How Barbie's Boyiend Ken Beme an Accintal Gay In | HowStuffWorks

Contents:

• 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
• THE TE STORY OF MATTEL ACCINTALLY RELEASG A SUPER GAY KEN DOLL
• HOW BARBIE'S BOYIEND KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN
• THE FUTURE OF GAY BARBIE DOLLS AND THE HISTORY OF EARRG MAGIC KEN

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

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! The doll rocketed off the shelv, particularly bee gay men, cludg Savage, hurried out to get their hands on one.

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. 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.

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

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

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.

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

In movi like Mean Girls (2004), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Easy A (2010), No Strgs Attached (2011), and Isn’t It Romantic (2019), gay iends exist entirely the orb of their female iends. ” But Barbie do, and for Ken, that’s are plenty of reasons why the film wouldn’t outrightly state that Ken is homosexual.

), and of urse, and earrg the “gay ear”. ) Earrg Magic Ken turned Barbie’s boyiend to an out-and-proud homosexual raver.

Mattel, of urse, vehemently nied any claims that Ken was gay, let alone that he had somethg as prepostero as a ck rg around his neck. As a rult, gay men bought the doll drov, and spe Mattel ultimately rellg the doll and wipg away any trace of Earrg Magic Ken, was near-impossible to see Ken as anythg but the glor homosexual he was born to be om then on. Though Mattel don’t seem to be willg to say Ken is actually gay, the Ken dolls of recent years seem to really lean to Ken’s queerns.

THE TE STORY OF MATTEL ACCINTALLY RELEASG A SUPER GAY KEN DOLL

While there is no way to “drs gay, ” there are several dolls that seem to suggt otherwise, such as:Fashnista Ken #193, who looks very exced to tell you about his new obssn, Troye Sivan;Travel Ken Doll, who has a satchel perfect for bathho and a purple overnight bag that lerally proclaims he’s “extra;”Ken Looks Doll, servg “I’m gonna give you a makeover”-type realns while sportg black pleather pants;This Ken, who wears the least heterosexual double nim I have a feelg the new Barbie movie will put the work to nvce that Ken is a hetero du who lov nothg life more than Barbie herself, the wrg’s already on the wall: Ken is, and always will be, Barbie’s gay bt obssg!

HOW BARBIE'S BOYIEND KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN

Ken's actually bee a gay in sce the 1990s when he was sold as "Earrg Magic Ken, " plete wh an earrg and a necklace that rembled a sex toy. A lot of male actors, pecially of a certa age (Goslg is 42), would vote the media cycle around a movie built on gags about their character’s aquacy to retablishg their own domance, the way straight men ed to soak up aclas for playg gay rol while seizg every opportuny to drop a mentn of their girliends. From the moment the first character posters om Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie arrived on the scene, my fely tuned gaydar started to pg.

Did my homosexual ey ceive me or did Ken appear to have a gay iend named Allan? Unfortunately for me, there is no ncrete gay love story for Allan.

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

Growg up gay, this otherns is a feelg I often enuntered around other boys.

In the 1960s when LGBTQ+ people often had to live closeted liv, gay men often scribed their lovers as "roommat" or "buddi. Concln: Is Allan Gay? While we technilly don't know if Allan is gay (and perhaps Allan himself don't know yet—after all, g out is a long, difficult procs pecially if you don't have queer role mols to look up to), I strongly believe that he is.

Also, a movie that is so heavily addrsg genr and romance and that clus such a massive st, mak sense that there would be a gay character the then begs the qutn, why isn't Allan explicly gay the movie?