Nope, Barbie does not have a girlfriend, but she’s a proud LGBTQ ally
While the idea of Barbie going queer has excited the Twitterverse, the world famous fashion doll is anything but.
On Tuesday, Jan. 12, a queer netizen based in Ohio tweeted that she had “just learned Barbie has a girlfriend.”
The tweet included a photo of Barbie with another female doll, both wearing t-shirts that read “love wins”. The Twitter user coupled it with a screenshot of a Google result for a 2017 article that said Mattel had given “Barbie her first girlfriend.”
It has been retweeted over 21,000 times to date with one Twitter user saying, “Big win for everyone that made their Barbie dolls scissor when they were kids.”
Big win for Everyone that made their Barbie dolls scissor when they were kids
— cockroach queen (@gabagoolpentin) January 12, 2021
Another one said, “I am so glad queer Asian kids today get to grow up with this. Apparently, the doll is named Aimee and I’m pretty sure she’s based on a real person !!”
True enough, the doll suspected to be Barbie’s soulmate is the toy figure of American designer and fashion blogger Aimee Song.
Mattel created a doll and miniature versions of her “love wins” t-shirt to promote the designer who was raising money for the Trevor Project to help LGBT+ youth in crisis.
Mattel shared a photo of Barbie and Song’s doll on the Barbie Style Instagram page on Nov. 23, 2017.
The caption read, “Proud to wear this ‘Love Wins’ shirt with @songofstyle! Did you know that her exclusive t-shirts benefit different causes and non-profits? Such an inspiring initiative and fabulous few days I have spent with Aimee, she’s a doll!”
Song later confirmed that the figure was likened to her by uploading her photo with the doll, wearing the same ‘Love Wins’ shirt.
“I am the girlfriend,” Song said in her tweet.
However, Song earlier explained on her blog that she is an LGBTQ “ally, and someone who really believes that love wins.”
I am the girlfriend ?❤️ https://t.co/di7nhOIuPa pic.twitter.com/U6DC7ligns
— Aimee [Ah-Mee] Song (@AIMEESONG) January 12, 2021
Besides Barbie being an LGBTQ ally, Mattel also launched a set of gender non-conforming and inclusive dolls under its Creatable World line in the US back in 2019.
Banner photos from Barbie Style on Instagram.
