Cambodian landmine victims will take part in a beauty contest this year, from a nation where thousands are permanently disfigured from stepping on buried mines. This pageant began development after the success of the first Miss Landmine pageant in Angola last year.

MISS LANDMINE ANGOLA 2008

The 27-year Angola civil war ended in 2002, during which millions of landmines were planted throughout the country. Combat may have ceased, but civilians still live in fear that they’ll encounter leftover buried mines. Those who do, and survive, are irreparably deformed.

The first “Miss Landmine” pageant was held April 2, 2008, in Angola’s capital, Luanda. Eighteen disfigured women competed, one from every province in the country. The pageant was organized by Angola’s de-mining commission in hopes of restoring victims’ confidence, as well as raising awareness of their plight.

Miss Malange, Miss Uige, Miss Cuanza Sul before the Swimsuit Competition

TOP 10 PAGEANT FINALISTS

PAGEANT WINNER

Miss Landmine 2008, Maria Restina Manueal (Cuanza Sul, Angola)

MISS LANDMINE CAMBODIA 2009

Miss Landmine Angola garnered so much attention, that Norwegian pageant director Morten Traavik decided to take the pageant to Cambodia, where a similar landmine problem exists.

Pageant Director Traavik with an African amputee victim

“My feminist mother was very unimpressed by the idea of a beauty pageant,” said Traavik, 36. “Here in Norway beauty pageants are regarded as the work of the devil. They’re seen as very, very politically incorrect.” The decision to call awareness to the issue is controversial, as some people view it as exploitation, and others see it as a potentially empowering experience for the contestants.

Cambodian activist Kek Galabru disapproves of the Cambodia pageant

Kek Galabru, the president of the Phnom Penh human rights group Licadho in Cambodia, opposes the pageant.“No doubt awareness is important,” she said. “But for me this is using the victims. For them it is still very painful. But they’re saying ‘look at me, I’m still beautiful, even though I’ve lost my leg.’ We don’t need to raise awareness in this questionable way.”

Still, production of the pageant pushes forward. A few format changes will be necessary, such as eliminating the swimsuit competition, since Cambodia is a conservative Buddhist nation. But he’s secured support of Cambodian authorities, as well as Cambodia’s Disabled People’s Organization.

Miss Cambodia contestants 2009

Not all the contestants are officially named yet, but with approximately 25,000 amputee victims living in the country, there should be no shortage of applicants.

“What I set out to achieve – indeed I think we’ve achieved it already – was to highlight globally a very serious and unnecessary social problem,” Traavik said. “This contest attracts attention to the issue, but it also challenges our western way of looking at the third world. I’m so fed up of social campaigns with black and white photos of Africans or Cambodians, in rags.”

Sources:

Miss Landmine Cambodia 2009

Angola to Host Landmine Pageant // BBC News (Mary Harper) 3.26.08

MissLandmine.org

“PLANTATION BELLE BARBIE”, 1959

As schools desegregated during the American Civil Rights movement, Mattel fashioned their doll as a slave-owning southerner.

“SLEEPYTIME GAL BARBIE”, 1965

During the surge of feminism in the 1960’s, Mattel released this doll with a pink bathroom scale that read 110lbs, and a book entitled How To Lose Weight. The book only had one page, advising “Don’t eat.”

“COLORED FRANCIE”, 1967

Even though “colored” was the politically correct term during the Civil Rights movement, people questioned whether specifying the doll’s race within her name was counter-productive for equality.

Similarly, her blonde hair and very Caucasian features came under fire, until Mattel admitted that Francie dolls were actually “regular” Barbies dyed brown. With so much negative attention, the company quickly regrouped and released a second edition Francie with modified facial features and hair color.

“GROWING UP SKIPPER”, 1975

Barbie’s little sister “grows up” by rotating a dial that pops out plastic breasts. Critics feared this over-simplified the maturation process and equated female “adulthood” with breast size.

“ORIENTAL BARBIE”, 1981

Asian American girls felt what African American girls did in 1967 with “Colored Francie”. Even though Mattel and Barbie finally acknowledged diversity, the doll’s ethnicity was her only defining quality.

“HEART FAMILY MIDGE”, 1985

Barbie’s pregnant best friend came with a removable stomach containing a fully formed fetus. Parents were upset because it misinformed children of the childbirth process, and in such a graphic manner.

“NATIVE AMERICAN BARBIE”, 1993

As with “Colored Francie” and “Oriental Barbie”, here was another non-Caucasian doll whose persona was based entirely on a racial stereotype.

“TEEN TALK BARBIE”, 1994

Shouting “Math is hard!”, Teen Talk Barbie sparked a national discussion about girls’ education, and critics accused Mattel of predisposing girls to act ditzy.

“OREO FUN BARBIE”, 1997

With this odd cross-promotion of products, critics wondered if Mattel implied African American girls should be “black on the outside, white on the inside.”

“COOL SHOPPIN’ BARBIE”, 1997

This Barbie loved to shop, but had no career and never paid bills. She came equipped with name-brand credit cards, the same ones children see their parents use. People speculated this doll promoted an irresponsible and unrealistic perception of money and consumerism.

“HAPPY FAMILY MIDGE”, 2002

This recreation of the 1985 doll was now a teenage version of Barbie’s pregnant friend. Parents said this glamorized and trivialized teen pregnancy. Many stores pulled it from their shelves.

