Stinson, David W

English

ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University

Georgia State UniversityScholarWorks @ Georgia State UniversityMiddle and Secondary Education FacultyPublications Department of Middle and Secondary Education2016How Many Different Barbies? How ManyDifferent Girls? How Many Different Girls inMathematics?David W. StinsonGeorgia State University, dstinson@gsu.eduFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/mse_facpubPart of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons, and the Junior High, Intermediate, MiddleSchool Education and Teaching CommonsThis Blog Post is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Middle and Secondary Education at ScholarWorks @ Georgia StateUniversity. It has been accepted for inclusion in Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact scholarworks@gsu.edu.Recommended CitationStinson, D. (posting as Furthering Girls' Math Identity). (7 March 2016). How Many Different Barbies? How Many Different Girls?How Many Different Girls in Mathematics? [blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.girlsmathidentity.org/v/howmanydifferentbarbies3/8/16, 5:36 PMHow Many Diﬀerent Barbies? How Many Diﬀerent Girls? How Many Diﬀerent Girls in Mathematics? - Furthering Girls' Math IdentityPage 1 of 3http://www.girlsmathidentity.org/v/howmanydiﬀerentbarbiesHOME CONVENING COMMUNITY/NIC VIEWPOINTS LEARN MORE CONTACT USViewpoints​ > ​How Many Different Barbies? How Many Different Girls? How Many DifferentGirls in Mathematics?posted Mar 7, 2016, 2:23 PM by Furthering Girls' Math Identity   [ updated 6 hours ago ]It’s not often that a child’s toy becomes a cover story but that’s exactly what Barbie did on February 8, 2016(see “A Barbie for Every Body,” Time). The cover story reported how Mattel, the toy giant, finally decided thatthe 57-year old icon just might need to become somewhat representative of the body shapes of humanwomen (see “What would a Real Life Barbie Look Like,” BBC News Magazine).The news that Barbie would be available in four “body types”—curvy, tall, petite, and “original”—was not onlya Time cover story but also a topic of discussion of nearly every media outlet: radio and television news andtalk shows, conventional and avant-garde news papers, and literally dozens of magazines, from Cosmopolitanto WIRED. And, of course, Barbie and her new body types were all the buzz on social media for days.Never in her 57-year history has Barbie received so much favorable press. But not all of the press in therecent weeks has been favorable, even the news of the different body types came with some of the ongoingcritiques. Some of which can even be found in scholarly journals (see “Does Barbie Make Girls Want to BeThin? The Effect of Experimental Exposure to Images of Dolls on the Body Image of 5- to 8-Year-Old Girls,”Developmental Psychology). Unfavorable critique, in general, is what Barbie has most often experienced.Remember the fortunate unfavorable critique over twenty years ago when Teen Talk Barbie spoke the words,“Math class is tough” (see “Mattel Says It Erred; Teen Talk Barbie Turns Silent on Math,” New York Times).Nonetheless, Barbie over the years has provided me with a simple and straightforward social justicemathematics lesson, one that can work for nearly any age group. It’s the scaling up lesson (see “How Big isBarbie?” MPJ). Depending on the age group, after doing the mathematics one can decide how far to take thesocial justice issues by asking different questions: Who created the icon? Who does the icon serve? How doesthe icon reify “a woman’s place”? How does the icon limit “beauty”? How does the icon limit girls’ andwomen’s possibilities? For older students, one can turn to issues such as eating disorders (see “The ScaryReality of a Real-Life Barbie Doll,” Huffpost College) or to conversations about body images in the mediagenerally, for both girls and boys.The introduction of new body types is not the first time that Mattel has attempted to reinvent a 1959 toy fortwenty-first century girls (and boys). In 2015, Mattel expanded Barbie’s look with the addition of “23 dollswith new skin tones, hair color, and most notably a flat foot” (see “Barbie 2016 Fashionistas Fact Sheet,”Mattel). And over the years, even in her early years, Barbie has had an impressive resume, racking up over3/8/16, 5:36 PMHow Many Diﬀerent Barbies? How Many Diﬀerent Girls? How Many Diﬀerent Girls in Mathematics? - Furthering Girls' Math IdentityPage 2 of 3http://www.girlsmathidentity.org/v/howmanydiﬀerentbarbiesTweet Sign Up to see what your friends like.Like Share                           150 careers, including that of a presidential candidate back in 1992.So, if Barbie was available in any combination of the 4 body types, 7 skintones, 22 eye colors, 24 hairstyles and textures, and, let’s say, 150careers, a simple permutation (4 x 7 x 22 x 24 x 150) would provide2,217,600 different Barbies (see The Math Forum @ Drexel). Obviously,Mattel has no plans to manufacture over 2.2 million different Barbies; itwould be a marketing and sales disaster.Nevertheless, let’s push into the over 2.2 million Barbies. In the permutation of just five characteristics or,might we say, identity markers, the possibility of difference grew exponentially into the millions. What if wewere to consider other identities markers beyond body types, “race,” and profession, such as ethnicity,language, class, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, dis/ableness, and so on. I think you get thepoint. Our 2.2 million different Barbies would quickly expand beyond the nearly 640 million school-aged (6–17) girls in the world.   That’s a lot of school-aged girls! So, when we say “Furthering Girls’ Math Identity,” which girls are we talkingabout? Can we group all girls into a single category? Or might there be some sub-categories that makesense? Some sub-sub-categories? How might we be diligent in understanding the need, at times, tostrategically group all girls into a single category while simultaneously acknowledging the grave dangers indoing so? How might we acknowledge that there’s not just one Barbie but rather over 640 million? We mustbe cautious. We must recognize that girls, like all humans, experience life (and mathematics) at intersectionsof a multiplicity of identity markers.In the end, to further girls’ math identity, we need to build understandings of how White, English speaking,middle-class girls (might) experience math differently than Black girls, than Latinas, than working-class girls,and so on. We need to learn how we might integrate what we’ve learned about mathematics teaching andlearning and other identities markers (e.g., race, ethnicity, language, class, etc.) in our discussions andunderstandings about furthering girls’ math identity? Although more than 50 years late, we can learnsomething from the permutations of Barbie. Over 640 million school-aged girls is a lot of different girls!David W. StinsonAssociate Professor of Mathematics EducationCollege of Education and Human Development, Georgia State University, Atlanta.3/8/16, 5:36 PMHow Many Diﬀerent Barbies? How Many Diﬀerent Girls? How Many Diﬀerent Girls in Mathematics? - Furthering Girls' Math IdentityPage 3 of 3http://www.girlsmathidentity.org/v/howmanydiﬀerentbarbiesNSF Award Number: 1348524. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of theNational Science Foundation.Report Abuse | Powered By  Google Sites

