Barbie's 126th career is ...

[5829]

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/1 ... gineer/?em

February 12, 2010, 5:23 pm
Barbie’s Next Career? Computer Engineer
By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

Barbie has come a long way since 1992, when the blond bombshell of a doll was programmed to say, “Math class is tough.”

Barbie, whose various careers have taken her from aerobics instructor to supermodel to business executive, will next be a computer engineer, a career chosen by half a million Barbie fans.

Computer Engineer Barbie still has her trademark cascade of blond hair, impossibly small waist, feet frozen on tiptoes to slide into her high heels and a whole lot of hot pink.

She also wears a neon-colored T-shirt with a binary code pattern and carries a smartphone and a Bluetooth headset. Her hot pink glasses will come in handy during late nights coding on her hot pink laptop. Before any one begins complaining, Mattel points out that her accessories were chosen with the help of the Society of Women Engineers and the National Academy of Engineering.

Computer engineer will be the 126th career for Barbie, who turned 50 last year. For the first time, Mattel, which makes the doll, asked people to vote for her career, choosing among computer engineer, architect, environmentalist, news anchor and surgeon.

The choice of computer engineer — a field in which men far outnumber women and in which women’s participation has been declining — was announced Friday at the New York Toy Fair.

Lynn Langit, a developer evangelist at Microsoft who teaches programming to girls and works on a Microsoft program called DigiGirlz that teaches girls about technology careers, said she was thrilled about Barbie’s next career.

“We can use any sort of positive influence that we have, because the number of girls studying programming is abysmal,” she said.

Her only suggestion: that Barbie get a multi-touch netbook next. “If Barbie needs any training, I would be happy to provide it,” she said.






http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/21/busin ... -math.html

October 21, 1992
COMPANY NEWS: Mattel Says It Erred; Teen Talk Barbie Turns Silent on Math

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 20— A talking Barbie doll criticized by a national women's group for saying "math class is tough" will no longer utter the offending lament, Mattel Inc. has decided.

The Teen Talk Barbie, which costs about $25, will remain in stores. But the computer chip that randomly selects four phrases for each doll will now pick from 269 selections, not 270.

The American Association of University Women attacked the math comment in a report on how schools shortchange girls. The doll hit store shelves in July.

Mattel did not order a recall but began offering a swap for anyone who bought an offending doll, a company spokeswoman said.

In a letter to Sharon Schuster, president of the association, Mattel's president, Jill E. Barad, said the company made a mistake.

"In hindsight, the phrase 'math class is tough,' while correct for many students both male and female, should not have been included," she wrote. "We didn't fully consider the potentially negative implications of this phrase, nor were we aware of the findings of your organization's report."

[darklighter1]

I won't be interested in Barbie until she poses nude.

[Deepak]

Meh the world is to PC these days.

[5829]

I won't be interested in Barbie until she poses nude.

Well, she is old enough If that is what you want.

NSFW

Spoiler:

The Naked Barbie Project
http://www.zug.com/pranks/barbie/

Barbie's Nude Beach

[darklighter1]

:o :o :o I was just lookin for a new pictorial I never knew she attended orgies! And Shrek too! Appalled.