What occupation did your favorite Barbie doll have?

"From what I remember my Barbies never had a job, they were always house wives with kids and about 14 pets. Ken was the bread winner, but I do recall one or two Barbies being the teacher or a vet, but they never had families"


-Yasmin, 22, Caucasian, heterosexual female from England 

Did you ever cut Barbie's hair?

"Yes, how cruel. I had this one Barbie with beautiful long black hair down to her knees, I gave her a bob! I think I half thought it would grow back! It never did, and I was riddled with guilt."


-Yasmin, 22, Caucasian, heterosexual female from England 

When did you stop playing with Barbies? Why did you stop?

"Honestly I was 15, I stopped because I naturally grew out of it. I used to get worried thinking I was the only one who played Barbies up until that age, maybe I was. I suppose I was becoming an adult so just gradually stopped."


-Yasmin, 22, Caucasian, heterosexual female from England

Has playing Barbies as a child affected who you are today?

"I have realised that I am pretty much the same now as I was as a child. Without Barbies to play with I may have been outdoors a lot more and could of been more active now as an adult, but I feel playing with Barbies allowed me to see what life would be like as an adult. As we all viewed Barbie as an adult, right?"


-Yasmin, 22, Caucasian, heterosexual female from England 

How did other people influence the way you played Barbies?

"I think my best friend at the time influenced the way I played with my Barbies all the time. She was very out going and loved dancing and horse riding, I liked to play indoors or look for insects in the garden. She had a lot of activity Barbies were mine were more homely. If anything she introduced me to Barbie camping."


-Yasmin, 22, Caucasian, heterosexual female from England

Do you still have any of your Barbies?

"Yes I have the majority of my dolls left. I buy the odd one whenever I can and I'd love to still be able to play with them, but I don't have time and I think I'd question my sanity a little."


-Yasmin, 22, Caucasian, heterosexual female from England

Would you buy Barbies for your children?

"[I]t depends on the child, if my child wanted a Barbie doll then I'd have no hesitation to go out and buy one."


-Yasmin, 22, Caucasian, heterosexual female from England 

What occupation did your favorite Barbie doll have?

"My favorite Barbie doll was a Stacy, so she was a student."


-Rose, 15, Caucasian, questioning female from the USA 

What kind of Barbie accessories did you own?

"My accessories were mostly clothes and a few tid bits of other things, a lot of my stuff was third party or hand made. My favourite Barbie accessories were the phones, laptops, spy equipment, game boys, etc. When we played pokemon or some secrete agent spy game, we used these electronic equipment however we pleased."


-Sarah, 20, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Boston, MA, USA 

Do you think Barbie is a good role model for children?

"It depends on the child's personality and experiences. I believe the child would make Barbie into whatever character he/she wishes. After all she is only a doll."


-Yasmin, 22, Caucasian, heterosexual female from England 

Did you ever wish to look like Barbie?

"No, that was never an issue to me. I still have a hard time believing that people want to be the models in magazines or they wanted to be barbie. In my house, we weren't taught that looks get you far. We never owned a weight scale, weight was never an issue. My parents looked after our individuality, something I think we also gained through playing various tales and adventures with our dolls."


-Sarah, 20, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Boston, USA

Did you ever cut Barbie's hair?

"I myself have only cut my Barbies' hair when it would get pulled out a little bit and look strange. I never gave them full-on haircuts, persay."


-Rose, 15, Caucasian, questioning female from the USA 

Do you remember doing anything violent to a Barbie doll?

"I never did anything violent to barbies when I was a kid, I loved my barbies and treated them very well, washing and combing their hair. I always put them away neatly. I did, however, screw up a doll for an art project using razor blades, needles, fire etc."


-Sarah, 20, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Boston, MA, USA 

When did you stop playing Barbies? Why did you stop?

"I stopped playing with Barbies around 4th or 5th grade. My friend who I usually played with at that time "grew out" of playing Barbies, so we just generally stopped."


