Little Plastic People - Part 3

Been looking at Barbie blogs.  There's a lot of them where folks have like whole communities of dolls and stage soap operas.  I really like the one called "How To Play With Barbies".  It's by a lady who has taken my philosophy of using the dolls as teaching tools way beyond what I do.  For example, in my Barbie World, if a kid wants to make Kira be married to Candy, I'm okay with it. Well, this lady has a doll of a lesbian celebrity - and  a doll of the real-life wife. She made the wife doll.  MADE it!  She used a doll of Mimi from The Drew Carey show to teach her daughter not to hate on fat people.  She seeks out dolls she can use for lessons.

I try not to have hard-and-fast rules about doll play.  I think it stifles creativity.  Right now, I'm making an album on my Facebook that's 2016 Barbie Scenarios and I have established for that a dollhouse family and some roles for others. But that probably won't be permanent, considering I'm eyeing the teen son for my next purge.  Also because, like I said, I try to avoid hard and fast rules.

My Barbie population now stands at 17 females, 10 males, and four animals.  I divide them into age groups by not just body molds, but faces as well.  A few of them are ambiguous - Mary could be a tall early teen or a late teen.  Sulu, Four, and Finnick are late teens or adults.  Skipper falls somewhere between the young teens and child.  Most of the adult females can also serve as late teens, but some of the faces firmly place them in one group or the other.

My minions have many stories of doll play at Jeanie's.  I've pontificated in the past about gender roles, so I'll spare you most of that.  Suffice to say that, to the best of my knowledge, none of my male minions has been gay.  There is a very real difference in how the boys play...  usually someone ends in with a head in the oven or toilet...