PrimeWire

I learned today that Mattel has released a Kahlo Barbie doll. She is part of the “Barbie Signature Inspiring Women Series”.

OK, let me remind you… At the age of six, Frida Kahlo contracted polio, and her long convalescence left her with a thinner and slightly shorter right leg. From then on, she had to wear a heel lift.
At the age of 18, Kahlo was involved in a bus accident in which a steel bar pierced her pelvis, forcing her to spend much of her daily life lying down and wearing a full-body cast or steel corset.

Contrary to all medical prognoses, she learned to walk again, but she suffered from the consequences of the accident throughout her life. Painting became an expression of her mental and physical torment. As a result of the accident, she was unable to have children. She processed several miscarriages in paintings such as “My Birth”, but they could not console her for the pain.
In 1953, her works were shown for the first time in her native Mexico in a solo exhibition, a recognition she had long desired. Because she was bedridden, she had herself carried to the opening in her bed. Shortly afterwards, her right lower leg was amputated.
After the amputation and countless operations on her vertebrae, there was hardly anything left of Kahlo’s joie de vivre in her art. After her death, she faded into oblivion, but - thank God - the women’s movement rediscovered her.

I have the utmost respect and admiration for this woman and how she dealt with the hardships of her life. She is one of the best among us. Ecce homo.

And the Barbie? Nothing to see. No scars. No amputation stump. No torment. Everything smooth.
Just a friendly plastic smile.

You’re making me really sad, Mattel.