-Rose, 15, Caucasian, questioning female from the USA 

Was there any particular Barbie you asked for specifically?

"The only doll I remember asking for specifically was the Slumber party Janet. I didn't get slumber party Janet, but I did get Skateboard Janet. I liked Slumber part Janet because it came with a Tigger slumber set."


-Sarah, 20, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Boston, MA, USA 

Has playing Barbies as a child affected who you are today?

"I think it allowed me to explore the type of family life I would like when I'm older."


-Rose, 15, Caucasian, questioning female from the USA 

How often did you play with your Barbies in family scenarios?

"There was probably at least one family with a 'married' mother, father, children. At that time, I was familiar with divorce, single parents, and single parents with boyfriends/girlfriends. The only type of family I didn't really do was gay, since I was unfamiliar with that yet, and step families."


-Sarah, 20, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Boston, MA, USA 

How did other people influence the way you played Barbies?

"I played with 2 of my friends-- one was a closer friend, and I tried out some of my more unique scenarios with her (gay parents, disabled parents, etc.) with her. With my other friend, we mainly played historical stories."


-Rose, 15, Caucasian, questioning female from the USA

Did you have Ken dolls? How did male dolls act in relation to your female dolls?

"I never owned a Ken doll, but my brother had GI type dolls. I would steal them from him so that I could use them. Often times, I would dress the girls up in the military gear that they had. For the most part, I believe they had all equal roles. My parents have an equal partnership of cleaning up, taking care of us, and cooking at the time so I believe that rubbed off on us. Depending on the game, however, if it was something to do with fighting, the male dolls always lost in a physical fight."


-Sarah, 20, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Boston, MA, USA 

Would you buy Barbies for your children?

"I definitely would. They were a huge part of my childhood and exploration."


-Rose, 15, Caucasian, questioning female from the USA

How did your parents feel about Barbie?

"My parents bought me second hand barbies. My mum encouraged it by making us clay food which she then cooked so that it turned hard. They liked that my sister and I made things when we needed them, instead of making them buy us stuff. They always made us look at the alternatives of barbie for the houses, clothes, etc since actual barbie accessories and stuff were expensive and mostly cheap, breakable plastic. My mum was sort of upset when I stopped playing with them since I think she also liked making the things with us."


-Sarah, 20, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Boston, MA, USA 

Do you think Barbie is a good role model for children?

"While I don't agree with how "perfect" Barbies are made to be, I think they are a really useful tool for children to practice and imagine family situations and stories."


-Rose, 15, Caucasian, questioning female from the USA 

Did you ever play with imperfect dolls?

"I never played with imperfect dolls because I took extremely good care of my dolls. The only time I had an issue with that is when a friend of mine, out of jealousy, chewed the feet off of one of my dolls. I swapped our matching dolls (besides the feet) so that I had the one with the good feet."


-Sarah, 20, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Boston, MA, USA 

What occupation did your favorite Barbie doll have?

"She was a talk-show host."


-Monica, 18, African-American, heterosexual female from the USA 

Did you ever cut Barbie's hair?

"Yes, I wanted her to have a new look. After it was cut, however, I no longer liked the way she looked."


-Monica, African-American, heterosexual female from the USA 

When did you stop playing with Barbies? Why did you stop?

"I was 11, and I stopped because the other girls at school stopped."


-Monica, 18, African-American, heterosexual female from the USA 

What occupation did your favorite Barbie doll have?

"Fashion Model" 


-Glady, 17, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Indonesia 

How did other people influence the way you played Barbies?

"Commercials generally gave me the idea that I should be playing something similar to "house" with them, but other than that I did what I wanted."


-Monica, 18, African-American, heterosexual female from the USA 

Did you ever cut Barbie's hair?

"Yes because I thought it would look more fashionable. I liked her the best."


-Glady, 17, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Indonesia 

Hello Readers!

I'm actually not sure if this blog has any regular readers as of yet, but on the off chance that it does, I would like to make an announcement!


I'm looking for new questions for The Barbie Interviews surveys, as well as any ideas that might make this blog better, more interesting as well as any other suggestions you might have!


