MetaChat - Overheard at Target...

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22 August 2006

Overheard at Target... →[More:] Two little girls, probably 4 years old, were riding in a cart being pushed by the mom-sort. They passed girls' toys aisle -- which is overwhelmingly pink. You know, Barbies and shit like that.

One girl said to the other, "Wow, look at all that girl stuff!"

The second girl very solemnly and reverently replied, "It's heaven. This place is just heaven."

I laughed out loud.

post by: mudpuppie at: 16:51 | 30 comments

Wow, mudpuppie, I would have LOL'd! (which is totally different, btw)

posted by pieisexactlythree 22 August | 16:53

And therein lies the difference between us, Pi. ;)

posted by mudpuppie 22 August | 16:54

*thinks barbie dolls are evil*

posted by getoffmylawn 22 August | 17:11

*thinks goml needs to loosen up and enjoy a good story*

posted by Specklet 22 August | 17:17

*also thinks barbie dolls are evil*

Good story, though - girls are cute at that age. All too soon they turn into teenagers and it all goes to hell in a handbasket.

posted by dg 22 August | 17:20

I agree with goml - Barbie dolls do not start little girls off on the best path to a positive self-image.

As for the girls at Target - it must be the age. I know a three-year old girl who recently told me which colors are "girl colors" and which are "boy colors."

posted by amro 22 August | 17:25

Specklet: What makes you think I didn't enjoy the tale? Whenever I see a MP post, I can't wait to read it. Just because I think Barbie gives girls appearance complexes does NOT mean I did not enjoy or find humor in the story.

*thinks goml needs to loosen up and enjoy a good story* It's hardest to take your own advice.

posted by getoffmylawn 22 August | 17:30

I'm not sure what's going on between Specklet and getoffmylawn, but I hope you both can work it out.

posted by amro 22 August | 17:32

It's not a doll, its an aspiration figure!

posted by pieisexactlythree 22 August | 17:37

In other signs of the apocalypse, I was out at a county park recently when I noticed some adorable little girls (maybe four or five years old) singing to eachother at the next picnic table. At first I was all "OMG so cute!!!!!!!!!!!!" that is, until I realized they were singing the chorus to "My Humps."

posted by pieisexactlythree 22 August | 17:55

Enh. Barbie's evilness depends entirely on how she is presented and used. I loved my Barbie, but I wasn't into doing her hair and dressing her up and stuff. I was much more interested in having her act out the stories I made up. I don't think I ever even noticed she had boobs.

My daughter would only be interested in Barbie if she had a T-Rex head.

posted by jrossi4r 22 August | 18:01

Forget I mentioned Barbie. That wasn't really my point. I just thought it was funny.

posted by mudpuppie 22 August | 18:04

When my cousin Amy was a very small child, Madonna's Like a virgin was the top pop hit, and she was singing it one day. My mom freaked out and then managed to convince her that the words were really: Like a bird brain!

posted by getoffmylawn 22 August | 18:05

and it was, mudpuppie. It was.

posted by elizard 22 August | 18:05

It was funny, pups.

posted by jrossi4r 22 August | 18:07

I'm not sure what's going on between Specklet and getoffmylawn, but I hope you both can work it out.
I vote for a mud-wrestling match.

posted by dg 22 August | 19:01

Can we make that Jello?

posted by pieisexactlythree 22 August | 19:06

To be honest, I don't really care what they wrestle in, as long as they wrestle.

posted by dg 22 August | 19:27

Yeah, okay guys, and then the shower scene to wash off whatever they wrestled in. Then they dry off, and have a pillow fight in their unmentionables...am I leaving anything out? Oh, yeah, YOU GUYS!!

posted by redvixen 22 August | 20:00

... am I leaving anything out?
Only the part about how we all know what inevitably happens once two hot girls start pillow-fighting in their unmentionables. Well, we know what happens in those movies, anyway.

posted by dg 22 August | 20:21

will there be midgets? ya know, for tossing?

posted by quonsar 22 August | 21:03

Dwarf Tossing? God, I hope so.

posted by dg 22 August | 21:11

I freaking loved barbies. What I most enjoyed was changing their appearances. I never had a barbie that kept all her hair. And I know I had a couple that got breast reductions.

I never saw barbie as anything more than something that could be improved or changed with some of my tinkering. I was a fat child and barbie never screwed with my thinking as far as what I should be.

My mom putting me on a strict diet when I was in third grade screwed more with my head than any toy ever did.

posted by fluffy battle kitten 23 August | 00:58

In England we had Sindy, who was introduced as a British-made rival to Barbie. My sister had a blonde Sindy and I had a brunette with a Jackie-O-style bob, (now a collector's item).

Sindy's boyfriend was named Paul, and looked a bit like Macca, after whom he was named. If I still had my Sindy and Paul I'd feel compelled to remove part of her leg ...

Sindy appears to have settled into domestic normality with an Action Man (the UK's GI Joe).

posted by essexjan 23 August | 02:14

I need to start using Cor! more often.

posted by sciurus 23 August | 07:05

Funny story, pupp!

posted by chewatadistance 23 August | 07:29

I wish I had a mom-sort. A huge machine in the basement for individual labelling and sorting *sigh*.

posted by catfry 23 August | 08:54

There are some feminist scholars who think Barbie's helpful to girls. Sure she's exaggerated ridiculously, but she's an adult doll rather than a baby or child doll, and at least one scholar observed lots of kids playing with Barbies and using them to play out and explore ideas about sex and adulthood.

posted by Miko 23 August | 09:43

GI Joe gave me appearance issues because I was born without a kung-fu grip.

posted by jonmc 23 August | 10:09

one scholar observed lots of kids playing with Barbies and using them to play out and explore ideas about sex and adulthood.

Yes. I remember when I was a kid, observing my sister and her friend playing with barbies - they were in first grade, I think. I asked them what they were playing, and they said "strippers!"

posted by pieisexactlythree 23 August | 13:07

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