Kinky
Posted by Clare , Thursday, April 29, 2010 10:55 AM
Oh, this word has always made me laugh- you may say I'm immature, but I cannot help it.
kinky
I have always thought of it as such a sexy and grown-up word, like something wealthy middle-aged ladies bring up when out to lunch- in regards to their pool boy of course.
So to see printed neatly atop a book of poetry, hovering over a slightly, uh curvier, Barbie- made me feel a little confused.
As a young girl,l I grew up with a staggering Barbie collection (my favorite was actually Teresa, Barbie's best friend- she had brown hair), thinking nothing more of my dolls as- well just that dolls.
I didn't give her much thought- Oh, I also really liked Barbie's French friend (Lena? Leia?), anyway she came with paint brushes.
Kinky, introduced a different side of Barbie. Denise Duhamel presented a more sexual character. Yes, sure, sometime Barbie and Ken made-out or shared a little makeshift bed, but I had never thought about Barbie's sex organs, and who would think it was a concern of Barbie's either?
The book shows us Barbie's own exploration of her sexuality-or I guess you could say sexless-ness. "'Even Stephen King, who wrote the novel, and Brian DePalma, who made the film, understand the nature of female cycles better than I do, and they're human men,'" Barbie says (Duhamel, pp. 54, Barbie and Carrie).
Had I never understood Barbie's distress over the inability to be a real women?-funny I say this as our culture has implied that Barbie encompasses all that a "real woman" should.
What does that say about our culture?
What does that say about women?
I don't know but, I still feel bad for Barbie.
Did you design the background of your blog? Beautiful. Can you teach me, or show me how to get something like it, tweak what I have?
I like that Carrie poem. So many women wish they didn't have the inconvenience of a menstrual cycle. Its interesting to think of the issue from Barbie's view.