I know I've been getting behind on my updates recently, but I have been getting through finals. Up until now this blog has been a one-person project, but I would be really interested in talking to people who would like to donate their free time to get involved with the project. If anyone is interested please e-mail me and we'll discuss what that would entail.


E-mail all questions and comments to thebarbieinterviews@gmail.com

Do you think Barbie is a good role model for children?

"I don't think toys can be role models period, so no."


-Monica, 18, African- American, heterosexual female from the USA

"My father put all of my Barbies into the trash when I was 7, because I told him I was going to stop eating to look like her."


-Glady, 17, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Indonesia 

Did you ever cut Barbie's hair?

"duh- of course!!!! that slut needed a new fresh look. if they made barbies with aqua mohawks, i wouldn't need to. and- i feel great about it. snip snip. and i do great hair to this day- on barbie and humans!"


-Shelley, 36, Caucasian, bisexual female from the USA 

Did you ever play with imperfect dolls?

"Yes, I did. I would play normally with the ones that weren't too badly damaged, but the ones with bad hair were always wearing hats. I used the ones without heads as mannequins for my barbie clothes."


-Helena, 15, Persian, heterosexual female from Toronto, Canada 

Has playing Barbies as a child affected who you are today?

"Totally. it contributed to my feministic views. i remember how i used her to act out my sexual and lifestyle fantasies as a kid, and i still have the same inclinations to this day. another thing- we were poor growing up. i had a couple barbies, and no ken. ken was more expensive. so my barbies were lezzing it out in the sink i referred to as the "hot-tub." i wouldn't mind being in a human version of that playtime to this day..."


-Shelly, 36, Caucasian, bisexual female from the USA 

What kind of Barbie accessories did you own?

"I had a castle and a house, and all of the furniture for them. I liked the castle better because my barbies wouldn't quite fit into the house."


-Helena, 15, Persian, heterosexual female from Toronto, Canada 

Did you ever wish to look like Barbie?

"I would always grow my hair out to look like barbie. I wanted to have a body like hers when I grew up, and at one point, for a few months, I wanted blonde hair and blue eyes."


-Helena, 15, Persian, heterosexual female from Toronto, Canada

Did you ever play with imperfect dolls?

"I had one Barbie with a missing hand, and a few with heads that had a tendency to pop off. The heads we either ignored or turned into a morbid running joke. The one with the hand was just disabled, but was treated the same as any other Barbie, except she never picked anything up with that hand."


-Deborah, 21, Caucasian, pansexual female from the USA 

How often did you play with your Barbies in family scenarios?

"The only families my barbies had were siblings. My parents were divorced, and I didn't know or like the portrait of a "normal" family."


-Helena, 15, Persian, heterosexual female from Toronto, Canada

What kind of Barbie accessories did you own?

"I had all the shoes and purses and everything, but what I really fixated on were the cell phones. That and a pair of hiking boots, because they actually stayed on their feet."


-Deborah, 21, Caucasian, pansexual female from the USA 

"[M]y favourite Barbie was the one that looked the most like me. She had long brown curly hair and slightly darker skin than the rest. I still have her, in nearly perfect condition."


-Helena, 15, Persian, heterosexual female from Toronto, Canada

Did you ever wish to look like Barbie?

"I sometimes wished I could grow my hair as long as one of my Hispanic Barbies. There was also one Barbie with about 8 piercings and blonde, black and blue hair I loved. I just thought it was a really cool look."


-Deborah, 21, Caucasian, pansexual female from the USA 

Do you remember doing anything violent to a Barbie doll?

"Not really. I was Toy Story all over, I treated all inanimate objects like they were real."


-Deborah, 21, Caucasian, pansexual female from the USA 

What kind of Barbie accessories did you own?

"I didn't have many accessories, it was mostly just extra outfits. But I did have the Barbie tour bus, so I guess that would be my favorite."


-Eva, 20, Caucasian, heterosexual female from South Carolina, USA