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Home » Blogs » Lyle Masaki's blog » New book reveals that Ken wasn't so into Barbie after all

New book reveals that Ken wasn't so into Barbie after all

by
Lyle Masaki

The Barbie empire looms large in the pop culture consciousness of many gays. Some of us played with a sister's or childhood friend's Barbies (it was her turn to pick the game, of course) and even more felt the first twinges of our gaydar thanks to Barbie's boyfriend, Ken ... especially when we met his friend Allan or when he got into wearing purple and started accessorizing:

Ken's friend Allan and the Earring Magic Ken

The new book Toy Monster offers some new revelations about the icon of plastic hunkiness. In addition to exploring the perviness of Barbie's designer, the book also reveals that Ken really was gay ... or, at least, the kid that the Ken doll was named after was gay.

Ken Handler was the son of the head of (Barbie manufacturers) Mattel, who named Barbie and Ken after his two children. Ken, the book reports, grew up to be gay and lived a sadly closeted life, having married and fathered three children. He died in 1994 after living with AIDS and reportedly "grew up embarrassed and humiliated by having an anatomically incorrect boy doll named after him," which adds some tragedy to the discovery that our gaydar can work on inanimate objects.

Additional thought: the original Ken and Barbie were brother and sister? Ew.

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    • Submitted by
    Lyle Masaki
    on Tue, 2009-01-13 08:58.
    TAGS :: 
    David Ehrenstein's picture

    WOW!

    Submitted by
    David Ehrenstein (7805 points) (1725 posts)
    on Tue, 2009-01-13 09:20.
    Tragic Beyond Belief.
    no votes
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    afhickman's picture

    There are eight million stories in the naked city

    Submitted by
    afhickman (3725 points) (772 posts)
    on Tue, 2009-01-13 09:46.

    afhickman

    "The mountain has wings."

    This has been one of them.

    no votes
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    Liz T's picture

    interesting....

    Submitted by
    Liz T (8838 points) (1840 posts)
    on Tue, 2009-01-13 10:14.
    wow, that is interesting. i actually never played with ken dolls. i had them, but i was more obsessed with the barbie dolls. even at about 8, i had barbies marrying each other. cracks me up when i look back on those days... :-P
    no votes
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    inanna's picture

    I never met a Ken doll as a

    Submitted by
    inanna (195 points) (46 posts)
    on Tue, 2009-01-13 14:03.
    I never met a Ken doll as a kid. Not that I remember anyway. Girls didn't want to dress him and boys didn't know what to do with him. I think he mostly served as a prop for Barbie. All my Barbie dolls were eventually molested by the GI Joe next door.
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    Cat's picture

    Midge

    Submitted by
    Cat (715 points) (143 posts)
    on Tue, 2009-01-13 15:34.
    Well, this has me thinking back. You have to be pretty old to remember Barbie's original best friend, Midge. She had red hair and freckles and came in an ugly yellow and green bathing suit. Mattell's plain-Jane-girl-next-door antidote to Barbie's audacious glamour and sexiness that all the parents were crabbing about. The little girl next door got one, automatically hated her and tried to remedy the situation by cutting her flip off and rubbing the freckles out with nail polish remover. Poor Midge. She became the one the other Barbie and Ginny dolls routinely mocked and beat up. Little girls can be so vicious. I distinctly remember rescuing/stealing and hiding her for the next couple of years.
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    Insideguy's picture

    All my life is just despair

    Submitted by
    Insideguy (2490 points) (496 posts)
    on Tue, 2009-01-13 15:46.

    My first bromance was Ken but I never told anyone.  Now you tell me Allan got him.  See if you really want to be happy you need to be honest about who you are?

    That's all I am saying... 

    INSIDEGUY

    It wasn't for lack of trying to set you up, when you came over to play.

                                   Barbie

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    Psionycx's picture

    C'mon, EVERYONE knew about Ken!

    Submitted by
    Psionycx (7936 points) (1610 posts)
    on Tue, 2009-01-13 20:14.

    Although "Earring Magic" Ken with the cockring hanging on his neck was, of course, more confirmation than we ever needed.  But Ken has been the subject of speculation forever.

    I mean COME ON! He and Beard....er....I mean Barbie, were "together" for how many decades without ever getting married or moving in together?  Grace got farther with Will than that!

    Sad to know that our gaydar was being channeled straight through the dolls to the source.  It just adds to the irony though. Barbie's perennial "boyfriend" was really the archetype he appeared to be. 

    She always was such a hag!

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