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:
- HOW BARBIE'S BOYIEND KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN
- THE YASSIFITN OF KEN: EARRG MAGIC KEN AND HIS ENDURG GAY LEGACY
- THE FUTURE OF GAY BARBIE DOLLS AND THE HISTORY OF EARRG MAGIC KEN
- IN 1993 MATTEL UNKNOWLGLY RELEASED A GAY KEN DOLL
- MATTEL MA A GAY KEN DOLL THAT WAS IT'S BT SELLG KEN DOLL EVER
- THE TE STORY OF MATTEL ACCINTALLY RELEASG A SUPER GAY KEN DOLL
HOW BARBIE'S BOYIEND KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN
Photos of Ryan Goslg as Ken 'Barbie' ll to md Earrg Magic Ken, aka Gay Ken, who lighted the queer muny and dismayed Mattel. * gay ken 1993 *
In the distant past of 1993, gay marriage wasn’t legal any state the untry. Sodomy laws all over Ameri attempted to outlaw gay sex by crimalizg any oral or anal erotic ntact. And Dan Savage, a sex-advice lumnist then only known to rears of a few pennt alt-newspapers around the untry, was pable of makg breakout news wh a sndalo revelatn: Mattel’s latt Ken doll, part of the Earrg Magic le of Barbie toys, was openly moled on gay fashn.
“For about a year every gay boy at a rave was wearg at least one, ” Savage wrote. “What the ltle girls were seeg, and tellg Mattel was ol, wasn’t what their relatns were wearg — unls they had hip queer relativ — but the homoerotic fashns and imagery they were seeg on MTV, what they saw Madonna’s dancers wearg her ncerts and films and, as happens, what ACT UP/Queer Natn fags and dyk were wearg to mos and rav, ” Savage wrote.
THE YASSIFITN OF KEN: EARRG MAGIC KEN AND HIS ENDURG GAY LEGACY
* gay ken 1993 *
'Gay' Earrg Magic Ken Hs the Shelv.
THE FUTURE OF GAY BARBIE DOLLS AND THE HISTORY OF EARRG MAGIC KEN
In 1993 Mattel unknowlgly released a gay Ken doll * gay ken 1993 *
"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. 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. 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. By makg him gay.
IN 1993 MATTEL UNKNOWLGLY RELEASED A GAY KEN DOLL
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 1993 *
Some fans, however, have noticed certa siari between Goslg’s look and another time gay fans went nuts over Ken. That’s right – Goslg bears a strikg remblance to Earrg Magic Ken – sometim known as Gay Ken or even Cock Rg Ken.
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. The trend started among gay men, but then spread, beg a fashnable accent piece regardls of genr.
Word got around about how Mattel had created a gay Ken plete wh a ck rg, somewhat thanks to Savage’s article.
MATTEL MA A GAY KEN DOLL THAT WAS IT'S BT SELLG KEN DOLL EVER
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 1993 *
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. © 2022 GCN (Gay Communy News). TIL 1993 Mattel's Barbie divisn accintally released a Gay Ken doll.
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. He’s the first (untentnally) gay-d Barbie doll created by Mattel 1993. 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 TE STORY OF MATTEL ACCINTALLY RELEASG A SUPER GAY KEN DOLL
Barbie has been a femist symbol for a while but do you know about the time when Mattel accintally created a 'gay' Ken doll? * gay ken 1993 *
But 1993, Mattel released Earrg Magic Ken, a doll that quickly beme an accintal gay in. 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.
AI Barbie: What might future gay Barbie dolls look like?
Ken Gay. Art Department: The Search for Alexanr the Great. Ken Gay is known for The Search for Alexanr the Great (1981) and Silent Mory (1981)." data-id="ma * gay ken 1993 *
Gay cyb Ken doll. In 1993 Mattel unknowlgly released a gay Ken doll. So, what is Ken were gay?
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.
On Sam Smh’s “Barbie” soundtrack song “Man I Am,” the performer sgs about a Ken who’s “not gay, bro,” but has “been on that lay low.” So, a Bicur Ken? * gay ken 1993 *
Mattel was really embarrassed by the nnectn between their doll and the ia of him beg gay. Though the toy maker ref to release official numbers, the general belief is that the gay Ken doll may have actually sold more than even any of the female Barbie dolls that have ever existed. TIL 1993 Mattel's Barbie divisn 'accintally' released a Gay Ken doll.
He’s Barbie’s gay bt iend.
Ken Felts didn't e out as gay until he was 90. He told his dghter about havg to abandon his first real love the 1950s. His story went global on Facebook. Now, at 93, he's found a hband. * gay ken 1993 *
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.
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.