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 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 

How did your parents feel about Barbie?

"[M]y mom loved that [I] played with barbies its all [I] ever wanted for every present"

-Sara, 18, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Long Island, NY, USA 

Did you ever cut your Barbies hair? Why or why not? If so, how did you feel about the dolls once you did so?

"No I didn't, they were too precious of resource. And my mom would have been furious."

-Jordan, 23, Caucasian, bisexual trans-female from France

Did your Barbies have pets?

"Yes, but they weren't the Mattel pets, so the scale of them compared to Barbie was always odd. My mom still had these tiny dolls from when she was younger and I used their pets. I also used old Fisher Price farm animals as pets."


-Maureen, 20, Caucasian, gay female from Oregon, USA

How often did you play with your Barbies in family scenarios? Were families always made up of a mother, father and children? If not, what did families consist of?

"Quite often, though they would be a large mix of family members - not all families would have both parents etc. Most often, it'd be mums with children (I never quite understood how Skipper, Stacie etc were meant to be her sisters... I always thought of Barbie as much older than them and more their mother/aunt)"

-Helen, 21, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Essex, England

Do you still have any of your Barbies?

"No. I had Barbies as a child, much to my mother's dismay. I got rid of them years ago."


-Anna, 33, Caucasian, heterosexual female from the USA

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

"I had a few Ken dolls. Gender roles were pretty much smashed. I had stay-at-home-moms, but I also had stay-at-home-dads. I didn't really have any gender roles besides clothing belonging to one gender or another."


-Denise, 14, Caucasian, pansexual female from the US

How did your parents feel about Barbie?

"Don't have a dad, mom thought they were wonderful because they kept me occupied for hours. I adored my Barbies and my mom neither encouraged nor discouraged my play with them. She was happy as long as I was..."


-Louella, 16, Multiracial (Caucasian/Hispanic), questioning female from Berkeley, CA, USA

What occupation did your favorite Barbie doll have?

"One of them was a vet but usually they were just full-time mothers."


-Tiffany, 23, Caucasian, heterosexual female from Britain

Did you ever cut Barbie's hair?

"One of my moms old dolls had short hair (which she'd cut when she was younger). In my Barbie world the others would beat her up. I was probably making up for being bullied myself."


-Carly, 24, Caucasian, bisexual, female from the UK