Don't fix what isn't broken—or, if you're Nickolay Lamm, wreck it and give it a period. That's what this guy just did to Barbie (or a variant therof):
What.
OMG no.
Um, I'm pretty sure “party” isn't how I would describe it.
Lamm describes himself as thus:
His mother’s dining room table is his office, but the world is Nickolay Lamm’s audience.
The 26-year-old Greenfield artist and researcher has been building a successful career posting thought-provoking, vividly designed content on the Internet, with his work appearing everywhere from CNN to the BBC, CBS, TheAtlantic.com and Time.
I'm not trying to be malicious (considering a man invented the tampon and really, I don't care, God bless America) but a 26 year-old man who works from his mother's dining room designing period dolls for girls is slightly off-putting.
The product comes with:
1 educational pamphlet
1 pair of panties, fits Lammily doll
18 reusable colored pads and liners stickers
1 calendar & dot stickers
Where is the chocolate on this list? Don't try to sell me on a Period Party and absent your verbiage is bar of Ghirardelli.
I don't understand this, from the company website:
With women (and even male allies) beginning to fight back against period shaming they experience in their daily lives — such as Instagram banning period blood for instance — Lammily’s Period Party could not have started at a better time.
Who puts PERIOD BLOOD on Instagram?! It's about modesty which somehow certain factions of our society conflate with “shame.” Can we also teach the next generation of girls the correct definitions of certain words, like “modesty” and “shame?” Yes, there are certain things you don't share with the Internet. It's the reason TMI was coined. It's a crazy thought, I know, in this society where we feel like we have to update everyone with everything we do all of the time. We have become so thin-skinned. My friend Katie quipped “It's like the worst after school special ever.” Remember, this is a man who is trying to convince women that they need his product in order for young girls to overcome the “shame” of having a period. Furthermore, I don't have to jump up in a restaurant, whip out a 'pon, and holler that I'm going to swap the cotton in order to achieve a sense of “pride” about a period.
(All my guy friends are asking when the Lil' Boner/Boner Buddies products hit the shelves. They're divided on the name.)
BTW—can people stop acting as though a doll which has been around for eons has anything to do with body image? Stop stigmatizing girls who like to play with dolls that have perpetually beautiful blow outs, freakishly tiny waists, and itty bitty feet. If girls develop issues because of Barbie then their parents have failed to adequately convey that it's a DOLL. Boys aren't freaking out over G.I. Joe.
Related—the above is more awkward than what my mother purchased for me to read as a pre-teen.
