The story below is a work of fiction.
The android sat crossed-legged and scratched at his head—two gestures he had learned from his days of living with real humans, when they were alive. He held one of their bodies in his hand. It didn’t move, just like all the other ones scattered in front of him. They never did. What did the other androids see in them? What to do with all these Barbie dolls?
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The age old question: How human-like can something be without actually being a human. And Barbie dolls, one of the worst forms of pollution on the earth.
That’s actually an interesting philosophical question I tackle offhand in the book I’m writing. It’s not the theme of the book at all, but a small part of a back and forth dialogue.
Do you mean the materials Barbie is/was made of, like literal pollution?
Both literal and cultural pollution. It’s the exaggerated physique that bugs me the most. It’s not presented in a cartoonish way, but as some kind of ideal.
The same thing with He-Man, too, and to a lesser degree other male action figures. Although, it affects girls more than boys, I think. He-Man’s body was aesthetics and power, but you can have power without the aesthetics…usually you can have more power if you’re not concerned with aesthetics, so men wouldn’t feel as inadequate without looking as such.