#me sitting there thinking she was going to mattel to be the ceo and then that

[whitesunlars]

rip all the parents who didn’t check the rating of barbie and took their slightly too young children to a pg-13 movie and now need to explain what a gynecologist is to their kids

[marvelobsessed134]

Starting to really like the real world

A/n: You KNOW I had to write stuff for Margot’s barbie because…mommy. Anyways! Also as we know in the end of the movie when Barbie goes to the real world she’s named after Ruth Handler’s daughter. Her name will still be Barbie but her last name, Handler, will be mentioned

Pairings: CEO!Barbie x Assistant!Fem reader

Warnings: smut, dirty talk, oral (both receiving), fingering (R receiving), Dom!Barbie, Sub!reader, mommy kink, mentions of strap on use, little degradation, and I think that’s it.

Summary: Things get heated between you and your boss.

It was just another day working at the one and only Mattel headquarters. And for the new CEO, Barbie herself. Well, Miss. Handler to the world. But everyone closest to her knows that she is -or was- a actual Barbie from barbieland. And because you’re her assistant, you know most things about the woman.

She’s always so cheery, she’s a wonderful boss. She gives you paid off time during your menstrual cycles. While yes, she has all the right organs now she still doesn’t get her period and can’t get pregnant. Which she doesn’t mind at all. She’s actually very happy she doesn’t have to worry about neither.

Today has been hectic. Since new ideas for new dolls and play sets have been announced at the annual Barbie convention. And as expected, Miss. Handler was very busy.

You just gave her coffee, printed her papers and answered some emails for her. Towards the end of the day, you were exhausted. Ready to kick back and relax while watching your favorite show. However, Barbie had told you to stay behind today.

In her bright pink office, the large window casted a golden aura due to the sun setting. You sat on the couch nervously as your boss walked in, her heels clicking on the polished floor, in her pink suit. You’re afraid you did something wrong.

She locks the door before walking towards you, sitting down next to you.

“Um, Miss. Handler…did I do anything wrong? Why was I called to stay back?” You asked.

“Y/n you know it’s Barbie after hours. Plus tonight you’re going to be calling me mommy anyways.” Your eyes widened at her words before she pressed her lips to yours. You were shocked, but melted into the kiss.

Her hands began to explore your body, groping everywhere she could. Turns out the real world really changed her. Maybe for the better.

You moaned into the kiss. “Mmm, you like that baby? I love feeling your beautiful body.” She said as she smirked against your lips.

Then, the two of you separated and you still looked at her dumbfounded. “Don’t look at me like you don’t know what’s going on, Missy.” She said, “I can see it in your eyes, you want this. So come on, submit to mommy.”

If you were standing you would’ve fell on your knees. “Yes mommy.” You whispered and she gave you a look of approval, her blue eyes growing darker.

She then went to work at unbuttoning your shirt before pulling it off, then your bra. Barbie immediately began to grope your tits before pulling a nipple into her mouth. You moaned and threw your head back.

Once she paid attention to both sides, she gracefully picked you up and laid you down on her desk. She made quick work of removing your skirt and panties. “Already so soaked for me, and I’ve barely touched you.” The blonde chuckled.

Your legs spread on their own accord, and she immediately dived in, licking up and down your folds, all the way up to your clit. You gripped the back of her head as you moaned loudly, squirming underneath her.

You felt yourself getting closer and closer, “Mommy, I’m gonna cum!”

“Go ahead, cum for mommy.” And so, you released your sweet juices all over her face. “Mmm you taste so sweet. Good girl.” Barbie praised before standing up and pushing to fingers inside of you. Your eyes rolled back as she continued to fuck you. “Fuck we’ll have to use my strap next time, how does that sound pretty girl?” Your boss moaned and your eyes widened. She’s way different than she was when she first got the real world.

“Oh yeah, it’s thick and long, it’s gonna stretch that tight pussy out so much. And I know you’ll love to suck on it, you little cock whore.” She chuckled menacingly as she continued to fuck you with her fingers as your legs began to shake and you clenched around her. “Oh god, mommy!!!!” You screamed in pleasure as you came a second time.

Barbie took her fingers out of you and licked them clean. She leaned over and pressed a kiss to your lips, you could taste a mix of her and yourself. She then squished your cheeks and said, “Now it’s mommy’s turn. You’re going to make mommy cum like the good little slut you are, got it?” You nodded and watched as she got up and sat in her chair, she pulled her pants and panties off and spread her legs as she unbuttoned her suit jacket and shirt.

The sight of her pussy had your mouth watering you got down and crawled towards her before becoming face to face with it.

You looked up for permission and saw as Barbie tweaked her nipples lazily before saying, “Go on.” With a warm smile.

You began to lick her just as she licked you. Up and down her wet folds and up to her clit. And just like you did, she gripped the back of your head, “Oh yeah, that’s a good girl.”

You continued to eat her out. “I’m close, and you better eat up all of my cum sweetheart.” And you did, as she moaned out and her release squirted all over you, you quickly ate it all up like a good slut.

“Fuck that was good, I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time, babygirl. And I want to do it over and over again.” Barbie said before leaning forward and gripping your chin, making your look up at her. “What do you say, you wanna be mommy’s little fuck toy?”

“Yes, mommy.”

“Good girl.”

[0rionz-belt]

My experience seeing the Barbie Movie.

So I woke up today at 7 am to go see the Barbie movie at 9 am. It is opening day. I looked like a cross between a teenage boy in a late 80’s blockbuster film and a hot topic coupon freak from Y2K. I arrived at 8, with the theater not opening for a half hour and the mall itself not being officially open for another 2 hours. I headed past the groups of girls clad in pinks of all shades, got my ticket scanned 15 minutes before showtime, took my seat, and waited for my food and what I was expecting to be a silly movie for kids.

