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I am Ken-in-Roller-Skates Years Old

 This weekend a friend and I went through the clothes and the dolls that I played with as a kid (and she has an amazing memory on the clothes. This website is quite the resource if you're interested: BarbieWorld.it ). I had A LOT of Barbies and accessories. There was the Barbie pool, the piano, the three-story townhouse. I had an RV, an airplane, and a boat. And then there were the dolls themselves. Yes, I had lots of Barbies but there were also Skippers and Midges and Christies. But today, we have to talk about Ken.

This is my first Ken Doll: Roller Skating Ken c.1980. The short tight shorts, the shiny purple jacket, the Addidas style roller skates. He's so retro, what's not to love?


I can't pretend to remember why six-year old me needed a Ken doll at that point. I was never as gung-ho about the guys because for me Barbie was about Fashion shows and climbing mountains, and sleepovers. But there were definitely days Ken was part of their entourage. I didn't have Roller Skating Barbie - I was a Malibu girl (I'll post pictures of Barbie's 1973 surfboard soon)

But what my walk through Barbie nostalgia has reassured me is that the Greta Gerwig movie got his personality exactly right! Ken was always insecure and worried about who Barbie was seeing. These are screenshots of newsletters and cartoons from Barbie magazines between 1981 and 1984.



 


Yep. Ken was jealous of Ronald McDonald. (I had Twirly Curls Barbie, the cat Fluffy, the pool on the side, and yes, the McDonald's playset - all pictured in the ad.)

For Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie doll, Ken always was an appendage. Handler did not want Barbie, a career girl/woman to be saddled with a husband.  She was intended to be an independent carer woman capable of making her own decisions. In fact, Handler had not planned on creating a boyfriend for Barbie and only caved to the marketing campaign which surveyed girls in the 60s and asked what additions they would like to see to the Barbie line. Their clamoring for a boyfriend is what caused Handler to cave to demand.

As this awesome, headbanded-Ken illustrates. his job is not only Beach. His job is actively to be Barbie's Biggest Fan.



And if you also belive that Ken is "Kenough" feel free to visit my etsy store for a chance to create his thoughts in cross stitch ;)

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