by Coleen Singer at Sssh.com Porn For Women and Couples

Last week, Mattel announced that Barbie is getting a makeover. A whole bunch of them, in fact. Now, 33 new Barbie dolls are available for purchase through their website, in three new body types — petite, tall and curvy — and seven skin tones, 22 eye colors and 14 “face sculpts.”

Read on…

The latest changes “are by far the most dramatic we’ve ever made,” Mattel spokeswoman Michelle Chidoni said.

They come after years of criticism leveled at Mattel over the doll’s unrealistic proportions and concerns that Barbie reinforced a single, virtually impossible standard of beauty for girls to try to meet.

A 2006 British study (PDF) found that “girls exposed to Barbie reported lower body esteem and greater desire for a thinner body shape” than those who had been given dolls reflecting larger body types or no dolls at all.

Robert Best, senior director of Barbie Product Design, said the changes address such concerns in a positive way.

“This is radical because we’re saying there isn’t this narrow standard of what a beautiful body looks like,” Best said in the online video.

Thursday’s announcement met with approval on social media.

“Thank you @Barbie,” one Twitter user posted Thursday. “I’m officially excited & proud to buy my daughter a barbie one day!”

Equal Time For Lego!

In a related and similarly all-embracing (read: political correct) move, this summer Lego will release its first-ever mini-figure that uses a wheelchair, the company says, confirming reports that emerged after one of the toys was seen at a toy fair. In recent years, the company has been urged to show more diversity in its offerings.

German website Zusammengebaut and other Lego fan outlets published photographs of the figurine at the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany, on Wednesday, setting off celebrations among those backing a movement called Toys Like Me, which urges Lego, Hasbro, Fisher Price and other toymakers to include disabilities in some of their figurines.

Back To Barbie (and Ken!)

For about as long as there have been Barbies, creative folks with cameras have taken great delight in costuming and posing their Barbie and Ken dolls in funny and often perverse situations.  One common theme is the ongoing theory that Ken is actually gay and a lot of fun has been had over the past 30 years to explore that sexually charged twist.

In a recent article in DailyMail.uk entitled “The dark side of Barbie and Ken’s marriage: Artist’s extraordinary photos tell tale of dolls’ miserable relationship“, a new photo series titled In The Dollhouse, created by Vancouver-based photographer Dina Goldstein, depicts the world’s most famous doll living a miserable life with her partner Ken. Dina states…

Their lives are filled with dream homes, flashy convertibles and ever-stylish wardrobes but Barbie and Ken’s lives may be less than perfect.

On To The Alternative Barbies

I’m so pleased that Mattel is expanding the Barbie “look” to be more all-inclusive, but why stop there?  So many other Barbie variations are possible to reflect diversity in modern society! Let’s take a look at a few…

Could Hasbro be far behind with updating GI Joe? A GI Jane perhaps? Hipster GI Joe? “Dad Bod” GI Joe? Asperger Syndrome GI Joe?  Time will only tell how far this “mission creeps”!