time.
THAT TIME MATTEL ACCINTALLY MA KEN GAY
The accsory was a staple of the gay club culture that was blowg up at the time, a scene Ken would f right to wh his leather/mh ensemble.
Mattel stnchly ni the doll was tend to have anythg to do wh homosexualy at all. Some even claim the bt sellg Barbie mol ever, but as Mattel is unwillg to discs our iend Ken’s current stat, that tle go to Total Hair Barbie (released the year before), he will always have his ltle place history as the time Barbie supported her boyiend explorg his homosexual tennci. Whether was tentnal or not, Mattel had created a Ken doll pletely outfted cloth that the "stereotypil gay man" would wear, or at least that's what Savage magaze said.
THE FUTURE OF GAY BARBIE DOLLS AND THE HISTORY OF EARRG MAGIC KEN
They realized that the cloth he was wearg and the accsori he had were much more mon the gay muny, and when they released their article the toy quickly beme sold out everywhere. It wasn't beg purchased by children though, stead was the new mt-have llectible for gay men, but Mattel wasn't as happy about the associatn. So I've fallen to a rearch wormhole about Magic Earrg Ken, the ntroversial 1993 doll believed by gay llectors to be wearg a ‘ck rg’ as a necklace.
The story go that the doll was pulled after fans started hailg Ken, wh his perma-tanned sk, bleach blon hair and mh t-shirt, as a gay in, and as a rult of this ntroversy, that's 's one of the rart Ken dolls out there.
So, what is Ken were gay?
MEET GAY BOB, THE 1977 DOLL THAT URGED PEOPLE TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET
Gog all the way back to 1993 and releasg a male doll that was obvly gay seems like que a risky choice to make. The Ken doll released f to so many of the stereotyp of a gay man.
Those stereotyp were particularly strong the early 1990s, and that meant that this doll stood out even more at the time as clearly beg a gay man.
One might thk that the public at the time would have been repulsed by the ia of purchasg their children a doll that they saw as gay. The children loved this doll, gay dividuals saw as easier to relate to, and the public bought up rerd numbers. Mattel was really embarrassed by the nnectn between their doll and the ia of him beg gay.