Barbie movie spoilers under the cut.

I walked out of that theater a little over 2 hours later and the first words to leave my brain and enter the physical world were not “Eh.” Or “wow! That was life changing!” Or “that was horrible”.

It was “What the fuck did I just watch”. In the absolute best way possible.

I expected the plot to be simple and easy to figure out from the trailers. I expected “oh Barbie is experiencing herself becoming a normal human, so she has to go to the real world to find the cause but our world is so different and the buisnessmen are the main antagonists and she has to avoid being trapped by them the whole movie until she can fix the issue and go home! and Ken is there too I guess.” I expected cliche. It’s a fucking barbie movie, why wouldn’t it be cliche?

But then they busted out the whole “you are actually being controlled by a kid and the kid is sad and it’s fucking you up. Go help your god.” And I was like Ok. I like that, that’s a good way to tie it up. And then you had the reveal of it actually being the mom playing with the dolls which had me going like “I don’t remember seeing her a bunch in the marketing, that’s a really great twist and it makes sense.”

And then. Oh man. And then they have Ken go off on his own and it’s played off in the moment as not a big deal but then you see him learning about Patriarchy. See him react to people paying attention to him in a positive way for once. See him go back to Barbieland. And the movie switches over from being about Barbie trying to escape the CEO of Mattel and find the kid, and into a plot that takes the whole “the real world isn’t as feminist as she thinks” and takes it up to 11. All the stuff where she’s being harassed for being female already engaged the target audience by being something they experience and then it goes in FURTHER with it and you have to realize as the Mattel people get shown less and less that Ken is the real antagonist of the movie.

That part caught me off guard. I don’t see myself as a woman anymore but god damn I felt that. And it was such a well made twist where things from the trailers finally made sense! And the whole thing they did to solve it. Holy shit. But you likely already know about that, so let’s skip ahead.

Here, I’ll give you a moment to breathe. I never saw that initial teaser trailer. The opening sequence was entirely new to me and holy FUCK was I confused. “I have all the genitals” is something I’ll be quoting for a while I think, that killed me. AND MAGIC EARRING KEN??? Oh my god it was amazing. Rest in peace to the 10 little girls sitting in my row, who don’t understand half of my reactions to that movie.

Okay back to the serious shit. I cried 3 times during that movie. Maybe it was my period, maybe it was bc I hadn’t taken my meds, maybe it was just that sad. The two scenes with Ruth and that monologue about being a woman and society’s standards for women got me. Out of the 3, the last scene with Ruth and Barbie made me cry the most. that scene fucking ripped my ribcage open and tore my heart out. It spoke to me. And in all honesty I wish i remembered it better bc I was too preoccupied trying to make sure none of the tween girls in the row noticed me crying.

I went into that movie expecting to relate heavily to Ken, for personal reasons I don’t want to disclose. And by the end of it, I still found myself relating to him somewhat. But moreover, I found Barbie to be incredibly relatable. It was astonishing.

That entire movie was on crack, I spent $70 for a doll and a car afterwards.

[prettytanuki]

Barbie (2023) Review

Although I thought the movie was funny, I got really saddened reading other people thoughts about it.

The plot of the movie is kind of a mess. I'm the sort of person who thinks you shouldn't try to guess what the author (or director) wanted to convey but instead take the work as-is and synthesize a message from it yourself.

So, the movie threw the word "patriarchy" around a lot. It had feminist messages. But other watchers were comparing Ken to redpilled incelly taters. I don't get this comparison because I'm just not going to think of political shit while watching a funny movie.

For me, the way the Barbies manipulated the Kens, and the fact that an outsider woman with knowledge about the Real World's gender dynamics was the one to propose and therefore have knowledge about this sort of manipulation, was really really ugly.

But I don't care. This is fiction. It's okay for characters to be ugly and do ugly things. So women can just play with a man's feelings like that, huh? Alright, that's a thing that can happen, I guess.

Do females really?

I suppose just like it happened in the movie, it could happen in real life. That's what a fictional story can give you. If the stars aligned, the same thing that you saw in a movie can happen in real life. Movies, stories, fictional or not, allow you to gain knowledge and experience just by witnessing how the lives of others play out.

I'm kind of confused, though, because for me the barbie movie was more about ken than about barbie. Like ken was the real protagonist and maybe they should even have called the movie "ken" which honestly is hella ironic if you approach this movie thinking it's feminist and about female empowerment: why is the feminist movie mainly about the guy? Is it some funny joke like the CEO and board being all male? Or is it some nth generation feminism where we looped back and gender equality is now about men finding their place in world with shifting gender norms? Or is this the actual patriarchy at play here, the real deal?

Barbie's journey of self-discovery was having her dream world taken away from her when she encountered reality. There were many scenes where she was crying because reality kinda sucks tbh. I'd cry too if I were barbie. She didn't actually want to do anything. The plot didn't begin with her, at least not only her, but with the real world woman, Gloria, who was playing with her. She didn't want to learn the truth, she chose the high heel from Weird Barbie. When she met Sasha, she ran away crying. Her only autonomous act was getting in the black van and escaping from Mattel. She didn't find Gloria, Gloria found her. When Ken took over Barbieland, she gave up and waited for a more leadership oriented Barbie to fix things and she only got back on her feet when Gloria came back for her. And even to the very end she was still waiting for permission to choose to be human.

Barbie was just kind of juggled around from one trouble to another.

