✨ Math iS hArd ✨ Barbie Controversy Explained (Video Essay)

In 1992, toys were often made with very gender specific ideas in mind. "Boy toys" were loud and blue and active. "Girl toys" were quiet and passive and pink. When we crunch some numbers, we see it is very possible that 90s kids could have seen an average of 547 hours of gendered toy advertising in our youths, which helped our developing brains learn and enforce these ideas about gender norms. People weren't always happy with the messaging big corporations were reinforcing to kids, and when Mattel released Teen Talk Barbie, some said “Enough is enough.” This doll was telling girls that math was hard. Perhaps, she was encouraging them to not even bother with it...to focus on things more suitable to girls, like getting ready for the school dance.

At least, this is what some people thought. Others thought the doll was pretty inoffensive and sweet. The real phrase (said by less than 2% of the dolls) was actually, “math class is tough,” not “math is hard,” and well, isn’t it? Maybe a kid struggling with math could even take comfort in the fact that Barbie struggles too!

This video essay takes a DEEP dive into the controversial toy. Why did people like her? Why did people hate her? Let’s find out.

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Special thanks to Karen, Luna, and the archive team at UNL! And a special thanks to subscribers! I have loved getting to know this group and have so much more in store for us this year!

0:00 Chapter 1: Intro
3:14 Chapter 2: Doll details
6:49 Chapter 3: What did toy marketers say about girlhood?
13:04 Chapter 4: You got all that from a doll?
15:19 Personal opinion (so far)
20:41 Chapter 5: Let's get specific about the real problem
34:47 Chapter 6: So...was she that bad?