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 

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

"I had a few Max Steel dolls. One was one of my barbies' brother, and was "dating" my favourite barbie. The other was a "badguy" and had a bunch of girlfriends. One of them would always kill the other."


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

Did you ever play with imperfect dolls?

"Yes, a lot of them as my younger brother would often pull the heads off our dolls. About half our dolls either had heads that popped on and off or were super-glued on and had no necks. We played with them just as equally, just giving them back-stories as to what had happened to them."

-Scarlet, 25, Caucasian, heterosexual female from the United States 

Do you remember doing anything violent to a Barbie doll?

"My grandmother gave me ONE Barbie doll, against my parents' will. My brothers and I tore it limb from limb and tied its head to a piece of string to use as a toy for the family dog."


-Leah, 17, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Australia 

"I never asked for a Barbie. I preferred games that centred around imagination. My brothers and I would play imaginary games where we had a whole storyline going, and we'd stage sword fights, rehearsing each move so we could look 'badass' and not hurt each other."


-Leah, 17, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Australia 

Did you ever play with imperfect dolls?

"My brother would occasionally break my Barbies- it didn't matter to me, I would usually overlook the imperfections and continue on with my game."


-Linda, 15, Chinese, heterosexual female from Canada

"When my brothers and I played, I was always some strong heroine figure.. or the bad guy."


-Leah, 17, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Australia 

Did you ever cut Barbie's hair?

"I did not cut my Barbie's hair, though my best friend did to one of her Barbies. That particular one was also missing a leg (she had an older brother) and it became the Evil One in all our games. I remember being very disappointed with how tangled and matted Barbie's hair became."

- Ally, 25, Caucasian, bisexual, female from New Zealand