Gettin' Wild in Her Old Age...

As you may well know, Barbie, that shining, blonde goddess to little girls everywhere, turns 50 this month. Not only does that b*tch still look pretty good for 50, but she's getting a little wild. The hottest thing on the market is Totally Stylin' Tattoo Barbie. She comes complete with a fake, pink tattoo gun, tattoo stickers for Barbie, and wet-and-stick style tattoos for the girls. I think this is hilarious.

I think my favorite part is how pissed off it is making all those soccer moms out there. Come on, ladies, let's get real! First of all, this doll is not exactly rebellion incarnate. She's still got the long blonde hair and she's wearing mom-jeans and a sparkly pink top. Her tattoos of choice? Smiley faces, puppy dogs, and cupcakes. That's realistic. It's not like we're looking at a biker chick with flaming skulls and Chinese characters! Mattel is simple grasping at straws, trying to keep up with the times and stay on top of the market. What do little girls love? Stickers! How many of those said stickers will probably end up on notebooks and pieces of bedroom furniture rather than the doll? Probably at least half.

I, personally, have two tattoos, not to mention the fact that I have my nose pierced. Am I going to freak out and hide those things from my children in the future? Hell no! Am I going to take them by the hand to get their own first tattoo? Hell no! Am I going to encourage self expression in appropriate ways that are meaningful to them? Absolutely!

I say we should welcome Barbie to this new phase of her life. 50 is the new 40, right? Roll with the times and have some fun along the way. It's not like we're encouraging people to have multiple, painful surgeries to emulate Barbie's look...oh wait...never mind...