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15 WORLD maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 2 AUGUST 2023 Daisy McManaman is a PhD Candidate, Centre for Women's Studies, University of York I found Barbie again during 2020's COVID lockdown. In- doors, confined to Juicy Couture tracksuits, I was missing excuses to express my hyper-femininity through clothing, as I had done pre-pandemic. Collecting Barbie dolls became a way to display my love of femininity in all it's fun, ridiculous and pink-saturated possibilities. My shelf of Barbies – from Western Winking Barbie (1981) to Enchanted Evening Barbie (1995) – is now my favourite part of my home. But for many, her rediscovery will come through Greta Gerwig's upcoming movie, Barbie – the doll's first live action film, starring Margot Robbie. As an artist and a researcher of expressions of femininity, Barbie is a constant source of inspiration to me. The doll is a conduit for cultural ideas surrounding femi- ninity and the endless ways it can be played with. "Hyper-femininity" describes femininity at its most extreme, at the far end of the spectrum of different gender expressions. Contemporary expressions of hy- per-femininity are often intended to subvert aspects of hegemonic femininity (expressions of fem- ininity that reinforce traditional gender roles). These versions of hyper-femininity reclaim aspects of patriarchal, traditional femi- ninity and play with, perform and parody it. First created by Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler in 1959, Barbie is a pop culture icon. For children, Barbie has been a beloved friend. For artists includ- ing Andy Warhol, a muse. And – depending on who you ask – ei- ther an ally or enemy of the fem- inist cause. It's Barbie's hyper-feminini- ty – with her shiny blonde hair, perfect make-up and excessively pink wardobe – that often causes these vast differences in opinion. Barbie's complicated feminism In her book, Forever Barbie: The Unauthorised Biography of a Real Doll, author M.G. Lord describes Barbie as a complicated and con- tradictory pop-culture figure. Lord sees Barbie as a "reflection of American popular cultural val- ues and notions about feminini- ty". Over its 64-year history, the doll's evolution has reflected the often contradictory demands and ideals placed on women. Some feminists argue that Bar- bie's hyper-femininity isn't self aware in the way that, for exam- ple, the hyper-femininity of drag queens is. Instead, they say, Bar- bie reflects a more hegemonic femininity, with her idealised and impossible feminine body criti- cised as perpetuating harmful fe- male beauty standards. Even Barbie's "curvier" builds have been called out for failing to measure up to the "average" woman's body. When scaled up, "curvy" Barbie would in fact be a UK size eight. And the problems don't end with Barbie's body. In 1992, the talking Teen Talk Barbie was criticised for using phrases such as "Math class is tough", echoing gender stereotypes. However, Barbie is also capable of subverting hegemonic femi- ninity. Barbie has been market- ed as an unmarried career girl since her inception, during an era where women were severely un- derrepresented in the workforce. With her first few careers in- cluding fashion designer (1960), nurse (1961) and astronaut (1965), Barbie stood as a role model to girls who showed there were options for their future be- yond homemaking. Now, Barbie has had over 200 official careers. Often decked out in her signature pink, the doll has showed generations that they do not have to sacrifice their love of femininity in order to succeed. She has also changed her ap- pearance over time, with Barbie appearing as different races and body types. In April, Mattel re- leased a Barbie doll with Down's syndrome. Rebranding Barbie In 1997, Mattel launched a law- suit against Danish-Norwegian pop group, Aqua. The company alleged that the band's song Bar- bie Girl, released the same year, infringed upon Mattel's trade- mark and imposed an adult im- age onto Barbie. The song featured lyrics such as "I'm a blonde bimbo girl in a fantasy world". "Bimbo" is a de- rogatory word for hyper-femi- nine women who are perceived as being unintelligent. In 2002, a California federal appeals court dropped Mattel's lawsuit. Fast forward 20 years and the soundtrack to the Barbie mov- ie features a song by rappers Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj entitled Barbie World, which samples Aq- ua's Barbie Girl. With lyrics such as "I'm a Barbie girl, pink Barbie Dreamhouse/The way Ken be kil- lin' shit got me yellin' out like the Scream House", the pair position Barbie-branded hyper-femininity as a source of sexual empower- ment. The inclusion of the Aqua sam- ple in the Mattel-approved film marks a shift – the brand is now leaning into the song. Perhaps this further indicates a transition from resisting Barbie's bimbo reputation to embracing it. This reflects a wider vindica- tion of the bimbo figure in re- cent years. Posts to social media platform TikTok reclaiming the term are proving wildly popular, with one self-professed bimbo influencer boasting 4.6 million followers. Hyper-feminine identities have been belittled within some femi- nist writing (such as Ariel Levy's Female Chauvinist Pigs in 2005), because they've been interpreted as a submission to the male gaze and patriarchal oppression. But this recent bimbo renaissance has highlighted how embracing hyper-femininity can, for some, be subversive, joyful and empow- ering. In the trailers for the upcom- ing Barbie movie, Barbie Land is a matriarchal society where hy- per-femininity is a sign of power. In one trailed scene, Barbie (Mar- got Robbie) explains: "Basically everything that men do in your world, women do in ours." Now in her movie star era, Bar- bie is unashamedly embracing her hyper-feminine gender ex- pression and its subversive and playful possibilities. To echo Barbie's 1985 advertising slogan: "We dolls can do anything." Hyper-femininity can be subversive and empowering – just ask Barbie Daisy McManaman Margot Robbie stars in the titular role in Barbie, the movie