Barbie has been a femist symbol for a while but do you know about the time when Mattel accintally created a 'gay' Ken doll?
Contents:
- HOW BARBIE'S BOYIEND KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN
- 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
- THAT TIME MATTEL ACCINTALLY MA KEN GAY
- THE LTLE-KNOWN, REAL-LIFE BACKSTORY BEHD THE BARBIE MOVIE’S VERY FUNNY GAY KEN JOKE
- WHAT ABOUT GAY BOB?
HOW BARBIE'S BOYIEND KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN
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 images *
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. 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.
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 images *
"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.
MATTEL MA A GAY KEN DOLL THAT WAS IT'S BT SELLG KEN DOLL EVER
* gay ken doll images *
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.
THAT TIME MATTEL ACCINTALLY MA KEN GAY
The First Openly Gay Doll (for everyone) Was a Trailblazer Toy * gay ken doll images *
” — 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.
THE LTLE-KNOWN, REAL-LIFE BACKSTORY BEHD THE BARBIE MOVIE’S VERY FUNNY GAY KEN JOKE
High-qualy Gay Ken Doll Wall Art signed and sold by artists. Shop unique ctom ma Canvas Prts, Framed Prts, Posters, Taptri, and more. * gay ken doll images *
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.
WHAT ABOUT GAY BOB?
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. 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. More om In The Know:Nordstrom lnch first genr clive llectnDolce Va’s unisex Pri llectn go up to women’s shoe size 13The Phluid Project lnch fabric face masks to celebrate Pri MonthShop our favore bety products om In The Know Bety on post The te story of Mattel accintally releasg a super gay Ken doll appeared first on In The Know.
Gog all the way back to 1993 and releasg a male doll that was obvly gay seems like que a risky choice to make.