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:
- KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND
- 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
- CANNED CKTAIL ‘GAY WATER’ AIMS TO SH ON BUD LIGHT’S DYLAN MULVANEY DISASTER
- THE TE STORY OF MATTEL ACCINTALLY RELEASG A SUPER GAY KEN DOLL
- HOW BARBIE'S BOYIEND KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN
- THAT TIME MATTEL ACCINTALLY MA KEN GAY
- KEN ROSATO WEDDG, HBAND, PARTNER, GAY, FAY
KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND
Remember when Mattel accintally ma a super gay Ken doll? We do. And queer people ma him the bt sellg Ken doll, ever. * gay ring ken *
In the distant past of 1993, gay marriage wasn’t legal any state the untry.
THE YASSIFITN OF KEN: EARRG MAGIC KEN AND HIS ENDURG GAY LEGACY
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 ring ken *
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. 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.
THE FUTURE OF GAY BARBIE DOLLS AND THE HISTORY OF EARRG MAGIC KEN
* gay ring ken *
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.
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.
CANNED CKTAIL ‘GAY WATER’ AIMS TO SH ON BUD LIGHT’S DYLAN MULVANEY DISASTER
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 ring ken *
), and of urse, and earrg the “gay ear”. ) Earrg Magic Ken turned Barbie’s boyiend to an out-and-proud homosexual raver.
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 ring ken *
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.
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
Kanyon, one of the first out gay wrtlers, is the subject of the latt episo of Vice’s ‘Dark Si of the Rg,’ but the absence of LGBTQ voic tellg his story is unacceptable. * gay ring ken *
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 they had no ia that say, Madonna’s ol back up dancers, were actually gay that’s how we end up wh Earrg Magic Ken, a pann to Earrg Magic Barbie clad a purple mh shirt, a purple leather vt, wearg a big, shy, silver rg around his neck.
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. By makg him gay. Some fans, however, have noticed certa siari between Goslg’s look and another time gay fans went nuts over Ken.
KEN ROSATO WEDDG, HBAND, PARTNER, GAY, FAY
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. 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).