Culture

According To Twitter, Barbie Is A Bisexual Icon Now

Among her many accomplishments, Barbie is also gay.

by Merryana Salem  17 January 2021
barbie

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Among her many accomplishments, Barbie is now also gay.

Twitter has decided that Barbie is gay, specifically bisexual after a tweet went viral about Mattel giving her a girlfriend. The tweet contained a photo of Barbie and her girlfriend, wearing ‘love wins’ t-shirts.

As a bisexual, I bisexually rejoice when someone, even an iconic toy doll, is revealed to be bi. But, of course, I also wanted to investigate when exactly Barbie came out.

A bit of digging revealed that the photo was the result of a 2017 collaboration between Mattel and blogger/designer, Aimee Song. Song is the ‘girlfriend’ in the promotional image, but Barbie is supposedly in the photo as an ally.

However, the people of Twitter believe this was, in fact, Barbie’s official coming out. Fans were citing everything from Barbie’s haircut in the photo to portrayals of Barbie’s female frienships in the Barbie cinematic universe as evidence.

While many were quick to call Barbie a lesbian, bisexual Twitter was quick to remind people of Barbie’s other great love, Ken– making her bisexual.

After all, why can’t Barbie be a part of the LGBTQIA+ community? A woman so travelled and experienced, whose been around for just over 60 years– Is it so unbelievable that she would love a woman?

Barbie has been repunzel, cinderella, a mermaid, and part of the three musketeers. Not to mention her ever expanding list of occupations, including engineer, astronaut, teacher, president, actress, star, park ranger, tour guide and countless others.

This is a woman whose fluidity and adaptability in her life would no doubt also be reflected in who she loves. We have no choice but to stan a bisexual icon.

I mean, come on, folks! Just look at the photo. Aimee and Barbie have already adopted a pet together. This is peak girlfriend activity.

Now I am sure there will be certain people who will be distressed to learn that Barbie is widely considered to be part of the queer community. Perhaps people would even be distressed to learn she is an ally.

To those people, remember Barbie is supposed to represent all the different possibilities children can grow to be. If you don’t think that includes being gay and/or being part of the LGBTQIA+ community, that’s an issue you need to work through on your own.

Merryana Salem is a proud Wonnarua and Lebanese–Australian writer, critic, teacher, researcher and podcaster on most social media as @akajustmerry. If you want, check out her podcast, GayV Club where she gushes about LGBT rep in media with her best friend. Either way, she hopes you ate something nice today.