Barbie has been around since Mattel introduced the doll in 1959, and through all of her dream houses, career paths and fashion moments, her counterpart has always been Ken. But is there something Barbie isn’t telling us?
A tweet is going viral in which the user reveals that she just found out Barbie has a girlfriend; the photos in the tweet show Barbie and a lady friend both wearing “Love Wins” T-shirts and an accompanying 2017 VT article declaring that Barbie came out that week.
Though this is, of course, exciting the masses on Twitter, it’s not exactly that.
In 2017, fashion blogger and New York Times-bestselling author Aimee Song collaborated with Mattel in support of the Trevor Project, which works to prevent suicide in LGBTQ youth. As part of that collab, Song designed the "Love Wins" T-shirts while the toy manufacturer created a doll modeled after Song; the Aimee doll and Barbie doll then hung out together in their new threads over avocado toast and showed off their street style.
When the tweet blew up last night, Song quickly ID’d herself as the girlfriend in question.
Based on the original promotional Instagram post, it’s unclear if Barbie is supposed to be a simple ally or actually a member of the LGBTQ community herself, but either way, Twitter is running with it.
Someone's gotta break the news to Ken.