Meanwhile, Ken was the underdog who found respect in the real world by being asked what time it is. He proactively researched about horses and found out about patriarchy. Tried to get a high paying job, do a surgery, and even a job at beach using his newfound male privilege. Was completely frustrated by the fact things weren't the way he had just read about in a school library. He couldn't even BEACH there. And what did he do? Did Ken sit around waiting for a more leadership oriented Ken to make the world patriarchal? No. He went to Barbieland and shared his discoveries with his buddies. For a beautiful and bizarre moment, the long-mistreated Kens were able to attain Ken supremacy by overthrowing their fascist Barbie overladies and brainwashing them into subservient bimbos, and everyone would be blissfully thoughtlessly happy in the Kendom's Mojo Dojo Casa Houses if it weren't for the pesky stereotypical Barbie who brought to Kendom feminism just like Ken has brought Barbieland patriarchy. In the end, the Barbies snap out of it and retake their positions of power through the means of... voter suppression? Uh... yeah. Well, at least the Kens had the right to vote, so that's something, I guess. And the series ends with the touching message, that one day the Kens will have as much power in Barbieland as women have in the real world.

You see how funny it is? If the genders were reversed, this would be the classical minority-power group fighting to gain their powers all the way to the conclusion. This wasn't a side-plot. This was THE plot. But for some reason our rights-fighter protagonist, Ken, wasn't the protagonist of the movie. The movie told a story of feminism and gender equality but by making the historically subjugated women, represented by none other than the Kens, the bad guys. Why are they the bad guys? Because... patriarchy is bad?

Now, I won't say I don't have a bimbo fetish, but... the Kens didn't actually do anything underhanded like voter suppression. They didn't even use a brainwashing app or a dumbfying spell or anything like that.

According to the Barbie movie, all the Kens did was talk about patriarchy, and then the Barbies just accepted it. I know this sounds weird, but this isn't The Real World, this is Barbieland. They had no apparent resistance to it. They were, strangely, I know, happy about wearing french maid outfits and giving foot massages to Kens, until they snapped out of it hearing about feminism.

Behold the face of the oppressed Barbie under patriarchy. This is so sad. Just look at her. If only she knew better!

That nobel prize winner, that's a dignified title, but she had no trouble being a bimbo for some reason. They were all completely on board with patriarchy.

Now I'm not advocating for patriarchy in the real world, obviously, but in the context of barbieland, how can anyone say patriarchy is wrong and the kens are bad, when they didn't even do anything wrong? As far as we know, no barbie ever told the kens "what? no, I don't want to massage your foot!" They just rolled with it. There was consent, and that's beautiful. It was like some huge bimbo fetish island with consenting adults fully enjoying their patriarchal lifestyle.

See? Don't wanna be a bimbo? That's fine. Nobody is forcing anyone here. You can always leave. That was always allowed.

Why did barbie not like it? Because she had a position of power before. She had a dreamhouse while Ken slept... somewhere. When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression, and oppression feels like super-oppression. He stole her things like the french peasants stole from the french nobles.

The more i look at it the more ironic it gets, because this surely wasn't the take I'd've liked to be having after watching the Barbie movie.

I wanted this movie to be about girly feminine things, like going to stores buying clothes and stupid shit like that. Being bubbly and whatnot. Something fun and happy. Pink positive. Okay I know this wasn't really going to happen, I wanted this but I wasn't actually expecting it to be like that, I'm not that stupid. I wanted it to be a movie you'd think about when someone says "think of barbie in a movie." But this was more like... there was a bunch of barbies and product placement, name dropping everything, and a thought experiment on gender norms playing in the background using barbies and kens as props. I also don't give a shit if Barbie is consumerist. It's a movie. Pass that platinum credit card and buy the whole shopping center. That'd be dreamy. It's how movies should be.

I don't know if this movie was trying to give some message out of concern for all the little girls who went to the movie theaters thinking about watching a barbie movie. If it was, I'm really concerned about what those little girls took from a movie about stepping on a man's feelings to get them out of power because you want your matriarchy back. But anyway, I hope that wasn't really the case and it was just a funny movie made without trying to send some subliminal message to create a wave of misandrist sociopaths to fight against misogynist sociopaths in a future holy war. I'd like to think that anyone trying to analyze the characters' opinions and actions as if they were representative of the author's views is just making a grave mistake. I'd like to believe this is just a story as any other and every person will have their own synthesis of it. Just like I have my crazy "the kens' bimbo paradise is valid" take, other people may have their own interpretations, so it kind of weirds me out that some people think that a character MUST BE an allegory for a redpilled incel. For me, it isn't. That's your interpretation because you talk about redpilled incels a lot so it warps your worldview to that way, and that's fine, I guess, it's you, it's your take, it should be dyed your colors, just as it's fine for me to not waste my time reading about incels on the internet and so they don't really occupy a piece of my mind when I'm watching a movie.

Anyway, it was still a funny movie with all the comedy in the background. It was just the plot that was kind of very awkward getting more awkward the more you think about it. I'm not a movie-maker and I don't know the stakes behind this, but if I were the director, I'd probably just not make a commentary on gender at all if I were making a barbie movie. It could be just fun and girly, and that's enough. You don't need to make all the women bubbly. I like bubbly. But you could have ordinary barbies around having fun, and that would be enough to drive the message that it's okay to be a woman even if you aren't a bubbly bimbo, and it's okay to be a bubbly bimbo as well. Basically I think whatever message the movie could have wanted to deliver would have been better delivered by not using so many words. When barbie calls that old lady beautiful, it only took one single word to drive a lot of meaning. Meanwhile, this complicated subversion of a plot going in the background hardly means anything. I don't think people want to get inspired by a woman ranting. I don't think they want to live their lives after being told things. I think they want to see a character in a movie living their lives to the fullest and think "I want to my life to be like this person's life." And barbie's life in the movie was probably the worst possible ideal to look up to, because barbie became just a woman, and if you're a woman, you're already a woman, you won't look up to a woman who has become a woman and think "damn, I wish I was a woman too" because you already are. There's nothing to look up to!

