Barbie Has A Tramp Stamp
Posted by: Annika Harris
Filed in:
style
12:30PM, Friday March 6th 2009
Totally Stylin’ Tattoos Barbie hit store shelves recently, and parents aren’t happy. What’s disturbing most parents is the “tattoo gun” that comes with each doll and allows children to put temporary tattoos on Barbie, her clothes, and themselves. “Now she’s teaching our little girls how to apply tramp stamps. Next she’ll have her very own Barbie’s Hot Brothel. Way to go Mattel,” said one parent. So basically, tattoos lead to prostitution? As someone who played with Barbie dolls until I was 13, is an adult collector, and has six-soon-to-be-seven tattoos, I’m rather offended.
This Barbie, like others, will not cause the downfall of our society. That’s up to the adults, who have started pointless wars, gotten rich on the backs of others, and have set the beauty ideals that Barbie exhibits. Parents need to stop placing so much blame on outside entities and take responsibility themselves. That parent’s daughter wouldn’t know what a tramp stamp is unless her parents were falling down on the job. Sure, parents can’t be with their children 100 percent of the time, so children will inevitably learn or hear something that is inappropriate. But the parents should have a discussion with their kids about why such and such is inappropriate and should then set boundaries. My mom didn’t allow me to watch “Married with Children” when I was a kid because, as she explained to me, she didn’t like how Bud and Kelly disrespected their father. I didn’t sneak and watch the show and I don’t think any little girls will be sneaking to play with Totally Stylin’ Tattoos Barbie. That reminds me…these girls can’t play with this doll unless an adult buys it. So if parents take issue with itm which is just reflecting today’s generation, then, um, don’t buy it. [Lemondrop]
TheFrisky.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network
Pipi
wrote on March 6 2009 @ 12:41 pm: [report]
As a child I wrote a letter to Matel about coming out with a tattoo Barbie. Where is my check?
EarthGoddess
wrote on March 6 2009 @ 12:48 pm: [report]
Great article ... I agree! If you’re leaving parenting up to Mattel, or any other outside force, you have already failed your child(ren). Parent isn’t only a noun, it’s also a verb, and sometimes people forget that. My 8 year old daughter plays with Barbies (even the Hard Rock Cafe one with the skull and crossbones tattoo) and I’m not at all worried that she’s going to become a skank when she’s older. My husband has tattoos, and we are great friends with the owner of a tattoo parlor in town (who is mostly covered with ink himself), and he treats her like a princess ... a total softie! People need to settle down, start communicating effectively with their kids, and stop looking for other people/things to blame for their kids’ behavior. Take a look in the mirror, folks, if your kids are heading in the wrong direction, it’s up to YOU to get them back on the right path. Don’t blame a plastic doll!
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on March 6 2009 @ 12:51 pm: [report]
CNN has a story about “Dora the Explorer” growing up and liking boys on it’s homepage. The moms are calling her a skank.
Arty
wrote on March 6 2009 @ 12:53 pm: [report]
@Cheese I guess those moms would prefer it if Dora were a lesbian.
Alison Wonderland
wrote on March 6 2009 @ 01:16 pm: [report]
In my Barbie phase, so likely earlier than age ten, my Mom and I would put Barbies pink fur coat and an awesome floppy brimmed hat on Ken. We literally called him ‘Pimp Daddy Ken’. Even as early as 5 or so I would dress Barbie up and my Mom says that in some of her outfits I said she looked like a ‘smoking girl’- 5 year old vernacular for prostitute apparently. But honestly if my Mom hadn’t told me the stories I wouldn’t have remembered doing that anyway.
I don’t think little girls’ attention spans are long enough for them to internalize Barbie. It’s like ‘Ooh, Barbie has tattoos. I want a tattoo.’ Five minutes later it’s ‘Ooh, Barbie has a horse. I want a horse.’, ‘Barbie is a mermaid!!’...
Erin G
wrote on March 6 2009 @ 01:58 pm: [report]
When I was a kid, all my Barbies were all lesbians, and this was before any skanky-version, tattoo-version, or whatever came out. Yeah…I was a weird kid.
Lets face it, you ever see the clothes they sell for Barbie anytime from 1990 to today? I think tattoos aren’t going to make a dent. Kids’ IMAGINATIONS are what are going to make a difference.
