A group of topless women’s right protesters showed up on Friday to protest the opening of a giant pink doll house known as the “ Barbie Dreamhouse Experience.”
The protesters took to the streets of Berlin as Mattel announced the opening of the interactive house. Participants can try on clothes, play in the homes kitchen, and even play Barbie’s pink piano.
The Dreamhouse Experience is a temporary build that will remain in place until August 25.
One of the topless woman at the protest wrote the words “Life in plastic is not fantastic” across her bare chest.
Protesters also set fire to a Barbie doll that was tied to a mini crucifix.
Stevie Meriel Schmiedel, a founding member of the “Pink Stinks” protest group, tells the HuffingtonPost :
“There’s too much emphasis on becoming more beautiful and on being pretty and that puts an awful lot of pressure on girls as well as wasting capacities which they could use to simply be happy or for school.”
Schmiedel then added:
“We’re protesting because Barbie would not be able to survive with her figure and yet she is an idol for many girls and that’s not healthy.”
It wasn’t just topless women who were protesting the Barbie Dreamhouse Experience; a male protester stood among his female counterparts while wearing a shimmering skirt, a pink shirt and a wig. The man held a sign that read “do you like me now?”
Officials for Mattel note that the Barbie Dreamhouse Experience is not just full of womanly type activities; it also features other hands-on activities.
Since debuting in 1959, the Barbie doll and her slim waistline and large breasts has drawn plenty of criticism. Typically that criticism isn’t followed by topless women and men in skirts, but nothing really surprises us when it comes to Barbie protests.
You can check out photos from the topless Barbie protest here .