Who needs to be told that they don't need to be a doctor, or a lawyer, or a president, or an astronaut, and they can just be a woman? This is just fucking sad, actually. It has nothing to do with being a woman. You could say the same thing about men. This is just ruining children's dreams. Okay, not all children will become one of those prestigious professions that their parents want them to become so much, but I seriously doubt we need a movie to tell them "it's okay if you fail at being extraordinary." We need to hear this from our own parents for it to count, not from Mattel.

[astudyintheburningofhearts]

In My Barbie™ Era

Finally gonna post my thoughts on the Barbie Movie. (Not that anyone cares, but).

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE BARBIE MOVIE BELOW!!!!!

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Lemme say right off the bat, I LOVED IT. OK? I L O V E D IT.

Alright, we got a little late, so we missed like the first two minutes- which was sad, but it's alright. (Also, I didn't wear pink (sadly) since I don't really own anything pink, but I did have this little purse thing so. I took that. Nearly everyone else in the hall was wearing pink though).

Either way, I won't say I loved it right off the bat- because (honestly) I thought that the initial Barbie Land scenes were a little weird??? Like. Yeah. But I just played along with it, they were Barbies and Kens, this was basically out of the mind of a 6 year old who adored their dolls, of course it was gonna be a little weird. It was nice too, though. (Nobody kill me, it's an opinion).

BUT EVERYTHING CHANGED ONCE SHE WENT TO "WEIRD BARBIE'S" HOUSE. I loved the entire scene, it was hilarious.

AND THEN THE BARBIES SENDING STEREOTYPICAL BARBIE OFF TO THE REAL WORLD WAS SUPER FUNNY TOO. I really think the humour in this movie was handled very very very well, alright? Like it was on point.

Now obviously Ken and Barbie in the real world was a wonderful treat too. I LOVED the montage where Barbie's in the park looking for her human. I also loved how her emotions sort of mirrored those of some of the people in the park. When she looked at that sad person, she was sad. When she looked at some kids enjoying themselves, she was happy too. It played on the symbolism of Barbie's emotions being closely connected to the emotions of her human (kinda).

And of course, I loved Sasha- I thought her dynamics with her friends and her initial thoughts/interaction with Barbie were very interesting because SHE'S the one who really opens Barbie's eyes and shows her that no, Barbie didn't fix everything in the real world, that there were many ideals that she actually imposed on women despite being made for the exact opposite purpose initially.

ALRIGHT WHEN WE FOUND OUT THAT THE MEMORIES BARBIE WITNESSED WERE ACTUALLY SASHA'S MUM GLORIA'S MEMORIES, I WAS BLOWN AWAY. I WAS NOT IN ANY MANNER EXPECTING THAT. LIKE AT ALL.

Alright, a little diversion from Barbie to discuss Ken during the same time. Ken discovering the patriarchy was a little annoying for me (I guess because I had slightly different expectations from his character initially but yeah)- BUT I VIVIDLY REMEMBER SITTING ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT AND GOING "KEN DON'T TAKE IT BACK TO BARBIE LAND DON'T" but I'll level with you, him taking the patriarchy back to Barbie Land was hilarious too. And the moment we got to see a patriarchy-filled Barbie Land, turned Kendom Land, I was kind of amazed, really. It was pretty funny ngl. (Also I forgot to mention, the WAY he discovered the patriarchy was super funny as well- because like horses???? and mount rushmore????? that couple seconds of the scene pausing on sylvester stalone in bandanas and minks?????? top tier comedy, best way to discover the patriarchy tbh.

OK BACK TO BARBIE.

SHE WENT TO MATTEL????? PULLED A BOSS MOVE BY FOOLING AN ENTIRE ASS BOARD OF DIRECTORS INTO THINKING SHE WAS GOING TO CHECK HER HAIR AND THEN RAN FOR IT?????? ICONIC TBH.

Also Ruth Handler. Yes. Yes. YES.

Ok, so I loved Stereotypical Barbie, Gloria, and Sasha all travelling to Barbie World (Watching Sasha's dad using duolingo was another stroke of comedic genius lmfao- from his total minute or something of screentime, I feel that he's the kind of person who believes in the duolingo threats ok?). I ALSO LOVED THE MATTEL CEO AND HIS ENTIRE BOARD TRAVELLING TO BARBIE LAND, ONCE AGAIN, TOP TIER COMEDY- THEM JUST BEING ONE LONG LINE ACROSS THE SCREEN WHILE BICYCLING WAS AMAZING!!!!!

Yes, so Barbie Land Kendom Land. That's what Barbie, Gloria, and Sasha come (back, for Barbie) to.

It was kind of interesting to see how quickly the Kens in Barbie Land adopted the patriarchy. Because though it would've taken some time getting there, Barbie, Gloria, and Sasha couldn't have taken more than a couple hours, right?

Anyway. Barbie noticed things had changed immediately (Barbies cheering on the Kens playing volleyball instead of the normal way it used to be, for example).

Either way, I think Ken's outburst when Barbie returned to her Dreamhouse was VERY telling. Like it sort of showed us the root problem that needed to be fixed (which happened towards the end of the movie). Ken doesn't know who he is without Barbie. ("But it's not just Ken. It's Barbie and Ken" - Ryan Gosling as Ken, Barbie 2023). He was just super miffed about it all, and I think the way it played out was interesting.

