Barbie's "Fat Ankles"? 9 of the Doll's Most Embarrassing Controversies

By Wendy Norris, RH Reality Check. Posted October 13, 2009.

The much-maligned doll with the improbable anatomical dimensions has a new problem: Barbie's got cankles.

Marking the doll's 50th anniversary with a series of couture-inspired fashion, luxury shoe and handbag designer Christian Louboutin's restyled Barbie will undergo the ultimate plastic surgery -- slimmer ankles to accentuate the custom-made stiletto kicks for her freakishly small feet.

"He found her ankles were too fat," a Louboutin spokeswoman told WWD.

This latest controversy comes as Barbie manufacturer Mattel recently introduced a new African-American-styled doll with fuller lips, wider noses and a hair straightening kit because beauty apparently can't be obtained without smooth tresses.

Sadly, these body image and racial gaffes join a long line of Barbie's culturally tin-eared controversies:

1959: "Plantation Belle Barbie" donned a Civil War-era gown as a slave-owning southerner during the height of the American civil rights movement.

1965: "Sleepy Time Gal" decked out in pink pajamas came equipped with a scale pegged to 110-lbs and a dieting book that reportedly had one page of advice: "Don't eat."

1975: Barbie's little sister sprouted breasts as "Growing Up Skipper" by spinning a dial embedded in her back as if that solely defines maturity.

1985: "Heart Family Midge" revealed a secret compartment in her belly that sports a fully-formed fetus igniting a firestorm for misinforming children about childbirth.

1992: "Teen Talk Barbie" declares "math class is tough" reinforcing the bone-headed notion that girls aren't predisposed to understand facts and figures.

1997: In a fit of jaw-dropping product placement, "Oreo Barbie" was a white-featured black doll paired with the popular chocolate cookie and, as some critics charged, was a subtle nod to the racial slur to "act white."

2002: Preggers Midge is restyled as a teenager fueling outrage by parents and causing stores to pull the doll from its shelves for glamorizing teen pregnancy.

2009: "Totally Stylin' Barbie" gets a "Ken" tattoo on her lower back, derisively referred to as a "tramp stamp," though Mattel inexplicably announced five years earlier in 2004 that the long-time pair had broken up but remained friends.

It would be easy to dismiss the shockingly out of touch Barbie culture as an anachronism of a bygone era but as we reported Monday the influence of toys on small children's adoption of gender stereotypes is as strong as ever.

Fortunately, some teen-aged girls aren't buying it.

The New York Daily News reports the that the new black Barbie dolls are getting mixed reviews.

Many of the city girls liked the dolls -- Grace, Kara and Trichelle -- but some felt the Mattel toy company went too far with the rap-inspired details.

"Not all black people like hip hop," said Barbara Mootoo, 15, of Manhattan, looking at Kara's silver rope chain necklace. "They gave her a chain like a 50Cent video."

Tyaine Danclaire, 15, of the Bronx, liked Trichelle's straight, long hair because it looked like "a weave," but she thought the idea "was sorta racist."

"They say black girls are ghetto with the gold earrings, with the big bling; I don't agree with that," she said

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