Barbie Heads Into New Ground With Hijab-Sporting Doll

[TexasTowelie]

Mattel unveiled its first hijab-wearing Barbie doll on Monday, modeled after fencer Ibtihaj Muhammed, who has broken ground herself as the first U.S. Olympic athlete to compete in the head scarf.

"Perfect hijab moment right here, this is amazing," Muhammed said as she beheld the doll for the first time at the Glamour Women of the Year Summit, her likeness clad in a white fencing uniform and clutching a sword and helmet.

Muhammed said she played with Barbies until she was a teenager, but none of the dolls looked like her, so she resorted to sewing mini hijabs onto them. Now she is hoping the new doll inspires other girls "to embrace what makes them unique."

In an interview with ESPNW, Muhammed, 31, said, "I feel like I've always embraced being 'different' in respect to breaking boundaries, being an African-American Muslim woman in the sport of fencing."

Read more: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/14/564122224/barbie-heads-into-new-ground-with-hijab-sporting-doll

[msongs]

1. is ken going to wear one too? never mind only women have to wear one nt

[TexasTowelie]

2. Actually, Ken wears a man bun instead.

Link to tweet

[Kablooie]

3. Mattel may soon disappear as a company though.

Hasbro is working to buy them out and plans to eliminate the Mattel name if they do.

Mr. Potato Head and Barbie together at last!

[Lee-Lee]

4. Work even more to normalize a symbol of oppression and patriarchal control

Just the message we don’t need to send to our girls.

Yeah, I know, someone is going to rush in and say how some women choose it. But the vast majority don’t, and all the ones of the age to play with a Barbie who are forced to wear it dont have a choice.

It is a form of clothing intended to oppress women, to hide them, designed by men, declared mandatory for women by men, and used to control women.

There is nothing about it that should be celebrated or normalized. It’s a symbol of oppression, subjugation and control by men in the name of religion.