OK NOW DEPRESSION BARBIE MOMENT!!!!!!

Yeah, I love how Weird Barbie had had a bit of a glow up and was now looking like some badass kind of rebel fighter or something. That was cool. Plus how she already had her little ragtag team of other rebel Barbies.

Either way, now we switch to Gloria and Sasha. They leave after Barbie falls over in depression and gives up.

At this point Sasha's the one saying stuff like, "She doesn't deserve you mom." Which I think was wonderful, because she's protective of her mother, proving that she doesn't actually hate her. I liked that.

And then they're going back to the real world, driving. Sasha starts singing along with Gloria (though reluctantly, BUT IT STILL COUNTS).

And then, Allan (my love) shows up.

His fight scene against all those construction worker Kens was study in perfection, thank you. (Plus, the fact that the Kens were building a vertical wall. Like.).

Anyway, after their car flipped, Sasha ended up driving. And though it probably meant nothing- I couldn't help but thinking that "damn the moment they switched seats, they switched attitudes, because Gloria wanted to leave, but Sasha was now the one insisting they go save Barbie.

ANYWAY. Cut to them finding Barbie in Weird Barbie's house. (Sugar's Daddy Ken and Magic Earring Ken living in Weird Barbie's house!!!!!!) (Also, the 'Growing Up Skipper' traumatised me all over again (first time was when my brother and I'd watched the Barbie episode from the show The Toys That Made Us on Netflix)).

OK. OK. GLORIA'S SPEECH. WAS A MASTERPIECE. ALRIGHT? LIKE HEARING SOMEONE SAY ALL THOSE THINGS? THE NARRATOR'S INTERJECTION WITH THE MARGOT ROBBIE COMMENT DURING SUCH A TOUCHING MOMENT????? THAT WAS INSANE. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. IT WAS SO SO SO WELL DONE.

AND THEN THEY ALL FORMED A TEAM TO FIGHT THE KENTRIARCHY (Ken Patriarchy; it has a lot of horses involved) - AGAIN, TOP TIER COMEDY HONESTLY.

Ok, don't even get me started on the whole Ken battle and then dance battle thing. THAT WAS SO AMAZING AND FUNNY I WAS LOSING MY MIND IN THE THEATRE. LITERALLY. I'M JUST KEN IS A LYRICAL AND MUSICAL MASTERPIECE. "I'M JUST KEN, ANYWHERE ELSE I'D BE A TEN, AM I DESTINED TO LIVE AND DIE A LIFE OF BLOND FLAGILITY?????"

First of all, the Kens 'riding in' on their 'horses' was hilarious. It even sounded like real galloping.

Second of all, the Ken and Barbie break-up-ish scene. Was GOLD. Because BARBIE TELLS HIM TO FIGURE OUT WHO HE IS????? TELLS HIM THAT HE DOESN'T NEED HER WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY TELLING HERSELF THE SAME THING????? (Apologies, others explain it better, but like) THE SCENE'S IMPORTANCE???????? I WAS BLOWN AWAY. Tbh, I'd wanted a slight romance between them- BUT THE WAY IT WAS HANDLED TURNED OUT BETTER THAN ANYTHING I COULD'VE IMAGINED?????????

Ugh. And then Barbie turning human. I nearly cried during the montage. Like, nearly. It was so touching. PLUS- RUTH HANDLER BEING THE ONE TO TAKE HER AND SHOW HER????? INSANE. (Also, I must say, I adored the Ruth Handler jokes after tax evasion haha).

Either way, Barbie deciding to become human despite everything she'd seen- was beautiful, honestly. Didn't expect it (I didn't expect anything that happened, tbh) and initially went "what why no" but then I realised that no, this is amazing and yes.

The ending scene, the gynecologist one- I thought it was funny, my mother didn't.

LONG STORY SHORT, this is a masterpiece of a movie and I really think everyone should watch it. Genuinely, you will walk out of that hall having at least a couple of your beliefs and values shifted.

Also, a quote (not word for word) from my mother: "How'd she (Midge) get pregnant if they don't have sex organs???? 🤨🤨🤨"

[ai-yo]

The 00′s doll wars were some fierce shit. MGA Bratz vs Mattel Barbie

so for 42 or so years Barbie was that bitch in the fashion doll world no one could come for her. There were like other fashion dolls lines that came out like Polly Pocket and the UK’s Sindy doll and she did okay but she wasn’t touching Barbie.

Then in 2001 came the Bratz Dolls

Bratz were these big eyed big lipped ethnic dolls that really shook the table and they became super popular. Like I remember if you had a Bratz doll back in the day you were really that girl, everyone had a Barbie but like if you had a Brat my god wow. Princess Barbie’s dream house was boring now. 

I remember there was some people and parents that didn’t like them either and would compare them to Barbie’s supposed “wholesomeness” people said the Bratz dolls were trashy looking, they were low rent, people called them “hoodrat dolls” “ghetto” I remember someone called them “hooker dolls” because they wore leopard print and had feather boas

As if Barbie never had feather boas either or wore leopard print

This always made me laugh because as a child that loved doing research projects I found out that Barbie came from the German Bild Lilli doll and was like a sexy goldigger character.

So yeah. Since Bratz was coming for Barbie, Mattel was like fuck it and released  dolls that looked quite similar with their big eyes and big lips and funky clothes MyScene 

I don’t know how well they did in toy sales but we all were on that my scene website. But because Bratz were more ethnic and down, with the urban hip hop flava. Mattel was like “we can be down too, we can get with the hippity hop we got bling bling”

Then 2003 they came out with Flavas. I wonder how much Craig David got paid

I suggest going to youtube to see the old interviews with the ceos of Barbie and Bratz because these men are proper being shady with each other it’s funny

Bratz: That old bitch needs to sit down and retire.

