How To Become a Barbie? Make a Vaccine.
Growing up, I always wanted to be a Barbie. Like come on who didn’t… but now I’m hearing in order to make those dreams come true I have to make a vaccine?? I thought I was a quick nose job and a few tucks and lifts away… man life’s tough.
In all seriousness though, it is pretty sick what Mattel is doing. They said they want to be part of telling the stories of the sacrifices frontline workers are making amidst the pandemic, so they made friggin Barbies out of them! All the while, they are lowkey inspiring young girls to be smart and driven along with gorgeous and all around, “Barbie”. We stan a smart Barbie.
Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine co-developer Sarah Gilbert is honored with a Barbie doll. Gilbert's Barbie shares the scientist's long auburn hair, oversized black glasses and wears a navy blue pantsuit and white blouse https://t.co/fMICB5rcKr pic.twitter.com/2tgDNjahua
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 5, 2021
This video shows all the different workers who have been Barbie-afied. The main attraction is Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine co-developer, Sarah Gilbert. It’s funny because at first, she thought what Mattel was doing was “very strange”- and honestly so did I. Like Barbie is Barbie and we don’t mess with Barbie. But then she realized that it inspires young women to work in STEM which is a career path heavily populated by men. I wonder if as little as a Barbie is going to legitimately demolish years of gender stereotyping? That’s a huge ask from Mattel, but it seems chill because the more people in STEM, the closer we come to things like finding the cure for cancer, or anything else that is going to ale us in the future. (knock on wood)
🎶 I’m a Barbie Girl, In the Medical World 🎶
Sarah seems to think it will raise awareness to young children about career paths such as vaccinologists… to be honest, I think that’s a bit of a stretch. Only because when I would play with dolls that looked like they had a profession such as a doctor or a firefighter, my mom would never proceed to be like oh yes, Nikki, and guess what you can become a vaccinologist! I guess with this specific Barbie, a kid’s parents could tell them the story of Covid and how Sarah helped fix the problem but I don’t know… seems more like a money grab/ publicity stunt by Mattel 👀 .
Consensus:
I think this is a good thing in terms of society and feminism and all that delicious stuff because it can’t hurt anyone!! I’m just not sure if it’s going to do exactly what Sarah Gilbert thinks it will. But at the end of the day, she is the doctor thus✨ she is smarter than me.
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