Post-Racist Barbie: White Feminism and the Limits of Diversity

This chapter offers a critical analysis of depictions of race and racism in Barbie (2023). On the surface, Barbie Land is a world of racial equality, a multicultural utopia in which racism does not exist. However, by bringing together critical scholarship on systemic racism, colour-blindness and diversity, this chapter shows how white feminism, defined by the supposed universality of the white experience of gender oppression, shapes this post-racial fantasy. By presenting a racially diverse cast but choosing not to engage with racism, the film’s feminist argument relies on racism being seen as external to sexism, rather than inextricably linked to it. Positioning Barbies as a unified group of feminists not only conceals the role of white feminists in the perpetuation of racism but also ensures that racial equality in Barbie Land is reliant on all Barbies conforming to white, middle-class norms, restricting any difference that might disrupt the white feminist worldview. This chapter argues that the fantasy of racial diversity in Barbie Land reduces race to a superficial, depoliticised visual difference, leading to a limited representation of racism which obscures the causes of ongoing racial inequality in the real world.