Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll

by M.G. Lord

Was Barbie the first feminist doll? She always worked in interesting positions, never married, never had a child, and never did house work. Yet today, many women who played with Barbie when they were children consider her to be an inappropriate role model, although these same women often have interesting Barbie stories to tell. In Forever Barbie , cultural critic, investigative journalist, and first generation Barbie owner M.G. Lord tells Barbie's own story with clarity and intelligence, brilliantly shaking up many preconceptions. According to Lord, Barbie's phenomenal endurance says as much about our culture's ambivalence towards femininity as it does about Mattel's successful marketing of the convention-defying toy. In this witty and provocative book, she unearths Barbie's low origins as "Lili," a sexy doll for grown ups sold as a gag gift in post-war Germany, and follows her development through countless makeovers and career changes into a "traditional toy" and ultimately an international pop-culture icon. Interviewing the toy-company executives, fashion designers, and merchandizing geniuses who helped mould Barbie into what she is today, Lord takes a seriously wry look at the polyvinyl goddess who attracts as many detractors as die-hard fans. This new edition, the first to be published in Canada, features an up-to-date introduction envisioning a Ken-less Barbie in post 9/11 era and examining the controversial reaction to pregnant Midge.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Feminism, Biography, Pop Culture, Business

Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

M. G. Lord is a cultural critic and investigative journalist. She is the author of the widely praised books Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science, a family memoir about Cold War aerospace culture, and Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll. Her latest book, is The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice. With Shannon Halwes, she is co-writing the libretto for composer Laura Karpman’s One-Ten, an opera commissioned by the L. A. Opera about the 110 Freeway on its 70th anniversary. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times Book Review and that paper’s Arts & Leisure section, and her work has also appeared in such publications as Travel + Leisure, Discover, Vogue, the Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, and The New Yorker. A graduate of Yale, Lord was for twelve years a syndicated political cartoonist and columnist based at Newsday. She teaches in the Master of Professional Writing Program at USC.

Reviews

[Hannah Greendale (Hello, Bookworm)]

True, [Barbie] had a boyfriend, but he was a lackluster fellow, a mere accessory. Mattel, in fact, never wanted to produce Ken; male figure dolls had traditionally been losers in the marketplace. But consumers so pushed for a boyfriend doll that Mattel finally released Ken in 1961. The reason for their demand was obvious. Barbie taught girls what was expected of women, and a woman in the fifties would have been a failure without a male consort, even a drip with seriously abridged genitalia who wasn't very important in her life.

[Jessica (Odd and Bookish) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher (Liveright) for promotional purposes.

What an insightful look into the world of Barbie!

This book was originally published in the 90s, but this edition has a new preface which does discuss the Barbie movie. In the preface, the author also discusses that she left the book unchanged so it’s a large reflection of the 90s.

The title states this book is an “unauthorized biography,” however, only the first few chapters feel like a biography. If you are looking to read a comprehensive history on Barbie, this book isn’t it. This book offers a lot of commentary on Barbie and people’s complicated relationship with her. Some of it feels a little out there (like The White Goddess chapter that discusses how Barbie is similar to ancient fertility idols), but there were a lot of interesting ideas presented (I really liked the discussion on Barbie and class mobility). The book also discussed things I never knew about like the Barbie board games, books, and comics from way back in the day.

I liked that this book had a concluding chapter. I always hate it when nonfiction books don’t have one. My biggest takeaway from this book came from this chapter. The author writes, “People project fears and prejudices into her; when a person talks at length about Barbie, one usually learns more about the speaker than about the doll” (pg. 264). That is so true. Barbie has never been the enemy, people just project their owns ideas and feelings onto her.

Overall, I recommend this book if you’re looking to explore Barbie on a deeper level and don’t mind the 90s influence.

[Richard Kramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barbie is already made of material that will never decompose, but she is lifted to real immortality by the dea-ex-machina of the sublime writer/critic/memoirist/historian MG Lord, who proves a point I have always struggled to make, which is that one doesn't need pubes or a navel to make a real impact in the world. The book is hilarious, but only when Lord wants it to be. It is also as deeply serious as Leon Edel's five volume biography of Henry James. It takes the measure of this odd object who emerged from the ur-conscious of postwar Germany, found its way over here, and crashed into the psyche of an entire culture, always somehow surviving, always torquing and morphing just enough to both reflect its (her) times and transcend them. Objects like Barbie appear when a culture is in need of them without knowing it, and Lord sublimely tells us why Barbie, how Barbie, and whither Barbie.

