Universalis, your very own breviary in pixels...

Wednesday 30 April 2008

Burka Barbie

I never had a Barbie. My friends all did, and as I recall, the invitations were always, to "come over and play Barbies," not "play dolls."
I may be remembering wrong, but I don't think I liked them, their feet were funny, and the arms weren't articulated well; so my tendency was the same as my brothers would have been, bend them at the hip and pretend their legs were the barrel of a gun.
Zara and Dara would be a cool collectible to have...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/arts/28arts-IRANVERSUSBA_BRF.html?scp=2&sq=barbie&st=nyt

Iran’s prosecutor general railed on Sunday against the invasion of Barbie, Batman, Spider-Man and Harry Potter and demanded that the country’s young be protected against them, Agence France-Presse reported. Urging measures to safeguard “Islamic culture and revolutionary values,” the prosecutor, Ghorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi, was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying: “Promoting figures like Barbie, Batman, Spider-Man and Harry Potter and the uncontrolled import of CDs of video games and films should alarm all the country’s officials. We need to find substitutes to ward off this onslaught, which aims at children and young people whose personality is in the process of being formed.” Although officials in Iran regularly denounce Western culture, Western toys have been popular there, and affluent parents often indulge their children with them. The prosecutor said, “These toys, which do not respect the required norms, present dangers for the health of children and affect the survival of toy factories in this country.” In July 2007 “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” went on sale in Tehran. Two years ago the police raided toy shops and put black stickers on the packaging of Barbie dolls to hide their bodies. Barbie contravenes Iran’s rule that women must cover all bodily contours. Iran’s rivals to Barbie and her partner, Ken, are Sara and Dara, who respect Islamic rules but do not enjoy Barbie’s popularity.

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