Response from Mattel concerning "Math calss is hard!" doll...

[Kenneth A Wolcott]

Hi;

Although my fiancee signed the letter she wrote to Mattel concerning the
doll Mattel makes which speaks a message "Math class is hard", I was
greatly disturbed at this, and offered whatever help I could in making the
letter as effective as possible in encouraging Mattel to abandon this
approach.

Today we received a reply from Mattel. Mattel states that they are very
interested in making a very positive role model. They defend their
unwillingness to recall the product because there are so many positive
statements that the Barbie doll can make, that there are so few dolls with
this phrase and that it is impossible to determine the location of such
dolls. But they do state, however, that they will cease future production
of the dolls which feature this particular phrase.

My mother said that Mattel had made some kind of public statement backing
down from the use of this phrase, but she doesn't remember where she saw
it, heard it or what specifically Mattel stated. But my mother felt that
Mattel should be congratulated for stopping future production of such
dolls. Will anyone other than my mother now write to Mattel on a positive
note, which will then (hopefully) encourage them to think more carefully
and be more positive as a role model in young children (specifically young
girls) for the future?

Does anyone have any verification, substantiation or elaboration to give
to this issue? Please followup AND send email (since I most often am
unable to keep up with this newsgroup) if you have any comments to make
which will enlighten me further.

Thanks,
Ken Wolcott

kwolcott@{cudnvr,copper,elbert}.denver.colorado.edu
kwol...@cudenver.bitnet
kwol...@nyx.cs.du.edu
ke...@sybase.com

--
Kenneth A. Wolcott kwolcott@{copper,cudnvr}.denver.colorado.edu
University of Colorado at Denver kwol...@cudenver.bitnet

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[ljf]

In article <1ccug1...@agate.berkeley.edu> kwol...@copper.Denver.Colorado.EDU (Kenneth A Wolcott) writes:
>Does anyone have any verification, substantiation or elaboration to give
>to this issue? Please followup AND send email (since I most often am
>unable to keep up with this newsgroup) if you have any comments to make
>which will enlighten me further.

This is what appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle (I'm quoting
without permission):

The talking Barbie doll should not have said "math class is tough,"
and she won't say it any longer, according to a letter the company has
sent to a women's group.

"We didn't fully consider the potentially negative implications of
this phrase," Jill Barad, president and chief operating officer of
Mattel, said in a letter to Sharon Schuster, president of the American
Association of University Women, who led the protest.

Teen Talk Barbie is programmed with four phrases, randomly selected
from a list of 270. The company will replace dolls that use the math
phrase, at the customer's request.

In the letter, Barad also offered Barbie's services for public service
announcements on the importance of math education, and offered to
involve the AAUW in a review of any phrases selected for other talking
Barbies.

"We feel they have a new understanding of the issue of gender bias in
the schools," Schuster said. "Not only Mattel, but the public has a
new appreciation of the importance of having positive role models for
girls from their earliest years."

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[M. Bickis]

In article <1ccug1...@agate.berkeley.edu> kwol...@copper.Denver.Colorado.EDU
(Kenneth A Wolcott) writes:

>Although my fiancee signed the letter she wrote to Mattel concerning the
>doll Mattel makes which speaks a message "Math class is hard", I was
>greatly disturbed at this,

I was a little disturbed at this too. On the other hand, I can't get
excited enough to agree that

>Mattel should be congratulated for stopping future production of such
>dolls.

