What kind of Barbie accessories did you own?

"I had a lot of clothes, shoes, and brushes. I had a supermarket, too. But I played with that myself; I didn't have Barbies play. I wasn't interested in cars or the Dream House or stuff like that. I made all of my Barbie houses. The majority of my play consisted of fabricating their environment. I liked to dress them up, make their homes, imagine what kind of person they were. But I didn't act out scenes. Once I'd exhausted my imagined life for them-- I was done. I had to start over or do something else."


-Melinda, 23, multiracial (Hispanic/Caucasian), bisexual female from Indianapolis, IN, USA

How did other people influence the way you played Barbies?

"My best friend Carolyn and I would set up these elaborate story lines that would last months. We would build these stories and worlds together, but our characters always stayed the same. The same dolls would have the same names and the same personalities and the same significant others. She was a lot older than I was, so I usually followed her lead in story ideas or projects, like building cardboard cities for them."


-Marcie, 21, Caucasian, heterosexual female from the United States