(Her book on Elizabeth Taylor, which isn't really a book on Elizabeth Taylor, but is REALLY a book on Elizabeth Taylor, is also a five star doozy. THE ACCIDENTAL FEMINIST. Remind me (someone) to tell you my one Liz story, based on an astonishing nine minutes with her in 1989.)

[Erin Kayla · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars

This book began interesting enough, investigating various aspects of Barbie's design and production, as well as the history of Mattel and its staff. I was interested in the feminist analysis, however it quickly devolves into freudian analysis and other lenses which have since (or at the time) been discounted and dismissed. The author also lashes out making wild claims, such as kimonos are heavy in order to keep Japanese woman physically in place. Overall, while the first quarter of the book is interesting, the last half is confusing, boring, and frustrating to read. Maybe it had some relevance when it was first published, however you'd learn more accurate and interesting information by reading Barbie's wikipedia page at this point.

[Josine · Rating 3 out of 5]

could do with less psychoanalysis

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

After seeing the Barbie movie, I was interested in learning more about the history of Barbie and exploring the impact she's had on our society and culture. This book delivered on both fronts. This book was originally published in 1994, and it's told from the perspective of that time. I appreciated the updated preface about the Barbie movie, but I wish the full book had been revamped to have a more modern perspective or at least had the last 30 years of history added to the end.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

[Ashleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 - The more I read nonfiction, the more I think there are generally two groups of books: concepts explained with brevity and followed by examples, then books that cover so much ground that it's impossible to fully digest. Both can start conversations and introduce you to new ideas, but only the former has made me come away feeling like I really KNOW the information. This book, by nature of its concept, is in the second category.

I really admire the research and breadth of this book. It felt like the author really considered every possible angle of which Barbie and our society are interlinked, exploring each one with primary sources and a lot of nuance. She didn't so much present a single, cohesive argument (beyond 'Barbie is a major influence in our culture and vice versa'), but the individual points - Barbie and body image, Barbie as a deity, Barbie and gender norms, etc. - were very thoughtful, challenging, and interesting. I can appreciate the lengths to which she went to interview people and include a wide variety of opinions, historical facts, and research data, but it did feel less focused and hard to grasp because of this. For example, bringing up Freudian logic is pretty much always a big jump, in my opinion, and it didn't really feel justified in the brief attention it received. Likewise, the addition of relevant photos was really neat, but they were often included on pages a few away from whatever was being discussed, making it harder to connect their importance back to the concept. The black-and-white printing didn't help, either; there were tons of details I couldn't discern from the small photos without color. I think this book was an excellent essay collection on so many topics, but it didn't feel like it came to a single point enough for me to fully enjoy reading it cover to cover. I suggest a slower, digestible approach, probably split by chapters and their topics.

Content warning for discussion of cancer, death, drugs & overdosing, misogyny and sexism, racism, antisemitism, outdated/transphobic language, and eating disorders as well as brief mentions of police violence and suicide.

[Morgan Stoker Taylor]

DNF - When starting this audiobook I didn't realize that the book was originally published in 1994, the year I was finally allowed to own my first Barbie doll (my parents wanted me to be able to change her clothes myself so they wouldn't constantly be doing it for me, so the rule allowed my fine motor skills to develop but it was TORTURE!!!).

The new preface was fascinating. It covered the recent history of Barbie gaining different body types and had a great tribute to Greta Gerwig's 2023 Barbie film, claiming she was Barbie's "new best friend." The first section of the book made me wonder if Gerwig had read it in her research. M.G. Lord shared themes included in the 2023 film such as Barbie's world being completely matriarchal and Ken being merely an accessory.

While the book had a lot of interesting history, some of the claims M.G. Lord made were too far-fetched for me. Comparing Barbie to ancient Egyptian burial dolls and claiming workout trends of the 90s were driven by the goal to have firm legs like Barbie...was just too much. Maybe it would have been different in print form with sources.

[Dodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Let's Call Her Barbie about a month and a half ago and marveled at the Mattel toy company. Forever Barbie focuses on the cultural impact of Barbie, and M.G. Lord's lens is academic. The book was published originally in the 1990s; only the introduction has been updated. It's a little nostalgic to remember how different the world was in the 90s through Lord's writing. Lord discusses feminism, Barbie's impact on anorexia, obsessed collectors, and the function of Barbie's sidekicks: Ken, Skipper, Midge. I found both books thought provoking.

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredibly well-written and interesting, I think to call it a biography is inaccurate. It's more about the effect Barbie has had on society.

I feel like I do need to mention the disproportionate amount of time the author spends talking about Roseanne Barr which even for 1994 struck me as odd.

