“It became romantic to me about this guy who loves, and makes this choice to love and doesn’t need to be loved in return, doesn’t compromise his hopes to be with someone. But when I read the whole thing, I found myself crying, I was so connected to it, I couldn’t believe this writer took me on this trip, made me care about these people, made me care about this doll who became a woman to me as I read this script,” Gosling told Pop Entertainment back in 2008. “I heard the tagline, about a guy with a sex doll, and I didn’t think it would last a whole script. Gosling starred as the titular Lars in Craig Gillespie’s Oscar-nominated dramedy about a stunted man who enters a tenderly romantic relationship with a sex doll he purchased online. Celebrating real women in all their diversity and complexity is a fitting way to move with the times.Sorry Barbie, you’re not the first doll Ken has loved. Sometimes I like to be glamorous, sometimes I like to wear makeup because it makes me feel good. Women in STEM can look however we want, it doesn’t change what we can strive for or achieve. Part of the reason I chose that dress is because when I go into schools and tell children that I am an engineer, they often say: “Oh, I expected you to be wearing overalls, carrying a greasy spanner.” I love to wear it for special occasions, so it felt fitting that doll me should wear it too. When Mattel asked me how I wanted to be depicted, I chose a favourite dress – full-skirted and navy, like the night sky, trimmed with velvet and covered with silver stars and moons. Plus, we share a birthday (9 March, the day I was born and she was unveiled at the New York Toy Fair), so it feels like it was meant to be. Now, I’m a space scientist, the chancellor of the University of Leicester, a presenter of the BBC’s The Sky at Night, and a Barbie – something I’m especially proud of, as it just shows how far we’ve come. I went to 13 different schools growing up, and was placed in remedial classes because of my dyslexia.
This month, Mattel will celebrate me and six other STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) professionals from around the world, including former YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki and the founder of ETU Education, Yinuo Li. In their place, real-life doctors, marine biologists and astronauts are the new aspirational ideals. Long gone are the unrealistic, and often frightening, beauty standards characterised by the early dolls. In 2023, the iconic Barbie name represents women of all shapes and sizes. When we got the call to say that I would become a Barbie, we bounced around the living room with excitement. Now, she has the ultimate Barbie that truly captures my likeness: she’s wearing big gold earrings and has her hair in twists – and, best of all, she comes with her own realistic telescope. Over the years, we have been able to collect dolls with curly hair like hers, and dolls that look like me, too. Today, I play with Barbies with my 12-year-old daughter. It’s funny how you don’t realise that you’ve been missing something until you see it in the flesh. I’ve been lucky enough to receive a number of awards in my career, but I think having a Barbie role model made in my image may be one of the most important. When I was growing up, Barbie offered a narrow ideal of beauty: she was thin and blonde, with straight hair and blue eyes, and she didn’t look a bit like me. Learning that Mattel is planning to immortalise you in Barbie form would be a “pinch me” moment for anyone.
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