But what possible chance do we stand when we celebrate Barbie's 50th birthday on the same day as Women's Day???
I could cry in despair today when I read everything I could on how Women's Day was being celebrated around the world and then I found in the major paper China Beat the following two paragraphs the one below the other:
1) Xinhua reports on the increasing services for victims of domestic violence in China, following new regulations on police response to domestic violence calls implemented today:
Yu Xiuli, a victim of domestic violence, can turn to police for help if her husband continues to beat her thanks to a regulation which came into effect on Sunday.
The 40-year-old woman in eastern Shandong Province has been bearing the cursing and beating of her husband for years, but has never thought of asking police for help.
"I believed it was not the business of police to stop domestic violence so I has never thought of alerting police," said Yu.
But from Sunday women like Yu could alert police if they fall victim to domestic violence according to a regulation of the province that came into effect Sunday.
Many provinces in China have set up police centres to handle household violence after a national regulation that was issued in September last year requiring police to be dispatched whenever they receive a 110 emergency call regarding household violence.
2) That controversial symbol of femininity, the Barbie Doll, has acquired a new residence in Shanghai, the House of Barbie, where shoppers can not only purchase Barbie merchandise but also sip Barbie cocktails (at NPR, by Louisa Lim):
The lure of the China market was one reason that Mattel chose Shanghai for its first House of Barbie. It's aggressively pursuing developing markets, such as Eastern Europe, Russia and India, which aren't already Barbie-saturated. But when deciding where to place the House of Barbie, Shanghai beat other contenders — including London, Paris, Milan, New York and Los Angeles — because of its strong cross-generation reaction to the doll and the brand.
"There was an amazing connection to Barbie's values," Dickson said. "Barbie in this culture represented a world of possibilities for girls and for women. She's had amazing careers, she has the cars, she has the plane, she has the boyfriend — and she looks fantastic doing it."
Tibetan Barbies have also taken up posts at the Lhasa airport, reports Shanghaiist: “The plastic princesses are part of a line of special edition ‘ethnic’ dolls meant to represent the minority groups of China.”
Barbie's values?? Barbie's values? Did I see correctly?
Barbie who, if she were real, would not have been able to stay alive -- because there is no room in that torso for more than half a normal liver -- nor is there room in there for any of the other vital organs, her neck is a third longer than a normal person's and could not possibly carry the weight of her head, her feet are malformed and have to have extraordinarily high heels because they cannot walk flat on the floor; in fact, not even one in a million women looks like Barbie of will ever look like her unless they underwent extreme plastic surgery -- and had a death wish.
Victoria Shortle, whose small family-run chain of doll shops in Leeds and York deals in collectable Barbies – rare ones can sell for thousands of pounds – says, 'Barbie is Barbie in any language. She is the princess; she is just the dream.’
Yes Women of the world, she is just a dream; a very, very bad dream. Throw her in the bin and let's get serious about letting women out there know they do not need to make themselves available to be abused.
Click on Link:
Chateau Lalinde : The perfect venue for your event
