“The problem is the assumption that she is a designer, not a coder, and the coders are boys. “The problem isn’t even that Barbie isn’t a ‘real’ computer scientist because she isn’t coding,” writes Fiesler. “You spend more time on your hair than I do.” “And they’ll all be about puppies and picking out hairstyles.” “Don’t be a moron, Ken,” says Barbie. “If girls start making videogames, they’ll take out all the hot chicks,” mutters Ken in this new version. Pushback has been quick elsewhere, with PhD student Casey Fiesler remixing the title to provide a new version “with less sexism”. Maybe I should have pushed back, and I usually I do, but I didn’t this time.” “If I was on deadline, it’s possible stuff slipped out or I quietly abided by Mattel without questioning it. “Maybe I should have made one of those programmers a female – I wish I did,” she added. All Barbie titles moving forward will be written to inspire girls’ imaginations and portray an empowered Barbie character.”Īuthor Susan Marenco, meanwhile, told ABC News that she had been asked to write about Barbie as a “designer”. We apologise that this book didn’t reflect that belief. “We believe girls should be empowered to understand that anything is possible and believe they live in a world without limits. The portrayal of Barbie in this specific story doesn’t reflect the brand’s vision for what Barbie stands for,” said Mattel. Since that time we have reworked our Barbie books. “The Barbie I Can Be A Computer Engineer book was published in 2010. Now Mattel has pulled the title from online sale, and issued a statement via the character’s Facebook page. Her post brought down an avalanche of criticism on the book, which had already attracted a host of negative reviews on Amazon. ‘Step aside, Barbie.’ YOU’VE BROKEN ENOUGH, NOW.” Ribon concludes: “IT WILL GO FASTER IF BRIAN AND I HELP, offer the men voices. “It will go faster if Brian and I help,” offers Steven.“Great!” says Barbie.” “I tried to send you my designs, but I ended up crashing my laptop - and Skipper’s too! I need to get back the lost files and repair both of our laptops.” Later Barbie, who wears her flash drive on a pink heart-shaped necklace, gets a computer virus, and infects Skipper’s computer. Ribon quoted a scene from the story in which Barbie tells Skipper: “I’m designing a game that shows kids how computers work … You can make a robot puppy do cute tricks by matching up coloured blocks!” But Barbie goes on to admit: “I’m only creating the design ideas … I’ll need Steven and Brian’s help to turn it into a real game!” The book had caused outrage this week for showing Barbie entirely dependent on the help of men to actually be a computer engineer.įirst published in 2010, the title was brought to the internet’s attention earlier this week by a blog from the author Pamela Ribon. All future Barbie titles “will be written to inspire girls’ imaginations and portray an empowered Barbie character”, Barbie manufacturer Mattel has said, after apologising for the Barbie I Can Be A Computer Engineer book and pulling the problematic title from online sale.
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