Even my Catholic Nun Barbie was lesbo-ing it up in the pink limo.
alliecat
wrote on March 6 2009 @ 01:59 pm: [report]
First off, as a woman with a lower back tattoo, I really REALLY hate the term “Tramp stamp.” I got mine on my lower back because it’s easy to hide in the professional world and because I thought it would be the least painful spot for my first tattoo (boy was I wrong). I hate that in this modern society, parents still look at body art in such a negative light. So what, A Barbie has temporary tattoos? I highly doubt this is going to inspire any little girl to be the next Kat Von D. Is this really any different from the huge Barbie head I used to put “makeup” on with cold or warm water, when I was 6 years old?
You said it the best - the kids won’t get their hands on a tattooed Barbie of their own if the parents don’t buy them. I can think of plenty of things my mom didn’t let me watch or have because she thought it was out of my range of understanding at my age. Personally, if I were a parent, I’d use this Barbie to my advantage - as a lesson on tolerance and appearances only going skin deep, but maybe that’s because I’m tattooed myself.
doridori
wrote on March 6 2009 @ 02:00 pm: [report]
There is a lot of other stuff that would bother me more… an atomically correct Ken or Barbie… complete with pubes… Crack head Barbie, comes with her own pipe and even offers to perform wanton sexual acts for a hit or for money… Moonlight Bunny Ranch Barbie comes with clear stripper heels, and see-through teddy, Pimp “Daddy” Ken sold separately.
I’m of the mindset and of the generation where tattoos are socially acceptable and have become for lack of better term, common place. (I’ve got 4 tattoos and counting.) I’m more upset about Hannah Montana and how she dresses than I will ever be about Barbie staying current with the times.
Arty
wrote on March 6 2009 @ 02:41 pm: [report]
I had several trans Barbies. I didn’t like spending my money on Ken because the Barbies had cooler clothes and his plastic hair wasn’t any fun. But I wanted my Barbies to go on dates, so I’d “turn” some of my older dolls into men by cutting their hair and having them wear things like jeans and t-shirts.
Annika Harris
wrote on March 6 2009 @ 04:14 pm: [report]
I played high school dropout, teenage mom Barbie, but that wasn’t in any way an aspiration of mine.
cjmar
wrote on March 6 2009 @ 08:42 pm: [report]
Are you insinuating that tattoos are bad? Even some professionals have tattoos. I’d love to see a “Tattooed Dr. Barbie” or “Inked Lawyer Barbie.” She hides them under her professional attire!
Tamara
wrote on March 6 2009 @ 10:15 pm: [report]
So Barbie has ass antlers? Good for her, maybe if parents whined less about what Barbie is hitting the market and paid more attention to educating their children and spending time with them then they wouldn’t have to worry. Educated kids are kids that can think for themselves, then again I don’t have kids, but it worked for me.
Tensai
wrote on March 7 2009 @ 02:14 am: [report]
I’d be more concerned with that “Indonesia” scarification on her back, personally. ooo Who knows what it says under her shirt.
catchme518
wrote on March 7 2009 @ 05:28 am: [report]
i have 2 girl and i taught them to think for them selves. so what barbie has a tattoo. maybe it is time . get over it.
lilo
wrote on March 7 2009 @ 07:34 am: [report]
Barbie will regret her tramp stamp later. Isn’t that kind of a passe tat? What’s next, a barbed wire ring around her arm?
Stuey75
wrote on March 7 2009 @ 08:36 am: [report]
Well what the crap is wrong with letting kids be kids? We have 18 till death to be adults, why do we think that 5 year olds need to even think or worry about adult things such as tattoos. I have a child and I have a tattoo….I dont think my kid needs to even be worrying or thinking about tattoos until they are of age.
But if we aren’t. c’mon, why stop at tattoos. Let’s have barbie with alcohol, cigarettes a mortgage, a job where they get laid off. Yeah lets rob our kids of their childhood and make them live an adults live through their toys.
Alison Wonderland
wrote on March 7 2009 @ 11:47 am: [report]
But Stuey, thats why toys exist. So children can pretend to be more than a child- a sports star, a superhero, even an adult. It’s all in good fun. If high heels and jewelery are things only adults should wear the dress up kit with the plastic heels and pearls should be taken off the market too.