[Grace Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Un bimbo/un mondo”

[Chloe Holliday · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was originally released in 1995 then recently re-released to touch on greta gerwig’s (love) barbie movie! to me, some of the topics were a little out-there and outdated, but i learned so much about the creation and evolution of barbie - and sooo much about the social impact (good and bad) the doll has had on multiple generations. very interesting!!!

[Sarah Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very detailed and informative history of Barbie. When I requested this ARC, I think I stereotyped Barbie like most people do. I thought this would be a light and fluffy take on Barbie and maybe a bit of the feminist touch from the Barbie movie. Instead, I faced a long backstory of everything that had ever touched or been part of Barbie. From a nonfiction perspective, it was very well done, and I do appreciate the research that went into this, it just ran a little boring for me overall. I wish it had a little more punch to it.

Thank you, NetGalley for this audio ARC.

[Hunter Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not me reading Forever Barbie so I could have some interesting and provocative topics to discuss after watching Barbie movie in theaters.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is very competently done, but I wish that these “history of a pop culture phenomena/zeitgeist-y toy”would focus more on the history of the object rather than the business that produced it and the author’s personal reckoning with what the object symbolized for them.

Some of that is fine and even necessary, but I keep reading these thinking I’m going to get something very different than what I end up with. If you’re really here for a feminist critique of Barbie or Mattel’s decision-making, you’ll probably enjoy this more than I did. I was looking for the consumer history/sociocontextual role of the doll, and I didn’t get much of either.

Barbie takes a lot of heat from both ends of the political spectrum. To me, she’s just a wonderfully imaginative toy whose attributes reflect rather than create societal values. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie did a wonderful job of using Barbie to both promote feminism and refute those who would use her to politicize and condemn frivolous fun, and I wish that we saw more of that from those who wish to put her story into book form.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was expecting a breezy history of Barbie, but this book really includes some in-depth psychoanalytic theory and history. I appreciated the deeper look at Barbie's symbolism as a both a cultural object and an individual experience. It definitely feels uncomfortable to think of Barbie as something with connections to, for example, ancient fertility sculptures, but it was also helpful in placing her in a larger context of our views of the feminine vs. femininity vs. womanhood. This book made me want to pull my Barbies out of my parents' attic and take a closer look at them and remember how I personally played with them and dressed them and acted out their roles! A great read, especially if Barbies were a big part of your childhood toy buffet.

[Tristan Gines Wozniak]

Insightful analysis of Barbie and her cultural impact. The authors opinions about issues like eating disorders, body positivity, sex, women in power and female/queer liberation and emancipation are soooooo 1994! Still, a good read!!

[Fabienne · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not at all what I expected. There is no follow able timeline, no continued thought process, no progression chronologically. Verbose and confusing bouncing around of topics and years.

[CatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

On a whim, I listened to the audiobook 2024 reissue of this book with an updated preface reflecting the 2023 Barbie movie, but otherwise this book seems unchanged from the 1994 original publication and hasn't been updated to cover the 1994-2024 time period. In reporting this book, Lord interviewed Barbie's creator, Ruth Handler (1916-2002) and many other key and niche figures in the development of the Barbie brand. I learned a lot of interesting factoids (especially that the Barbie doll was originally modeled and literally molded from a Nazi-era German erotica doll), sometimes over and over, as there was a lot of repetition. I also learned a lot about Barbie enthusiasts and what I'll call "novel" uses of Barbie dolls that I wish I hadn't heard.

Further reading: deep-dives into toys/classic American brands
The LEGO Story: How a Little Toy Sparked the World's Imagination by Jens Andersen
Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's by Ray Kroc with Robert Anderson

My statistics:
Book 166 for 2024
Book 1769 cumulatively

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find rating non-fiction books to be super subjective; because here’s the thing- if you have zero interest in the history of Barbie or Dolls’ impact on women and girls throughout history, this book won’t be for you. I, however, wrote my college capstone of the subject, so this book was a treat for me.
This book is packed with the history of the dolls creation, its creative team, and all the changes it saw throughout the years. However, it also explores a lot beyond just the history of the doll itself. The book explores the social criticism Barbie has faced, the impact it’s had on women and girls, consumerism, collectors, body-image, the list goes on and on.
Towards the end, I felt like the last couple chapters got a bit wordy. I think the author was trying to tie in Barbie to current events/artistic projects, but some of those chapters felt like we lost the plot a little bit. It’s also worth noting that this book was written in the 90’s, so beyond a newly added introduction, we really don’t get to read anything about the new wave of Barbie with the success of the movie.
Overall, I learned a lot and it felt like a fun extension of the research I did back in college. Barbie is such a nostalgic toy for me and I loved reading about its giant history.