I would much happier if it stopped producing Barbie dolls altogether. These
dolls send so many undesirable messages to young girls that adding or
subtracting one more such message hardly makes a difference. But I suppose
Mattel has to make money somehow. :-(

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>bic...@math.usask.ca<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Mik Bickis \,,, .*#*. \ University of Saskatchewan
Department of \,,, ^\\|//^ ```\ Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Mathematics & Statistics \ )|( ```\ Canada S7N 0W0
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<S|A|S|K|A|T|C|H|E|W|A|N|>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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[Roxanne Rohmann]

bic...@skmath3.pa.dec.COM ("M. Bickis") writes:
> kwol...@copper.Denver.Colorado.EDU (Kenneth A Wolcott)

> >Mattel should be congratulated for stopping future production of such
> >dolls.
>
> I would much happier if it stopped producing Barbie dolls altogether. These
> dolls send so many undesirable messages to young girls that adding or
> subtracting one more such message hardly makes a difference. But I suppose
> Mattel has to make money somehow. :-(

Before I became a mother of a daughter, I felt the same way.
I felt uncomfortable about dolls in general, and disliked
Barbies in particular. After all, the shape of a Barbie in
no way represents a typical adult female's shape, and certainly
exaggerates secondary sexual characteristics (i.e., those things
considered sexually attractive by the Madison Avenue types of
American society). She's clothes crazy, and the entire Barbie
concept promotes rampant consumerism. All of these concepts have in
some way haunted or harmed women in some way, certainly in
popular culture.

HOWEVER, my daughter is now nine years old, and has been
playing with Barbies for five years. I am delighted (and
at times astounded) to report that Riana (mostly) uses
her Barbies to work through a large variety of role-playing
that I find incredibly healthy. With her friends, Riana has
used her Barbies to explore space, to practice medicine, to
be super-heroes-rescuers-of-the-galaxy, to teach, and yes, to
play house. I *don't* see her paying much attention to how
Barbie is built.

But before I hear a collective groan of "playing
house! Ecccchhhh!!", I would like to point out that
nurturing and child-raising is just a little bit
important to society as a whole. And, rather than denigrate
that role just because women have traditionally been the
ones who have performed it, we human beings should be
attempting to foster it in *everyone*. Certainly I don't
want my daughter to lose out on what I consider an important
and satisfying aspect of my life (among others)--being a
parent.

---Roxanne Rohmann
Chemistry Dept. UCSD

[M. Bickis]

In article <1d3mv3...@network.ucsd.edu> r...@chem.ucsd.edu (Roxanne Rohmann)
writes in reply to me:

> > I would much happier if it stopped producing Barbie dolls altogether. These
> > dolls send so many undesirable messages to young girls that adding or
> > subtracting one more such message hardly makes a difference. But I suppose
> > Mattel has to make money somehow. :-(
>
>Before I became a mother of a daughter, I felt the same way.
>I felt uncomfortable about dolls in general, and disliked

>Barbies in particular. After all, the shape of a Barbie [...]
>exaggerates secondary sexual characteristics [and] promotes
>rampant consumerism.
> [ ... ]

>HOWEVER, my daughter is now nine years old, and has been
>playing with Barbies for five years. I am delighted (and
>at times astounded) to report that Riana (mostly) uses
>her Barbies to work through a large variety of role-playing
>that I find incredibly healthy.

I have two daughters who are now in their teens. My wife and I were
quite adamant about *never* buying them Barbie dolls. Alas, a neighbour
girl who had outgrown them gave our oldest her collection, which was
later passed onto the younger. Indeed, they both played with them quite
delightfully, and have survived the experience without too many adverse
effects. We did not feel strongly enough to forbid the dolls,--we just
refused to buy them, and made it quite clear that we would not be buying
additional accessories for the ones they had inherited.

There is certainly nothing wrong with girls (or boys for that matter)
playing with dolls. What I object to Barbie is not that she is a doll,
but the rampant consumerism, obsession with looks/clothes etc. that she
promotes. Moreover, the carefully planned scenario of her world would
tend to stifle children's natural spontaneity and imagination.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>bic...@math.usask.ca<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Mik Bickis \,,, .*#*. \ University of Saskatchewan
Department of \,,, ^\\|//^ ```\ Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Mathematics & Statistics \ )|( ```\ Canada S7N 0W0
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<S|A|S|K|A|T|C|H|E|W|A|N|>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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