Barbie's queer accessories /

Have you ever dressed Barbie in Ken's clothes or let her sleep with Skipper? If so, consider yourself an accessory to the crime of liberating Barbie from her conformist, straight world. Describing herself as a dyke cultural critic and political activist, university teacher Rand examines how consumer interactions with Barbie affect and reflect their political, social, and gender identities. She contrasts owners' recollections of what they thought about and did to their Barbies with the conventional characteristics and socially approved uses promoted by the doll's corporate manufacturer, Mattel. Speaking from an alternative viewpoint, Rand shows how adult reinterpretations and subversions of white, blond, straight Barbie (for additional examples see Lucinda Ebersole and Pichard Peabody's Mondo Barbie, St. Martin's Pr., 1993) become forms of resistance to disempowering and discriminatory cultural messages. Recommended for academic libraries and scholars of popular cultural and gay or women's studies.‘Carol A. McAllister, Swem Lib., Coll. of William and Mary. Williamsburg, Va. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.