Ken’s rights? Our research shows Barbie is surprisingly accurate on how ‘men’s rights activists’ are radicalised
The Kens however, reflecting the popularity of the dolls in the real world, play a mainly decorative role.
- The Kens however, reflecting the popularity of the dolls in the real world, play a mainly decorative role.
- This is all to fix an error that is allowing the real world to seep into Barbie land, with symptoms such as Barbie having an existential crisis.
- This sees him take a journey that is clearly influenced by, and pokes fun at, many aspects of contemporary anti-feminist men’s rights culture.
Barbieland and the matriarchy
- It has been proposed that Barbieland is a matriarchy, but I would argue that their attitude to Kens is instead indifference.
- This is not dissimilar to the grievances of some real-life men under contemporary feminism.
- Having undertaken research on online antifeminist discourses, Ken’s journey from aggrievement to masculine “enlightenment” parallels themes we found in Men’s Rights Activist spaces.
The manosphere and MRAS
- This includes MRAs (Men’s Rights Activists) who claim reverse discrimination and that feminism has gone too far, and Redpillers who claim to have swallowed the “red pill” to see the truth about feminism’s dominance.
- Some of the most well known members of the manosphere are incels (involuntary celibates) a misogynistic community of self identified “beta-males” who want an end to women’s rights which prevent them from getting sex.
Ken’s grievances
- Ken was being “friend-zoned” by Barbie, who despite being “boyfriend and girlfriend” wouldn’t let him stay over at the Dream House, because “every night is girl’s night”.
- This is coupled with a feeling of not being special, as Ken is essentially interchangeable with any other Ken.
- He takes patriarchy back to Barbieland and transforms it to Kendom, where the men change it to a society oriented around men and their power (and horses…).
Redpilled ken
- This redpilled Ken is a hilarious parody of the “neomasculinity” of the pick up artist (PUA) movement, that seeks to restore a masculine-centred world.
- Neomasculinity is about a belief in biological difference, traditional masculinity and heteronormative gender roles.
Finding the real Ken
- But what of Just Beach Ken?
- And what can we learn from this for preventing or managing radicalisation of this feeling of aggrievement in real men or boys?
- Barbie encourages Ken to work out who he is outside of his relation to Barbie, and to learn being Just Ken is enough.