'A Doll With Breasts': The Radical Legacy Of Barbie

'A Doll With Breasts': The Radical Legacy Of Barbie
PAUL J. RICHARDS via Getty Images

At the American Toy Fair in 1959, a historic mistake was about to be made: some of the first people to ever see a Barbie doll decided that no one would ever want one. "Fully fifty percent wanted nothing to do with her," as Barbie's creator Ruth Handler explained in her autobiography Dream Doll: The Ruth Handler Story.

"Ruth, little girls want baby dolls," one buyer explained. "They want to pretend to be mommies."

"No, they don't," Ruth answered. "They want to pretend to be bigger girls."

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