Barbie: Bitch you will never be glamour 

I think Barbie ended up winning the war because Mattel refused to merge with MGA so yeah...

Also shout out to Diva Starz that came out in 2000 before Bratz I don’t know the story on whether this was pushed out to compete with Bratz or if a former Mattel worker took this design and perfected when they went to MGA but I’m sure it came up during the many lawsuits that happened between MGA and Mattel

The only think I remember about Diva starz was that MC Lyte voiced the Black one Tia

[susaanrogers]

Women in business 2018: the march goes on

It’s 2018. You would think we’d have overcome gender inequality by now. Yet we are still fighting hard to make a more gender equal world for all of us, and although steps forward are being made there’s still a long road ahead. In fact, the World Economic Forum has recently reported that the gender gap is widening.

On International Women’s Day, March 8, we feel it’s important to shine a light on the reality of the challenges that female entrepreneurs are facing. To that end, we surveyed our community of entrepreneurs to find out more.

We also want to celebrate the progress that continues to be made, so we collected the success stories of some of the amazing female entrepreneurs that we have here in our network and community. Join us as we celebrate the successful women of today and #PressforProgress for a new generation of entrepreneurs!

We surveyed both male and female entrepreneurs and here’s what we found —

This year, in our second annual poll to our entrepreneur community, we found that men and women are approaching their business in many of the same ways. But despite this, the gender gap still exists for women when it comes to raising capital for their business. From our survey of over 3,000 entrepreneurs from around the world our data showed that men are almost twice as likely to raise at least $100K or more in funding than women.

Here are some of the insights from our survey that we found most powerful:

The funding gap remains

Men are almost TWICE as likely as women to raise at least $100k in funding: 28% of men raised $100k or more to start their own business, compared to 15% of women.

Although the overall numbers are up from last year’s survey, when the numbers were 12% and 6% respectively, the gap between men and women hasn’t improved.

Female-led companies tend to be smaller and run from the home

Men are TWICE as likely as women to have more than two employees (53% of men compared to 32% of women).

Women are more likely to run businesses out of their homes (68% versus 48%).

Motivations differ when it comes to reasons for starting a business

Women are more likely to cite “passion for or expertise in an area” (35% of women versus 29% of men) or “freedom / flexible schedule.”

Men are more likely to say that they’ve “always wanted to be an entrepreneur.”

There are also a lot of commonalities

Both men and women are starting their businesses across the same industries.

Men and women experience the same amount of guilt when it comes to time spent on their business versus time with their family.

Male and female entrepreneurs tend to cite the same fears.

The biggest inequality, however, is in the funding gap between male and female entrepreneurs. So why are women getting less funding than men?

One reason lies in the language used to describe male and female entrepreneurs behind closed doors at those all-important venture capital decision-making meetings. Female entrepreneurs have been found to be labelled with stereotypical qualities (“weak”, “worried”, “too cautious”) that are opposite to those considered important for an entrepreneur, while male entrepreneurs benefit from stereotypes that reinforce their entrepreneurial potential (“arrogant”, “aggressive”, “very driven”).

Men and women are also asked different questions, with female entrepreneurs getting questions around the potential for losses and male entrepreneurs tending to get questions around potential gains.

What effects could closing the funding gap have?

Whatever the reasons, it’s clear that this is an area where we need to #PressforProgress. Because closing this gap could have significant effects: The UK government has reported that boosting female entrepreneurship could deliver as much as £180 billion ($250 million) to the UK economy.

Studies in the US have also shown that women-led companies perform twice as well as those led by men and that female-founded companies create more than 60 percent more value for investors than those founded by men. Having more women entrepreneurs is also a vital part of tackling the pay gap and the funding gap that we are seeing between men and women.

Doing our part at 99designs

Our CEO, Patrick Llewellyn, celebrates our $200M Designer earnings milestone at the 99designs Melbourne HQ with our awesome team.

Here at 99designs, we are doing our best to create equal opportunities for women and men alike.

Throughout our ten-year history, 99designs has cultivated a global culture where women from around the world can develop their futures on an equal footing. The internal team has a female-to-male staff ratio of 54% female to 46% male and Pam Webber does a fabulous job as Chief Marketing and Operations Officer. We have mums at every level across the business and our European team in Berlin is entirely female-led.  Across our 120+ team, 48% of our total management is female, but we realize that there is still a lot of work to be done to get us where we want to be.

And of course we are committed to giving a voice to female entrepreneurs and helping men and women alike build the businesses of the future where there are equal opportunities. That’s why it’s important to know that there is advice out there to support female entrepreneurs—and we’re here to spread the word!

Advice and inspiration from amazing female entrepreneurs —

Women are founding and creating amazing things; from communities for women in IoT and wearable tech to online insurance communities, branding and design firms and social enterprises to help refugee women find work. There’s so much diversity of expertise and they’re steering their enterprises with incredible business acumen. They have vision. In fact, we know a lot of them at 99designs! So we invited them to share their stories.

Read on for advice from just some of our remarkable female entrepreneur friends and clients as they share their stories and how they believe that women in business can make bigger leaps forward in 2018.

  Jennifer Fitzgerald, Policygenius

Jennifer Fitzgerald is the CEO and co-founder of Policygenius.

Jennifer Fitzgerald runs a business called Policygenius, which is an online marketplace that helps consumers shop for and buy insurance.

“As a woman in business, I am most proud of building a company from the ground up that now employs 130 talented and motivated people who could all be working elsewhere, but choose to work at Policygenius.”

