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Berliners Protest Barbie’s New Dream House

Ever the lightening rod for public controversy, the opening of a Barbie Dream House in the center of Berlin provided occasion for protest and reflection on sexism and the state of capitalism. 
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What’s the Latest Development?

The once-gritty city of Berlin is getting a make over, an afternoon that Barbie would surely approve of. Two interactive, life-size dollhouses launched recently as Barbie maker Mattel’s latest effort to expand the doll’s franchise. One of the dollhouses in central Berlin was recently protested against by the anti-capitalist group Junge Linke. “The demonstration—dubbed ‘Occupy Barbie Dreamhouse’—was a culmination of weeks of planning, visiting schools and distributing over 7,000 hot pink fliers with a clenched fist punching through the phrase ‘The Barbie Dreamhouse Experience.'”

What’s the Big Idea?

The Junge Linke argues that Barbie represents proletariat repression and a consumerist society set in place by power-hungry capitalists. “It would be a huge danger for capitalism if working men and women were united, so one of the best ways to divide and conquer the workers is by enabling men to over-sexualize women and by preoccupying women with sexualizing themselves,” said group leader Michael Koschitzki, 27 years old. “This is why we need to oppose Barbie.” A similar dream house opened recently in Florida where its American audience staged no such protest. 

Photo credit: Shutterstock.com

Read it at the Wall Street Journal

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