My Barbies were prostitutes, Erin’s were lesbians, MissInfo had tranny Barbies. Annika’s Barbies had all sorts of issues but she’s right- as kids we were just playing we didn’t aspire to be our Barbies. (We all turned out fine!) I think these sort of misadventures come from smart children. Children who are paying attention to the world around them. To echo what everyone else is saying, it’s the parents responsibility to regulate what the child is exposed to, and to further explain the things if need be.
(Also, I had a doll that came with tattoos when I was little so this isn’t a new concept. They were butterflies and flowers and I’m sure that’s what most of Barbie’s will be as well.)
Erin G
wrote on March 7 2009 @ 06:08 pm: [report]
@ Stuey:
I’d have to disagree. We already teach our children to grow up AND to aspire to certain goals. Baby dolls, anyone? We’re teaching our 5 year olds to be mommies. I don’t see this robbing little girls of a childhood by teaching them how to “be mothers” (which turns out being how to teach them to cuddle and fawn over babies, but I digress…)
I still would support Inked Lawyer Barbie, personally haha
jwms
wrote on March 8 2009 @ 06:05 pm: [report]
Parents, parent your children. Your daughter’s values should not be set by Barbie. As a person who played with Barbie well into my teens and passed that love on to my daughter, I remind you it is YOUR money. don’t but the doll if you find it offensive.
Elle
wrote on March 8 2009 @ 07:54 pm: [report]
As a new parent I find this utterly hilarious. The fact that mothers are up in arms about this is absolutely ridiculous. “Oh my child will be exposed to such depravity!” Correct me if I’m wrong, but unless said parent runs out to buy the new tattoo me Barbie, their child will NEVER be exposed to it (barring a friend having it of course). Like seriously people. If you don’t want your child to play a violent video game or have a questionable Barbie - Don’t buy it! Case closed.
eden
wrote on March 8 2009 @ 08:32 pm: [report]
Exactly what jwms and elle said. Anyway, didn’t those skanky ass Bratz have a tattooing doll a while back? With belly rings?
retro chic
wrote on March 10 2009 @ 10:35 pm: [report]
Mattel’s Barbie—their over-milked Cash Cow—saw a 21% drop in sales due to stiffer, skankier Bratz, et al, competition in 2008. Maybe they should take a note from the auto industry failures, and diversify with more imaginative products. So, yeah, Stuey, I think there might be a pink-slip in Barbie’s future, and it’s just her color!
btw: I don’t recall Barbie having a muffin-top. But I guess it’s bound to happen after years of McD’s and such. Anyway, she needs the room for all the tramp-stampage.
pps: My mom, RIP, had great self-image, happy she “dodged the Barbie bullet” for us. She called the Barbie section of the toy department “Pink Las Vegas” for the Pepto-nuclear glow can be seen from across the store, beckoning dazed people into dropping $$$ there. Thank you, Mom. ;D
Yesdnyl99
wrote on April 13 2009 @ 05:04 pm: [report]
This Barbie is disgusting. It’s not that anyone is leaving their child to Matel to raise, it’s the fact that kids look up to Barbies, cartoons, music stars and other characters. Parents can tell their children over and over again what’s right and wrong but it doesn’t mean that the children will agree. Even when I was younger and I saw girls in the bar with a tattoo on her lower back, it automatically gave her a name and everyone knew what she was about. It’s called a “tramp stamp” and why? Basically she’s saying she loves to hang out in bars and go home with the guy who buys her the most drinks whether or not she takes him up on it, where’s low cut tank tops and tight jeans. This Barbie doesn’t exactly show little girls how to be ladies. If Barbie tattoos her lower back with Ken, then what’s to stop them later when they meet a boy in high school and want his name on her back? I didn’t listen to everything my mom said, in fact, though I respected a lot of what my mom said, I rolled my eyes at some of the things she did say. She never liked bars but it became the cool thing in my early 20s and seeing tramp stamps on women automatically made me want to vomit because you could tell she was just like every other girl with a stamp on her back even if she was a law student, medical student or what have you. She still looked trashy. So go ahead kids, even if mom says no, Barbie says it’s okay. Get your practice in tramp stamp art early by getting your new Barbie and temporary tattoos. Good going Matel.