“When I look back at my career so far, I laugh about the early days of my company, when it was just me and my cofounder, sitting at a kitchen table, trying to figure out how to build a company from just an idea.”

Real-time advice from fellow entrepreneurs is better than any business book you can read!

- @jenlfitzgerald, CEO and co-founder of @Policygenius

“My number one piece of advice for women entrepreneurs is to find someone, preferably multiple people, who’ve taken the path you’re on, and are about 6-12 months ahead of you. They’ll have the best and most relevant advice for the challenges you’re facing today. Real-time advice from fellow entrepreneurs is better than any business book you can read!”

Marcie Carson, MIXT Studio

Marcie Carson is the Founder and Creative Director of MIXT Studio.

Marcie Carson is the founding Creative Director for two companies. In 1995 she started a graphic design firm called IE Design + Communications that grew to be one of the leading agencies on the West Coast of the US, garnering hundreds of design awards for clients like BMW, Mattel, Getty, UCLA, and The Academy Awards. Marcie left the firm in 2012 to launch a line of stationery and gift goods called MIXT Studio. MIXT products can be found in over 300 stores across the US.

“I smile that I ended up here. I jokingly refer to myself as ‘the bag lady’. I started MIXT Studio as a line of greeting cards and gift wrap, but had an idea for a Reusable Wine Bag. In order to be reusable, the bag couldn’t be made of wood pulp paper. I discovered Tyvek (which is used on walls as a moisture barrier in construction) and began using it for the wine bags. People loved them! They were carried at Whole Foods, The Container Store and Crate & Barrel. Since the Tyvek is water-resistant, requests came in for beach totes and gym bags. Now MIXT is 90% bags and totes… but I still love the paper goods.”

You have to be prepared for criticism and disappointments, but forget your ego and face these challenges head on.

- Marcie Carson, founder and Creative Director of @MIXTStudio

“I have two pieces of advice for female entrepreneurs:

1. Have thick skin. If you’re a strong, successful woman, many people will label you as a ‘bitch’ or a ‘go-getter’, while a man is just ‘successful’. You have to be prepared for criticism and disappointments, but forget your ego and face these challenges head on. Make thoughtful decisions that will keep you on track. And that leads to my second piece of advice…

2. Have a vision of what you want your life to look like. I think women business leaders are at a distinct disadvantage for so many reasons, particularly if they want a family. Working motherhood is an ongoing debate, that’s changing a lot now due to technology, but when I had my children it was very difficult to be a working mom. I left my agency and started MIXT Studio so that I could have more time with my kids. I made radical changes in my career to make my vision a reality—and it’s working!”

Marija Butkovic, Women of Wearables

Marija Butkovic is the Founder and CEO of Women of Wearables. Photo credit: Kornelije Sajler.

Marija Butkovic runs a business called Women of Wearables, which is a global organisation that supports and connects women in wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, health tech, VR and AR.

“Before I started my business, I was terrified of quitting my day job. I was a corporate lawyer and had a law degree, so it was very scary for me to change my career and start doing something completely different. But I decided to give it a go and today, four years after getting into the world of tech and marketing, I wouldn’t go back. I love what I do!”

“Fighting imposter syndrome in a male-dominated world of technology wasn’t easy. Odds are against you, but this was exactly what gave me courage. I knew I could always go back to being a lawyer, but I just wanted to have my own business and my own entrepreneurial freedom.”

A lot of entrepreneurs give up too soon. There is no overnight success. You have to work hard and be consistent in what you want to achieve.

- @MarijaButkovic, founder and CEO of @Women_Wearables

“My number one piece of advice if you want to make progress this year as an entrepreneur is to believe in yourself and stay focused. A lot of entrepreneurs give up too soon. There is no overnight success. You have to work hard and be consistent in what you want to achieve. For us at Women of Wearables creating great content in a form of a blog posts and interviews, as well as growing our partners network was the key to growth. Now we have local chapters in Europe, USA and Asia, in less than a year. I’m so proud of that achievement!”

Mauria Finley, Allume

Mauria Finley is the Founder and CEO of Allume.

Mauria Finley runs a business called Allume, which is an on-demand personal shopping service that matches women with experienced stylists who help them find clothing and accessories that fit their body, budget and style. Allume’s personal shoppers talk directly with customers and shop the entire internet to find the perfect items. Customers choose what to order, and prices are never marked up.

“When I look back on my career, I’m so struck by how lucky I’ve been. I grew up pretty poor, in a small town. I didn’t even realize that someone like me could study computer science or become a product manager or start their own company. I feel incredibly lucky that I landed at Stanford, got to work at amazing companies, and most importantly, have a job that gives me great joy.”

Don’t be afraid to be bold. The day to day of execution is a lot of work and detail, but it’s so important to paint a big vision of where you are going—for yourself, your team, and your investors.

- Mauria Finley, founder and CEO of @allumestyle

“First, I’d pick a big market. It’s super hard to build a meaningful company. You are going to do a lot of work so pick a big problem. Second, don’t be afraid to be bold. The day to day of execution is a lot of work and detail, but it’s so important to paint a big vision of where you are going—for yourself, your team, and your investors. I think growth is the #1 thing to focus on early in your career. The best way to grow is to tackle really hard projects, get feedback on how your work performed, and repeat the cycle on the next hard project. Thus, I think the best way to empower the next generation of female workers is to give them stretch projects.”

Sneh Jani, Bread and Roses

Bread & Roses is a social enterprise addressing the social and financial isolation faced by refugee women in London as a consequence of unemployment.

Sneh Jani is the Co-founder of social enterprise florist, Bread and Roses. Photo credit: Lily Bertrand-Webb.

