Teen Talk Barbie Doll
- Made:
- 1991 in United States
- maker:
- Mattel Inc.
This image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Licence
License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Licence
License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
License
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Doll, Barbie, black skinned, with waist-length auburn hair
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
A Teen Talk Barbie Doll, with black skin and long dark hair. This doll was the African American (or AA) version of this range,
This doll was programmed to say a selection of four phrases from a pool of 270 possibilities. One of these phrases, which sparked controversy at the time of the doll's release, was "Math class is tough". This was widely criticised and went against effortd for Barbie dolls to show more diverse careers and ambitions for young girls.
Culturally this had a significant impact. It inspired a 1994 episode of 'The Simpsons' where Lisa Simpson protests against the sexist phrases of a talking Malibu Stacey doll, a Barbie parody that appears in the show. It also led to a group of New York performance artists protesting outdated gender stereotypes in dolls. The group called themselves the Barbie Liberation Organisation, and swapped the voice boxes of Teen Talk Barbie dolls with G. I. Joe dolls, which saw Teen Talk Barbies on sale who repeated phrases such as "Vengeance is mine".
Details
- Category:
- Materials Science Gallery
- Object Number:
- 2000-351
- Materials:
- plastic (unidentified), textile and nylon
- Measurements:
-
overall: 70 mm x 140 mm x 320 mm, 0.2kg
- type:
- character doll and toy - recreational artefact
- credit:
- Christie's South Kensington Limited
