Barbie has yet again changed the game for girls everywhere. However, not everyone is happy. In her pink, noise-cancelling headphones comes Autistic Barbie, being a polarizing addition to the brand.
As an autistic woman, the news of a Barbie that was like me was enthralling. Finally, female autism representation from an organization by and for autistic people! Growing up neurodivergent can feel isolating; as a child, I often equated it to being left out of a joke everyone else was in on. Having Barbies was a refuge for me. No matter what my peers were doing that I didn’t understand, I understood Barbie. This new doll adds so much meaning to that feeling of solace and refuge. Girls will see her noise-cancelling headphones, indirect eye contact, and argumentative and alternative communication device, and say this is me — I finally have a doll just like me.
So, is there an issue? Should we not be glad children can see the spectrum on which so many of us find ourselves in their toys and everyday life? Others’ complaints, like the Miami Herald’s, revolved around her gender. According to sources such as IU, autism spectrum disorder is diagnosed up to 4 times more in men.
According to Mattel, the autistic Barbie doll features elbow and wrist articulation, allowing stimming, which some members of the autistic community use to process sensory information or express excitement. The doll is also designed with an eye gaze to the side, which is similar to how some members of the autistic community avoid direct eye contact. The doll wears a short-sleeved, purple dress with a flowy skirt that has less fabric-to-skin contact. She even has purple flats, so she stays stable!
This is a far cry from the days of freak shows and portrayals of characters in media such as Doctor Shaun Murphy in The Good Doctor or Sam Gardner from Atypical. Both men are white, and quite frankly, far more close to people’s “image of autism” than this Barbie.
It doesn’t take too skilled of an eye to see that stories based around autistic women are all too rare. Could this be because, just like this Barbie, no matter how women present themselves, do they not uphold a certain standard in people’s minds? I cannot count the number of times I have gotten “But you don’t look autistic!” when I tell people I’m autistic, as if autism can only show itself in 8-year-old boys who uphold the stereotype. Of course, I don’t look like your grandson, Martha. I am a 22-year-old woman. No woman is immune to the twisting and turning to make yourself good enough, not even, it seems, a doll. What should be a win has turned into a feeling of disappointment where there once was hope and optimism.
Perhaps we need to stop and think about Barbie’s target audience, young girls. Think of the children who will be seeing themselves represented properly for the first time, and think twice about how much harm the doll is supposedly doing.
