Abstract

During the post-World War II era, the American economy experienced a dramatic expansion in mass production and consumption. At the same time, the pursuit of economic growth and cultural stability contributed to the idealization of the nuclear family, increasingly positioning women as homemakers and consumers. Advertisements and mass media reinforced this gendered model by presenting beauty, domesticity, and material consumption as central to women’s social value. This paper explores how Barbie emerged from this cultural environment as a product of consumer culture, and as a form of mass media that reproduced many of the ideals she appeared to challenge. Barbie was marketed as an empowering role model who offered girls careers and identities beyond the domestic sphere. Yet her thin body, carefully styled appearance, and expandable world of separately purchased accessories continued to associate femininity with conspicuous consumption. By comparing Barbie’s marketing and cultural functions with those of postwar advertisements and gendered toys such as G.I. Joe, while also examining feminist responses to Barbie’s influence, this paper argues that Barbie transformed femininity into an identity that could be bought and performed. Ultimately, Barbie’s failure to subvert rigid gender norms, along with her profound cultural impact, illustrates consumer culture’s pervasive influence in shaping, commodifying, and limiting femininity.