Super-smart Astrophysicist Barbie except ...

[ngcles]

Hi All,

Certainly a good thing that Mattel have decided to cast Barbie in a different light after decades of stereotyping.

There's only one teensy-tiny problem here (you astronomical types will see this immediately-- take a look at the image (probably a promotional image supplied by Mattel) in the article showing the telescope, and you'll notice super-smart, PHd trained Astrophysicist Barbie, true to the decades of her being portrayed as a ditzy blonde, has the finderscope mounted on the telescope backwards.
We can only hope Astronaut Barbie (release upcoming) isn't shown flying her space-capsule while in reverse gear.

https://www.space.com/astrophysicist...SDfo6_t5AZzINU

Best,

L.

[RyanJones]

And after going to all that effort to dispel the myth, you create a doll that only sevrves to support it. Ah Mattel..... In he words of the modern world, you deserve a participation award

[The Mekon (John Briggs)]

Just how did you find this Les??

[ngcles]

Hi John,

Popped up in my F.B feed from Space.com. It took a while and a prompt from someone else that "something was wrong" -- (can't you see it!) before I noticed.

If a (real) young lady turned up at a star-party dressed in tight-fitting pants, a tight nebula top and heels, I'm pretty confident there'd be a long queue of male astronomers ready to lend a hand with that finderscope!

As others have pointed out correctly (on a more serious note) I'm not sure this really addresses the accusations about what's wrong with the way Barbie projects herself into the minds of those who receive or buy the dolls. It really is just the same old Barbie, with the same "iconic" (and unrealistic) proportions and "perfect everything", in slightly different clothes and posed next to a telescope.

Best,

L.

[Sunfish (Ray)]

We all know Barbie is from Mars . She could not walk on earth with those pins.
Perhaps that is not a scope but some earth shattering weapon.

[JeniSkunk (Jenifur)]

Originally Posted by ngcles

you'll notice super-smart, PHd trained Astrophysicist Barbie, true to the decades of her being portrayed as a ditzy blonde, has the finderscope mounted on the telescope backwards.

That's not the only problem with the accessories with this Barbie set.
Look at what she is carrying, and think for a moment.

[DarkArts]

Originally Posted by JeniSkunk

Look at what she is carrying, and think for a moment.

Star charts? I can't see anything wrong .... so what am I missing?

Edit: Barbie's telescope and finder scope look to be the right way round in the other photo (on the linked site), which also shows astronaut Barbie.

Edit2: ... and why the heck am I spending Saturday morning talking about Barbie?!

[JeniSkunk (Jenifur)]

She's carrying a large screen tablet.
Think about how night vision destroyingly bright that full colour screen would be.

[DarkArts]

It looks like star charts to me. Anyhow, I've used a laptop plenty of times in the field with a screen filter to dim it down.

And why am I defending Barbie?!