Barbiemania htg s peak summer 2023 helped one 30-year-old wrer release the childhood shame he felt when playg wh Barbie dolls as a young gay child.
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JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN RECEIV OVERWHELMG SUPPORT AFTER G OUT AS GAY
She wore a red sequned drs and my head her hair was bigger than Dolly Parton’s, although is highly likely that uld be me leang to the gay fantasy. While eventually I would e to realise I am also a gay man, long before my gay shame me the shame of beg a boy whose bt iend was a Barbie. As a 30-year-old gay man, I’ve met a lot of other queer people who also hid parts of themselv childhood.
Experimentg wh femy the safety of the home — even somethg as mcule as selectg girl characters vio gam and livg virly through her abily to kick ass — seems to be a shared gay experience for many of . None of this mak a person gay, of urse.
It feels remiscent of the adoratn that gay fans hold toward old Hollywood beti like Joan Crawford and Judy Garland, or the pageant-style exaggeratns of femy that unrpned so much of early drag culture. Barbie has been the subject of the same gay diva worship over the years, and Gerwig’s film promently featurg LGBTQ+ actors feels like a nod to that history. Part of Barbie’s gay appeal might be that, spe beg plastic and unmalleable, she n transform herself to anythg: doctor, lawyer, judge, journalist, and vet, or whatever Mattel thks will sell the most dolls.