“Liv and I met on a fellowship in social innovation called Year Here. One of the phrases they have coined is ‘entreprelearning’, which means basically learning as you go. This is what we did. We arranged lots of meetings with organisations working with refugee women to better understand their work and the challenges they were facing, got a floristry tutorial from a friend and then recruited an amazing lead florist and have built a network of trusted advisors to support us along the way!”

My #1 piece of advice to help women entrepreneurs to make progress in 2018? Back yourself.

- @SnehJani, Co-founder of @breadandroses_

“Right at the beginning when Liv and I started Bread & Roses, we were running around like headless chickens the whole time, ‘flogging our flowers’ as we affectionately refer to it as. There was one particularly cold and miserable evening in the first few months and we were delivering flowers to a supper club in Clapton. It was absolutely chucking it down, we were soaked and just about managing to shelter the arrangements as we pegged it from the bus stop to the restaurant. It always makes me smile when I think about it—that’s really how we are still doing Bread & Roses, sheer determination and stubbornness!”

“My #1 piece of advice to help women entrepreneurs to make progress in 2018? Back yourself.”

Meryl Draper, Quirk Creative

Meryl Draper is the CEO of Quirk Creative.

Meryl Draper runs Quirk Creative, which is a creative advertising agency specialized in video-based campaigns for social, digital and TV.

I read recently that owning your business is the ultimate freedom. I couldn’t agree more.

- @MerylDraper, CEO of Quirk Creative

“As a woman in business, I’m most proud so far of being my own boss. I read recently that owning your business is the ultimate freedom. I couldn’t agree more.”

“My number one piece of advice if you want to make progress this year as an entrepreneur is … make it official. If you’re mulling an idea in your head, just get your company officially registered (there are cheap and fast options, like LegalZoom). Making your company official will help you to start taking your dream seriously and move you towards doing it full time.”

Sallee Poinsette-Nash, multi-passionate entrepreneur

Sallee Poinsette-Nash is a multi-passionate entrepreneur.

Sallee Poinsette-Nash is a multi-passionate entrepreneur who works as a brand builder, designer and speaker. She co-hosts a weekly YouTube show called Awake Ones which aims to raise the consciousness of our planet and is in the process of building an Awake Ones Academy. Alongside all of this, she founded Tall Guides Magazine, the world’s fastest growing magazine for tall women, with community at its heart.

“As a woman in business, I’m most proud of being able to create the ripple effect. By sharing my journey, my highs and my lows, I’ve been able to create a supportive and encouraging space for women all around the world to do the same. I just created the platform, the rest is down to the power of community and that is something that never ceases to amaze me.”

DO SOMETHING. Stop talking about it, thinking about it, waiting for that perfect opportunity…

- Sallee Poinsette-Nash, @SalleeSpeaks, entrepreneur & founder of @TallGuides

“My number one piece of advice if you want make progress this year as an entrepreneur is DO SOMETHING. Stop talking about it, thinking about it, waiting for that perfect opportunity… By taking one tiny step, you’ll be closer to whatever it is you’re aiming for than you’ve ever been before. What’s the worst that can happen?!”

Emily Casey, FEMNA

Emily Casey, Co-founder of FEMNA.

Emily Casey is the co-founder of FEMNA. They create natural products for women to help them get through menstruation, PMS, fertility issues, menopause and everything in between.

“When I think about my career so far, I smile at all the absolutely crazy and totally disconnected jobs I’ve done throughout my life—from being a DJ, to running a property development company, to being a French tutor, to running marketing campaigns in Tehran, to being a yoga teacher.”

…see each fear you have as an opportunity to get through it, and you’ll only get stronger and stronger.

- Emily Casey, co-founder of FEMNA

“My only advice, if you’d like to make progress in any area of your life, is to embrace the fears that you have, get comfortable with them, and push through them—face each fear head on, see each fear you have as an opportunity to get through it, and you’ll only get stronger and stronger.”

Kelly Exeter, Swish Design

Kelly Exeter is an author and the founder of Swish Design.

Kelly Exeter is the author of four books, co-host of two podcasts and runs a boutique web and graphic design business called Swish Design.

“Going into business, my greatest fear was that I wouldn’t be able to generate as much income from my business as I did from the job I was leaving. How did I fight this fear? By reassuring myself that I had good safety nets in place.”

“When I think back about my career so far, I laugh about how I once thought that running a business would be 5-7 years of hard slog and after that point I’d have a business that just ran smoothly and never had any problems. I now know that’s not how business works. As the world and markets evolve, so too does your business have to evolve. And there will always be new problems to solve.”

The key to being able to go fast is making time to go slow.

- @kellyexeter, founder of Swish Design

“My number one piece of advice for entrepreneurs is to remember this one thing: the key to being able to go fast is making time to go slow. Going hell for leather from sun up to sun down every day is not ‘hustle’, it’s a great formula for burnout. And when you’re burnt out, you’re no good to your business. Carving out points in every day where you can slow down will help you run your business in a more sustainable fashion.”

Onwards and upwards —

We’d like to thank all the entrepreneurs who took the survey and contributed to our understanding of this important topic, as well as continue to be part of a community we’re so proud to be able to service. We’d also like to thank all our inspiring female entrepreneurs for sharing their stories and expertise.

We hope 2018 and beyond brings progress for entrepreneurs all over the world and especially for women. We’re here to provide the resources, tools and advice that you need as an entrepreneur. So now it’s up to you. Go out into the world, start that business and make that dream of yours a reality.

Feeling inspired? Spread the word and maybe embolden a budding entrepreneur among your female friends to take the leap and get building.

The post Women in business 2018: the march goes on appeared first on 99designs.