The big question is: does Barbie encourage the growth and development of women, or does she condition them to an oppressive and repressive male ideal?
The choice of introducing this series of articles with a reflection on Barbie is not insignificant for me. It underlines a need to share and express a social vision of what Barbie represents in today’s society. As a young woman from generation Z, cradled by the animated films Barbie Fairytopia, Barbie the Princess Apprentice and many others, I grew up with a figure who, for nearly six decades, has embodied a certain vision of women symbolising femininity. However, over the generations, this image has often been perceived as limiting and reductive. Although her evolution reflects the social and political issues of each era, she remains a catalyst for debate in the ongoing struggle for women’s emancipation.
Yet Barbie has long been scorned by women and men alike for her attachment to a femininity that is rarely seen as a strength, but rather as a superficial expression. Many feminists have seen it as a tool of oppression, shaped by a male vision seeking to maintain control over women’s place in society. Paradoxically, men have often been fascinated by this hyper-feminine aesthetic while reducing it to something frivolous, without any real reflection or depth.
But I no longer want this definition of femininity, which is limiting and devoid of substance. I sincerely believe that we haven’t yet explored all the creative forces it contains. Femininity is not simply a matter of aesthetics designed to accentuate a woman’s beauty, or of highlighting her features to attract attention. It is above all a matter of physical and mental well-being, a process of acceptance and personal fulfilment, free from any quest for external validation.
Re-questioning the definition of femininity highlights the way in which it has historically been used to oppress and control women. Femininity in itself is not the issue. The real issue is that, in a patriarchal society, it is inconceivable to attribute to femininity an intrinsic strength that is not conditioned by male or societal validation. When we define femininity as superficial, we pave the way for its oppression, reinforcing male domination. By reducing femininity to a simple aestheticism without depth, society is actually appropriating this aestheticism, the value of which depends exclusively on the male gaze.
What we need to understand is that femininity, through its natural and creative aestheticism, is a form of power. It is scientifically proven that what is aesthetically pleasing naturally attracts the human eye. Yet this disdain for femininity has created the illusion that its value comes only from social approval, and not from its creative power.
By despising this aesthetic, society perpetuates a cycle of oppression in which femininity is reduced not for what it is, but because it is inevitably associated with WOMAN, and because it is an aesthetic associated with WOMAN, femininity is despised. This form of normalised violence lies in the fact that by defining femininity as superficial, it is robbed of its true potential or denatured of all forms of deep intellectual thought.
Perhaps it’s time, if I may borrow an English term, to be an « alchemist » and transform this reductive vision of femininity. It has been shaped for too long by norms that condition women’s existence on male validation and deserves to be re-appropriated. What if the power you hold lives in your femininity?
Sunshine Empowerment 
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