Today I am a follower...

And I don't wish to hear any smartass comments from the peanut gallery, either. This means you, Kim LOL!

But today I am indeed a follower. You can't log into any social networking site without seeing a push for the Bald and Beautiful Barbie. And I confess that on the surface it sounds like a wonderful idea. But one woman was willing to stand up and take a public beatdown for thinking it wasn't so wonderful, and if Mary Tyler Mom can do it with her several thousand followers, I can sure do it with my...uhhh..I think I have 42 followers between here and facebook. For those of you that enjoy reading blogs, I recommend hers. ( http://www.chicagonow.com/mary-tyler-mom/2012/01/barbie-v-cancer/ ) She singlehandedly started what is now being called a movement. Even if it is being said a tad bit tongue-in-cheek. So I am a follower of the Anti-Bald Barbie movement. I agree with many of the reasons she writes about, but I have many reasons of my own.

I applaud the founders of the push for the bald beauty for what they are trying to do, which is to increase awareness of childhood cancer, alopecia, and third thing that I honestly can't remember, and couldn't spell even if I did. Please feel free to fill in that blank in a comment if you know. Raised awareness does indeed raise funds. Look at Susan G Komen For The Cure. Or the wearing of red to raise awareness of heart disease in women. So my hat is off to them for that. But I still think it's a bad idea, and here's why.

I have issues with Barbie that go way back. When I was little I wanted to BE Barbie when I grew up. Or at least a brunette version. Yeah, that didn't work out so much. For one thing I am flat chested as can be, and I have a huge butt, and lets just tell it like it is, Barbie's plastic perma-panties are unhygenic and chafe in a horrific way. And then there's the whole pink corvette trauma, but that's a different post for a different day. The point is my idea of beauty stemmed from Barbie, and it took me a while to realize that there are other types of beauty, and she wasn't something I needed to aspire to. So I am just anti-Barbie right out of the gate. My issue with the Bald and Beautiful Barbie is a little deeper though.

Let's say they succeed and little miss perfect is mass produced sans hair. At the same time, will they also mass produce Down Syndrome Barbie, Lupus Barbie or Dialysis Barbie? Do you see a wide market for Myasenthia Gravis Barbie, or how about Multiple Sclerosis Barbie? I just don't see that happening. So here's the hairless icon, and little girls that have hair, but may have other issues are left to wonder why they don't have a Barbie with their symptoms. Are they not as special? Dealing with illness, physical and neurological ailments and symptoms is hard enough without feeling like the toy industry is discriminating against them too.

Yes, yes and YES there needs to be more awareness of pediatric cancer and more research and more ways to help these children. I wholeheartedly agree. Have a fundraiser, do a fun run, host a casino night, have a wet t-shirt contest, or any one of a nillion other ideas to raise funds and awareness. Me, I would host a Barbie burning. Bring your Barbies and torch them in the communal bonfire at a buck a Barbie head, all proceeds to go to St. Baldrick's. (Good Lord, there is a lot of B's in that last sentence.)The moral, beauty is only on the surface, but fake goes all the way through. Whether bald is beautiful is really a moot point. Everyone is beautiful in their own way. Life is beautiful. Courage is beautiful. The ability to feel is beautiful. And the ability to care is beautiful. You can't mass produce it. Mass production would cheapen it, and you would see that all that iconic bald beauty is still just covering something fake, plastic, and highly combustible.

As I close, let me say that no, I do not have experience with a child with cancer. What I have is a beautiful daughter that needs a kidney transplant. She has roughly 2 feet of catheter tubing coming out of her stomach, which she connects to a dialysis cycler for 11 hours every single day of her life so that she can have a life. And her thoughts on Ailment-Bearing-Awareness-Raising Barbie? If someone gave her a Barbie with 2 feet of tubing hanging from it's stomach, she would burn it. She wants to be treated just like you and me and every other "normal" person in the world. She defines her disease, and does not let it define her. So if anyone wants to host a Barbie Burning, you just let us know. I've got just the girl to light that first match.

Peace and love.