VEGAS “SHOWGIRL BARBIE”, 2008

With a career based entirely upon her appearance and sex appeal, some say that Showgirl Barbie is only a step away from having Stripper Barbie or Playboy Bunny Barbie.

“BLACK CANARY BARBIE”, 2008

Giving Barbie a makeover as the DC Comics heroine “Black Canary” was Mattel’s attempt to cash in on the growing comic book craze. She was unofficially deemed “Dominatrix Barbie”.

“TOTALLY STYLIN’ TATTOOS BARBIE”, 2009

While some parents objected to Barbie having any kind of tattoo, others were simply mad it was a lower back tattoo (a.k.a. the “tramp stamp”) with her boyfriend’s name on it. In fact, Mattel announced in 2004 that Barbie and Ken were “no longer dating but remained friends,” so to be more specific, it’s a tramp stamp with her ex-boyfriend’s name on it.

Sources:

Mattel’s “Barbie Collector Official Site” / Barbie’s History

Fashion Doll Guide (Suzanne Prochaska) 2006-2009

“Barbie and Ken: It’s Over” (Catherine Donaldson-Evans) FOX News, 2004

Would you let Playboy create toys for your children? In the book Toy Monster, Jerry Oppenheimer reveals the “Hefner-esque” playboy lifestyle of the sex addict who engineered Barbie.

Years before Barbie debuted at the 1959 International Toy Fair, Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler came across a German sex doll named “Bild Lilli”. This pint-sized vamp was sold as a sexually suggestive gift for adults. Handler, however, saw a clear way that Mattel could market a similar doll in America to children.

Jack Ryan was hired as Barbie’s engineer. Toning down the German doll’s risqué image to be more suitable for children was not on Ryan’s agenda. To the contrary, he often boasted how this new doll was his ideal sexual fantasy, and all other women should start taking notes. With her cups overflowing atop a rail thin waistline, an American icon was born.

Before long, Ryan began his personal quest to turn every woman he slept with into a walking, breathing, life-sized doll. This meant forcing rigorous exercise regimes and plastic surgery upon his many wives and mistresses. He fed his daughters diet pills, repeated the mantra “be as thin as you can be,” and when a wife grew too old or gained weight, he divorced her. Such was the case with his third wife, who stopped eating completely in an effort to win him back, but died shortly thereafter from an anorexia-induced heart attack.

And If Barbie Was Real? She’d be 7′2″ and weigh 101 pounds. Most of that weight would reside in her bra, because it’s an FF cup. Her waist would be the same circumference as her head, and those tiny size 5 feet would never let her stand up straight – she’d have to walk on all fours. Her body would have room for only half of a liver and a few inches of intestines, resulting in chronic diarrhea and death from malabsorption and malnutrition. Sexy.

Clinically diagnosed with hypersexuality (now known as sex addiction), Ryan often likened himself to Hugh Hefner. He threw lavish sex parties at the House of Barbie Mansion in Bel Air, inviting hundreds of A-listers from across the country. Above the doorway at these parties stood a giant phallus-shaped dial, so Ryan could rate a woman from 1 to 10 the moment she walked in the door. He was always on the lookout for new sex partners, kept multiple mistresses at a time, and made little effort to hide infidelity.

These sex parties also served as a way to keep tabs on potential future mistresses. Ryan’s secretaries kept a massive database of every woman he knew, monitoring their physical attributes, sexual escapades and contact information. That way, when a craving hit him, he could easily pick a girl at random to call.

All the while, his passion persisted of finding new ways to modify and market his beloved doll. Stephen Gnass, a close friend of Ryan, remembers some uncomfortable board-room conversations. “When [Ryan] talked about Barbie, it was like listening to someone talk about a sexual episode… like listening to a sexual pervert creating this doll.” (Oppenheimer,9)

Twist N Turn Barbie was born because Ryan reportedly wanted her to fit easily into any sexual position. Talking Barbie grew from what was supposed to be another one-night-stand, but he liked this particular girl’s voice and decided it was time for Barbie to speak. After nine years of doe-eyed silence, Barbie’s first words were “I love being a fashion model… Want to go shopping?”

The Real Ken

The real Ken was a closeted gay man with AIDS. Both Barbie and Ken were named after the children of Mattel founders Ruth & Elliott Handler. Young Barbara was pleased with having her own doll, but Ken Handler was mortified and suffered years of abuse from his peers, especially because his doll lacked genitalia. As Mattel’s franchise skyrocketed, Ken kept a low profile, got married and fathered three children. It was only when he got diagnosed with AIDS in 1990, however, that he came out of the closet.

In 2007, a controversial Scottish ad campaign used the Ken doll to promote AIDS awareness. (See EQUAL Ad 1 & Ad 2 Here) The company, EQUAL, released no statement about whether these are specific references to the life of Ken Handler, or if it’s merely coincidental.

Jack Ryan died in 1991, but his attitude toward women cemented itself in the framework of the multi-billion dollar industry that Barbie has become. People continue to have mixed reactions. For every lawmaker proposing a Barbie ban, there are thousands of Barbie-lovers flocking to see her Fashion Week 50th anniversary tribute collection in New York. The American tradition of giving girls glorified sex dolls seems to be here to stay.

Sources:

“Toy Monster: The Big Bad World of Mattel”. Oppenheimer, 2009; Wiley & Sons Publishing (pp. 1-21, 56-61)

“Barbie: Attainable Beauty or Impossible Perfection?”. (Kristen Wysocki) Boston University Online Study