Mattel Wants You to Know 'Drag Queen Barbie' Is All Woman

The Blonds/Facebook
Alexander Abad-Santos 13,124 Views Aug 23, 2012

Just to be clear, Drag Queen Barbie isn't really a guy, and despite her love of fur, a smoky eye, and diamonds, she isn't a cross dresser. So if that was stopping you, Mattel says it's totally okay for you to buy her. "The term was both created by and incorrectly perpetuated by members of the press," a Mattel spokesperson was quoted as saying by The Daily Beast's Kevin Fallon. "It was never Drag Queen Barbie," David Blond, designer of the alleged Drag Queen Barbie, told Fallon. So we (the press) were, or The Atlantic Wire's David Wagner, was apparently wrong when we surmised that "Blond Diamond Barbie" (as Mattel officially calls her) who was designed by a drag queen was actually a drag queen. Besides, we argued that wasn't that different than any other Barbie. 

But you know, it's not like Mattel is really all that mad. Other than the whole "incorrectly perpetuated..." bit, they sound like they actually like the attention (and this Barbie got plenty of it). The spokesman told Fallon, "Barbie has the unique ability to spark cultural conversation" and Mattel's VP of U.S. Marketing recently told The New York Times' Corbin Chamberlin, "Barbie doesn’t worry about what other people think." She (no, I'm not entirely sure why I am assigning a piece of plastic as a "she") doesn't really care what people think, unless of course, you have a problem with drag queens.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at aabadsantos at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

Related Articles   More by Alexander Abad-Santos

'Drag Queen' Barbie Is Basically Just Barbie

Iran Bans Simpsons Toys

Tinseltown Dreams, Hillary's Other Future, and the Spielberg of Surgery

 

Why Is Twitter Letting Jose Canseco Set Another Example of Rape Victim Shame?

Yes, Oklahoma Truthers Think Obama Used His Anti-Scandal Weather Magic

Elsewhere on the Web

User Comments

Please type your comment and click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be prompted to log in or register

  • The Atlantic Wire on Twitter
  • The Atlantic Wire RSS Feed
  • The Atlantic Wire iPhone App