How Many Different Barbies? How Many Different Girls? How Many Different Girls in Mathematics?

Georgia State University

Georgia State University
ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University
Middle and Secondary Education Faculty
Publications Department of Middle and Secondary Education
2016
How Many Different Barbies? How Many
Different Girls? How Many Different Girls in
Mathematics?
David W. Stinson
Georgia State University, dstinson@gsu.edu
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/mse_facpub
Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons, and the Junior High, Intermediate, Middle
School Education and Teaching Commons
This Blog Post is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Middle and Secondary Education at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State
University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks
@ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact scholarworks@gsu.edu.
Recommended Citation
Stinson, D. (posting as Furthering Girls' Math Identity). (7 March 2016). How Many Different Barbies? How Many Different Girls?
How Many Different Girls in Mathematics? [blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.girlsmathidentity.org/v/
howmanydifferentbarbies
3/8/16, 5:36 PMHow Many Diﬀerent Barbies? How Many Diﬀerent Girls? How Many Diﬀerent Girls in Mathematics? - Furthering Girls' Math Identity
Page 1 of 3http://www.girlsmathidentity.org/v/howmanydiﬀerentbarbies
HOME CONVENING COMMUNITY/NIC VIEWPOINTS LEARN MORE CONTACT US
Viewpoints​ > ​
How Many Different Barbies? How Many Different Girls? How Many Different
Girls in Mathematics?
posted Mar 7, 2016, 2:23 PM by Furthering Girls' Math Identity   [ updated 6 hours ago ]
It’s not often that a child’s toy becomes a cover story but that’s exactly what Barbie did on February 8, 2016
(see “A Barbie for Every Body,” Time). The cover story reported how Mattel, the toy giant, finally decided that
the 57-year old icon just might need to become somewhat representative of the body shapes of human
women (see “What would a Real Life Barbie Look Like,” BBC News Magazine).
The news that Barbie would be available in four “body types”—curvy, tall, petite, and “original”—was not only
a Time cover story but also a topic of discussion of nearly every media outlet: radio and television news and
talk shows, conventional and avant-garde news papers, and literally dozens of magazines, from Cosmopolitan
to WIRED. And, of course, Barbie and her new body types were all the buzz on social media for days.
Never in her 57-year history has Barbie received so much favorable press. But not all of the press in the
recent weeks has been favorable, even the news of the different body types came with some of the ongoing
critiques. Some of which can even be found in scholarly journals (see “Does Barbie Make Girls Want to Be
Thin? The Effect of Experimental Exposure to Images of Dolls on the Body Image of 5- to 8-Year-Old Girls,”
Developmental Psychology). Unfavorable critique, in general, is what Barbie has most often experienced.
Remember the fortunate unfavorable critique over twenty years ago when Teen Talk Barbie spoke the words,
“Math class is tough” (see “Mattel Says It Erred; Teen Talk Barbie Turns Silent on Math,” New York Times).
Nonetheless, Barbie over the years has provided me with a simple and straightforward social justice
mathematics lesson, one that can work for nearly any age group. It’s the scaling up lesson (see “How Big is
Barbie?” MPJ). Depending on the age group, after doing the mathematics one can decide how far to take the
social justice issues by asking different questions: Who created the icon? Who does the icon serve? How does
the icon reify “a woman’s place”? How does the icon limit “beauty”? How does the icon limit girls’ and
women’s possibilities? For older students, one can turn to issues such as eating disorders (see “The Scary
Reality of a Real-Life Barbie Doll,” Huffpost College) or to conversations about body images in the media
generally, for both girls and boys.
The introduction of new body types is not the first time that Mattel has attempted to reinvent a 1959 toy for
twenty-first century girls (and boys). In 2015, Mattel expanded Barbie’s look with the addition of “23 dolls
with new skin tones, hair color, and most notably a flat foot” (see “Barbie 2016 Fashionistas Fact Sheet,”
Mattel). And over the years, even in her early years, Barbie has had an impressive resume, racking up over
3/8/16, 5:36 PMHow Many Diﬀerent Barbies? How Many Diﬀerent Girls? How Many Diﬀerent Girls in Mathematics? - Furthering Girls' Math Identity
Page 2 of 3http://www.girlsmathidentity.org/v/howmanydiﬀerentbarbies
Tweet Sign Up to see what your friends like.Like Share
   