[Jackie Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Net Galley and DreamScape media for the advanced copy. It was super interesting to see how this author tied together how Barbie potentially influenced so many different aspects of pop culture. It’s a very 90s vibe (as it was written in the 90s). I wanted there to be more Barbie and I was also looking for this to be more chronological than it was. It made it hard to follow in some points. If you’re super into niche pockets of pop culture this might be for you.

[Tina Panik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed for Library Journal; full review appears there.

[Cristina Elena | LaaA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Get the chance to discover the story beyond what you might know as Barbie - the doll, barbie - the movie, or Barbie - the model and discover Barbie - the person, in this stunning biography put together by M. G. Lord. Readers and listeners will get the chance to discover how barbie grew from her low origins as “Bild Lilli” all the way to the 2023 movie phenomenon!

If you are interested in other of my book reviews, make sure to follow me on GoodReads! #ForeverBarbie #NetGalley #LifeLongLearning

Note: This review is based on an ARC copy

[Jessica Reddington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not finish but I found it interesting to know the timeline of the creation of Barbie and all of the people involved in her evolution.

[Cory C · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the most fascinating books i’ve ever read. it has everything from art history and goddess talisman comparisons, the saga of how the mold for barbie was created from a german gag gift doll, and details on how barbie interprets the social atmosphere that american women lives through. There was so much in this book it cannot be easily summed up. Ruth Handler is an incredibly interesting person! it was history. it was art.
long love the barbieverse

[María Fernanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG!! , al fin pude terminar este libro y puedo decir que me gustó más de lo que esperaba

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5🌟
Was NOT expecting a book about feminism, philosophy, gender theory and Freudian psychology
A bit boring to read at times but overall very interesting

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not sure why I picked this book up. I do not have any strong feelings toward Barbie. I am neither a collector nor am I a basher of this plastic doll. I understand the appeal for young girls to want the doll and I have some very fold memories with her. There was something fun about changing her outfit whenever I wanted and letting her have a different career every day. In fact, the less items that you have, such as the dream house or pink corvette, the more imagination that you can use with her. Ken was a bit worthless and I don’t even remember if I had one. Nevertheless, something possessed me to pick this book up and I don’t regret it.

The beginning of this book was great. I loved reading about the creation of the doll and the history of her design. There were some really interesting parts regarding the relationship between Barbie and Mattel. Each chapter discussed a different aspect to the doll and some of these were very interesting. The one part that I found a bit reaching was the sexual impact that this doll had on men during WWII. The connection between Barbie’s breasts and men on the front lines craving milk was a bit stretched for me. In fact, it was ridiculous. And there was a bit of whining from some women that claim that Barbie set them up for sexual failure (even though the author discusses how this stems more from the relationship between these women and their mothers).

Overall, the history of Barbie is one worth reading about. This is a doll that was created by women in order to inspire girls, and I did feel that with this book. Is Barbie perfect?? No. But, I have gained some respect for this doll and feel that she does have qualities to offer young girls as they grow up.

[Lachelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure why I finished this book it was so bad. The writing was poor, the structure confusing, the insight so-so. I did learn some interesting things but it would have made a better article than a book. Highlights:

- Barbie's proportions "were dictated by the mechanics of clothing construction. The doll is one-sixth the size of a person, but the fabrics she wears are scaled for people".
- Barbie was created by a women and-in my opinion-was a more quality product when women were running the line (i.e. Astronaut Barbie vs. Barbie toting the book "how to loose weight" and piping "math class is hard").
- "In Barbie's universe women are not the second sex. Ken is a gnat, a fly, an accessory of Barbie."
- Most insightful, to think about Barbie is to often hold competing ideas in your head at the same time. Consider these Barbie games that all debuted at the same time: We Girls Can Do Anything, Queen of the Prom, and Barbie's Dream Date--the latter nicknamed "The Hooker Game, so similar is players' behavior to that of a call girl".

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a daily special from the Nook Book store and I bought it because I collect Barbie. I don't know what to expect from this book, but was excited to read it. However you can tell by the one star rating that I did not enjoy this book.

First off, its dated. This book goes about as far as the early 1990s. That's almost 20 years ago. A whole lot has changed in that time.

Two, this book needed organization. The writer should have spent more time organizing the book into a timeline, or something. I hate willy-nilly, wandering writing.

Three, I did feel I learned anything about the doll, its creation, or get the feeling of Mattel as a company after 1970. A lot happens in 40 years!

Fourth, I wished the author would have made her own chapter and shared her viewpoints and background there instead of having a comment inserted randomly.

Fifth, can we get off the sexualized, bondage, fetish this book ran as theme! Good Lord! That's vile.

Sixth,, ENOUGH with the RANDOM interviews. YAWN!

I can't recommend. Hated every page.