Berlin feminists to picket Barbie dreamhouse

The opening today of the first life-sized Barbie Dreamhouse in Europe may be the fantasy of many little girls, but Berlin feminists are mobilising against what they call a sexist icon.

With her blonde tresses, baby blue eyes, blinding smile, and super-human measurements, the mistress of the giant Barbie mansion has become a lightning rod ahead of today’s inauguration.

Just a few steps from Alexanderplatz, the main shopping district of east Berlin, the 2,500sq m slice of Malibu lifestyle is nestled between a railway and communist housing blocks.

Inside, young Barbie fans can pretend to bake cakes in a dream kitchen, marvel at sequin-studded gowns in the blonde bombshell’s walk-in wardrobe, and lounge in her — pink, of course — living room while admiring hundreds of dolls on display.

“For €22, you can have two careers — model or pop star. What kind of image is that presenting to young women?” grumbled Michael Koschitzki, the proudly feminist male leader of a grassroots group of opponents of the Barbie Dreamhouse, and a member of the youth wing of the far-left party Die Linke.

A Facebook faction called “Occupy Barbie Dreamhouse”, created with a wink at the New York anti-greed movement Occupy Wall Street, has drawn more than 1,000 supporters since its launch in March when the Berlin plans came to light.

It regrets that “the vast majority of little girls play with a doll that, if she were real, would be anorexic and whose life would consist of waiting for Ken in the car”, said Koschitzki.

An angry fist piercing advert for the attraction was printed on 10,000 flyers to publicise the fight against such “sexist propaganda” in a country headed up by a childless woman and in which battles of the sexes are being fought on several fronts, he said.

US Barbie manufacturer Mattel said it has modernised the doll’s image, moving beyond the beach beauty to create surgeon dolls and even a presidential candidate.

A spokeswoman for Mattel’s German unit said: “Barbie has again become a tool for some to advance their own agenda.”

Koschitzki’s protest group includes the initiative Pinkstinks, which is fighting against the gender-stereotyping produced by the colour’s hegemony in the little-girl universe. “We will be very happy if we can bring together 100 people,” he said.

However, not everyone is against the dreamhouse.

“It’s up to parents to explain that it’s just a doll and not an example,” said Emma, a 36-year-old Berlin mother of two girls, aged four and six, who was excited about visiting the doll paradise.

Barbie will have to pack her bags on Aug 25 when the dreamhouse will be dissembled and sent on a tour of other European cities.