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eir gender she caused ripples of anger and irritation down the centuries. How could a 'so-called' feminist turn on her own sex with such accusations? And yet, when one takes the time to think about it, one can see how right she was. Girls play with Barbie dolls bought for them by mothers and aunts, and will, to echo Rousseau, grow up to give Barbie dolls to their daughters, thus fulfilling their 'destiny.' They are complicit in the encouragement of stereotypical values. But what is the alternative? A girl may play with the 'stereotypical' toys of girlhood such as dollies and prams, all pink and sparkly, mass marketed products imposed on them by a performative oriented society, or she may play with the male version of such consumer items, Action Man, cars, trains, guns . . . But what message is actually being sent? If a girl plays with Barbie dolls, she is viewed with contempt for being a 'typical' girl; if she plays with stereotypical boys toys, she attains value in the eyes of society, for being more like a boy. No matter what she does, Barbie girl can never achieve social value by being a girl, and post-feminism has been complicit in such social values.

Consuming Passions was published in the '80s, author Judith Williamson's theory is hardly common knowledge, most likely because it is threatening. She deduces that, contrary to the ideal posed by Mattel and Barbie, 'the desirable shape for a woman . . . is that of a boy.' 

The highly idealised Barbie has not been without competitors, however. In 1998, Anita Roddick started an Anti-Barbie campaign, under the guise of self -esteem.

Roddick started marketing posters of a doll called 'Ruby: The Real Deal,' with posters in the UK shops she owned, all depicting images of the generously proportioned doll with the attached slogan: 'There are 3 billion women who don't look like supermodels and only 8 who do.'

With the intention of challenging stereotypes of beauty and countering the pervasive influence of the cosmetics industry, and with a tongue in cheek approach, the underlying message was far more serious and could easily be applied to the stereotypical image of woman and the way western culture objectifies women. 'Ruby' started a worldwide debate about body image and self-esteem, but she was not universally loved. In the United States, the toy company Mattel sent a cease-and-desist order, demanding the images of Ruby were removed from American shop windows because she was making Barbie look bad, an admission surely, that Barbie's impossible to achieve figure was detrimental to girls in comparison to the more realistic Ruby? In Hong Kong, posters of Ruby were banned on the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) because the authorities were concerned they would offend passengers. Like Barbie, Ruby was a de-sexualised toy, having no nipples, genitalia or pubic hair; other advertisements on the MTR which showed surgically enhanced, partially dressed female models, were allowed to stay. It is hard not to jump to the conclusion that it was the realistic portrayal of the female body that was offensive (and to whom? the male commuters?); in a world where the female body is perceived to be a purchasable status symbol, the male buyers were presumably offended by the depreciation in value of their idealised fantasy.

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