                 
       
150 careers, including that of a presidential candidate back in 1992.
So, if Barbie was available in any combination of the 4 body types, 7 skin
tones, 22 eye colors, 24 hairstyles and textures, and, let’s say, 150
careers, a simple permutation (4 x 7 x 22 x 24 x 150) would provide
2,217,600 different Barbies (see The Math Forum @ Drexel). Obviously,
Mattel has no plans to manufacture over 2.2 million different Barbies; it
would be a marketing and sales disaster.
Nevertheless, let’s push into the over 2.2 million Barbies. In the permutation of just five characteristics or,
might we say, identity markers, the possibility of difference grew exponentially into the millions. What if we
were to consider other identities markers beyond body types, “race,” and profession, such as ethnicity,
language, class, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, dis/ableness, and so on. I think you get the
point. Our 2.2 million different Barbies would quickly expand beyond the nearly 640 million school-aged (6–
17) girls in the world.   
That’s a lot of school-aged girls! So, when we say “Furthering Girls’ Math Identity,” which girls are we talking
about? Can we group all girls into a single category? Or might there be some sub-categories that make
sense? Some sub-sub-categories? How might we be diligent in understanding the need, at times, to
strategically group all girls into a single category while simultaneously acknowledging the grave dangers in
doing so? How might we acknowledge that there’s not just one Barbie but rather over 640 million? We must
be cautious. We must recognize that girls, like all humans, experience life (and mathematics) at intersections
of a multiplicity of identity markers.
In the end, to further girls’ math identity, we need to build understandings of how White, English speaking,
middle-class girls (might) experience math differently than Black girls, than Latinas, than working-class girls,
and so on. We need to learn how we might integrate what we’ve learned about mathematics teaching and
learning and other identities markers (e.g., race, ethnicity, language, class, etc.) in our discussions and
understandings about furthering girls’ math identity? Although more than 50 years late, we can learn
something from the permutations of Barbie. Over 640 million school-aged girls is a lot of different girls!
David W. Stinson
Associate Professor of Mathematics Education
College of Education and Human Development, Georgia State University, Atlanta.
3/8/16, 5:36 PMHow Many Diﬀerent Barbies? How Many Diﬀerent Girls? How Many Diﬀerent Girls in Mathematics? - Furthering Girls' Math Identity
Page 3 of 3http://www.girlsmathidentity.org/v/howmanydiﬀerentbarbies
NSF Award Number: 1348524. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
National Science Foundation.
Report Abuse | Powered By  Google Sites


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How Many Different Barbies? How Many Different Girls? How Many Different Girls in Mathematics?

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