We’ve Made More Progress in Barbie Technology in 60 Years Than in Women’s Health!

Sixty-seven years ago today, on March 9, 1959, the first-ever Barbie—clad in the iconic black-and-white chevron one-piece, with the iconic blonde ponytail—was released, retailing for a whopping three bucks. If I’m being honest, the original Barbie was an awkward, cursed-looking doll with beady little eyes that follow you wherever you move. 

But look at her now! In less than seven decades, Barbie’s mug went from a strange and scary prototype to a perfectly sculpted, golden-ratio face. Her career opportunities? Endless. Her wardrobe? Infinite. Not to mention the intricate Malibu mansions, drivable cars, sprawling merchandise lines, and a movie-going phenomenon that earned over $1 billion worldwide. Hell, some of them even speak. AND IN THAT SAME AMOUNT OF TIME, I can’t help but comment that society has made far more advances in Barbie technology than we have in women’s medicine. 

With March being Women’s History Month and Sunday being International Women’s Day, it feels fitting to give Barbie her moment. She has, after all, told girls for decades that they could grow up to be anything—so long as that dream doesn’t involve being taken seriously by a doctor or having their pain diagnosed in a timely fashion.

For example, if you’re one of the 1 in 10 women worldwide suffering from some form of endometriosis, you know all too well the feeling of having your pain brushed aside by the medical world. Only in 2021 did a growing consensus begin to recognize the different types of endometriosis, and it remains largely misunderstood today. It also wasn’t until 2024 that the CDC finally updated guidelines for IUD insertion after women began sharing stories on social media about the intense pain. IUDs, which have existed longer than Barbie, are famously extremely uncomfortable to have inserted. And uncomfortable is putting it mildly. Ungodly, white-hot, medieval torturous pain to put it UN-mildly. 

AND ALSO, let’s not forget—you know her, you love her—the clitoris is still a medical “mystery” simply because women’s pleasure is not considered a priority. Tell me where I’ve heard that one before!

AND ALSO ALSO—not only have we barely progressed in the field of abortion care, but we have actually GONE BACKWARDS! When Roe v. Wade was overturned, it felt like the final nail in the coffin of a society that reduces uteruses to a single purpose: have babies… and die.

Barbie reflected a changing tide for women in our ~society~ but alas, when it came to applying that tide to advancing society to a place where life was made better for women, the work has been left to uterus-havers themselves to pass down their horror stories and life-saving advice to anyone in earshot.

Anyway, happy birthday, Barbie! I’m sorry I had to be such a downer on your big day. I just want the Barbies of our world to have what all the Kens have…medical research.<3  

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