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A review by unavezmas
Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her by Robin Gerber
5.0
I watched the Barbie movie and loved and decided to go look for some nonfiction book about it because I was curious. Disclaimer: I genuinely don't know what can count as spoiler in history book so of you are the type of person who doesn't want to know much before reading skip this review.
I had low expectations of Mattel as a company because well corporations always care more about money than about their people. But partly because it had a female leader I think Mattel actually did some good. Like they built benches in their workshops so they could hire elderly and disabled people.
I wasn't prepared about how sad and miserable Ruth Handler life was. I mean there were obviously good times, but there were a lot of bad times. Misogyny affected her so much. She eventually reflected on it but it's telling that even one of the most successful women carries that sexist stereotypes with her.
Also apparently she named dolls after her children which I find both cute and annoying. Also Ken is gay (At least human version of him is). It's so sad it took him so long to realize him being gay because homophobia.
I had low expectations of Mattel as a company because well corporations always care more about money than about their people. But partly because it had a female leader I think Mattel actually did some good. Like they built benches in their workshops so they could hire elderly and disabled people.
I wasn't prepared about how sad and miserable Ruth Handler life was. I mean there were obviously good times, but there were a lot of bad times. Misogyny affected her so much. She eventually reflected on it but it's telling that even one of the most successful women carries that sexist stereotypes with her.
Also apparently she named dolls after her children which I find both cute and annoying. Also Ken is gay (At least human version of him is). It's so sad it took him so long to realize him being gay because homophobia.