Found Goddesses: Part 5 - Barbie by Barbara Ardinger, Ph.d.

Barbie[1]

          Like Athena from the head of Zeus, Barbie was born (in 1959) from the mind of Ruth Handler, cofounder of Mattel, Inc., and named after her daughter. Well … if you want to know the truth, Barbie is known to be a knock-off of “Bild Lilli,” a lascivious doll from a German tabloid. But our Barbie wasn’t a naughty German plaything. Like “Kitten” on Father Knows Best, like Mouseketeer Annette, our Barbie was an All-American Girl. She became the most popular doll in America. The author of Forever Barbie writes that she “may be the most potent icon of American popular culture in the late twentieth century.”

          Reader, have you noticed that Protestants don’t have goddesses? The faithful of the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox churches have Mary Mother of God and gaggles of saints, but the sixteenth-century Reformers reformed Mary right out of the church. The Puritans further purified the church of beauty and holidays. John Knox wrote a tract called A Monstrous Regiment of Women, in which he attacks uppity women like Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots and praises women who know their proper place. In the early Protestant churches, everyone could be a saint, but no one could even think about being a goddess.

          Today, America worships the goddesses of the silver screen and MTV, but who’s the greatest popular goddess? I nominate Barbie as Protestant Goddess, as the Goddess of All Girls. Just as Isis is She of Ten Thousand Names, so Barbie is She of Ten Thousand Wardrobe Changes.

Behold the apotheosis of the doll.

Hail, Barbie, full of grace,

Mattel is with thee.

Blessed art thou among dolls

And blessed are thy multitudinous accessories.

Holy Barbie, girlfriend of Ken,

Play with us now

And as long as plastic and fabric will last, amen.

Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D. (www.barbaraardinger.com), is the author of Pagan Every Day: Finding the Extraordinary in Our Ordinary Lives (RedWheel/Weiser, 2006), a unique daybook of daily meditations, stories, and activities. Her earlier books are Finding New Goddesses, Quicksilver Moon, Goddess Meditations, and Practicing the Presence of the Goddess. Her day job is freelance editing for people who don't want to embarrass themselves in print. Barbara lives in southern California. To purchase a signed copy of Finding New Goddesses, just send Barbara an email at bawriting@earthlink.net.