Hyper-femininity can be subversive and empowering — just ask Barbie

 Ryan Gosling as Ken and Margot Robbie as Barbie. Some feminists argue that Barbie’s hyper-femininity isn’t self-aware but reflects a more hegemonic femininity, with her idealised and impossible feminine body criticised as perpetuating harmful female beauty standards.

I found Barbie again during 2020’s covid lockdown. Indoors, confined to Juicy Couture tracksuits, I was missing excuses to express my hyper-femininity through clothing, as I had done pre-pandemic. Collecting Barbie dolls became a way to display my love of femininity in all its fun, ridiculous, and pink-saturated possibilities.

My shelf of Barbies — from Western Winking Barbie (1981) to Enchanted Evening Barbie (1995) — is now my favourite part of my home. But for many, her rediscovery will come through Greta Gerwig’s movie, Barbie — the doll’s first live-action film, starring Margot Robbie.