If Barbie were a real person, she’d surely turn heads. She’d be a 5’9, 110-pound woman wearing a double-zero miniskirt. Her size-3 feet would slide into sky-high heels, and she wouldn’t be able to walk upright. She’d also wear a buxom C-cup bra.
Ruth Handler, co-founder and one-time president of toy company Mattel and Barbie’s creator, gave her that curvaceous figure on purpose.
“Every little girl needed a doll through which to project herself into her dream of her future,” Handler told The New York Times in 1977. “If she was going to do role playing of what she would be like when she was 16 or 17, it was a little stupid to play with a doll that had a flat chest. So, I gave it beautiful breasts.”
Before her death, Handler was known to say, “I’ve lived my life from breast to breast,” per her obituary in the Los Angeles Times. And, she did.
After leaving Mattel in 1973, she went on to create a first-of-its-kind breast prosthetic for women who had undergone mastectomies. Yes, Handler was the first person to give children’s dolls an adult figure, but she also helped breast cancer survivors reconnect with their own bodies again, too.
Barbie’s breasts caused controversy during the toy’s development.
In the 1950s, little girls played with “brides and baby dolls, mostly baby dolls,” says Giovanna Riccio, author of Plastic's Republic, a book based on the impact of Barbie on beauty. She adds that girls engaging in social play with these kinds of dolls were “groomed to be wives, mothers and basically household accessories themselves.”
But despite Handler’s conviction that it was important for young girls’ self-esteem to play with realistic, “adult” dolls with breasts, nearly everyone else was opposed to the idea, from the mothers in research and development test groups, to buyers at the New York Toy Fair, and even her own team.
“One of the mothers said, ‘You know, girls don't want adults with breasts. They want to be mommies,’” Riccio says. “Handler said, ‘No, they don’t. They want to be bigger girls.’”
Barbie creator Ruth Handler named the doll after her daughter Barbara.
To this day, Barbie gets a lot of flack for perpetuating unhealthy beauty standards. And while there is plenty of valid criticism around her unrealistic figure, Handler was more focused on the fact that her Barbie could be anything her young owner imagined her to be.
The doll was created at a time when women weren’t afforded much autonomy or options outside of the home. But Barbie could do what other women couldn’t. She had a Dream House, went to the moon, had her own camper van, and a cute, unoppressive boyfriend named Ken before unmarried American women could even own a credit card.
Handler marketed Barbie as a real woman who had access to a fun, carefree, independent lifestyle most women of that era (including she, herself) didn’t. Big boobs were just part of the package.
Handler was Mattel’s president when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970.
She had a mastectomy that same year. At that point, there were no viable non-surgical alternatives for breast reconstruction, aside from padding or stuffing your bra, explains Dr. Philipp Franck, a board certified plastic surgeon specializing in facial surgery and breast surgery.
Women who’d had breasts removed during mastectomies would use "tissue paper, cotton, or socks" to create the "appearance of a breast shape under clothing,” adds Dr. Ira Savetsky, a board-certified plastic surgeon specializing in aesthetic surgery of the face, nose, breasts, and body.
Usually, women who wanted to recreate their missing breast would insert the filler into their bra or attach it directly to their chests. The fake “boobs” were uncomfortable, looked unrealistic, and did little for women hoping to reconnect with their sense of self.
And after buying (and trying) every prosthetic breast option on the market, Handler found herself disheartened and dissatisfied with her options.
She took matters into her own hands.
Around the same time Handler was dealing with her breast cancer, Handler was investigated along with other former Mattel executives by the SEC for allegedly inflating earnings between 1971 and 1973. She and her husband parted ways with the brand in 1974. In 1978, Handler was charged with fraud and false reporting to the SEC in order to drive up the stock of the company, per ABC News. She pleaded no contest to the charges and was given community service hours and a hefty fine. Still, Handler’s name was, and always would be, synonymous with Barbie and Mattel.
This visionary couldn’t just settle into retirement, though. She was quickly on to a new venture, motivated by frustration with the lack of prosthetic choices—and the desire to help women have options. The result was a first-of-its-kind, lifelike, breast prosthetic for women who had undergone mastectomies.
Her invention came from a place of personal struggle. “I’d been opinionated and outspoken. I had strong leadership skills. I had been running a company making hundreds of millions of dollars a year. We had 15,000 employees. I had a big job. But suddenly,” she said, per The LA Times, “I was supposed to whisper about what I’d been through.”
Handler started working with a prosthetic designer to develop her new vision for a fake breast. Two years later, in 1976, the Nearly Me liquid silicone prosthetics arrived, complete with 70 different size options at affordable prices (from $98 to $130, per the NYT), and customized right and left breasts. They were new to the market, and had the potential to change the way women who had undergone mastectomies lived their lives.
“The emphasis on breasts in our society is so large that sometimes a woman's image of herself, how sexy she is, how beautiful she is, depends on her breasts. I felt this, when my own breast was gone, that I was less than a woman. I had to find a way to get a better self-image,” Handler told The New York Times.
While Handler’s experience might not apply to all, she knew there would be some survivors who related to her struggle. And data supports her. After a mastectomy, it’s common for women to feel “fear, hopelessness, depression, and a negative attitude about their body,” as well as to experience psychological reactions like anxiety and depression, according to a 2015 study published in the National Library of Medicine.
The Nearly Me prosthesis marked a “significant step forward” in the design and technology of breast prostheses, thanks to its innovative use of soft silicone and foam padding, says Dr. Franck. This, in turn, set new standards for realism and comfort in the prosthetic breast world. And of course, it also offered some women a self-image boost.
The fake boobs were a way to connect with—and help— survivors.
Nearly Me’s small team included eight other middle-aged women, most of whom were also breast cancer survivors who’d undergone mastectomies. Together, they personally fit countless women who came to purchase Handler’s product. And Handler herself even fit Betty Ford, the first lady, with a Nearly Me artificial breast.
By 1980, sales had surpassed $1 million, and 11 years later, Handler sold her company to Kimberly-Clark, according to the LA Times.
Handler was determined to find a place for her prosthetics in the market, connect with other survivors, and spread breast cancer awareness along the way. In fact, she was known to ask reporters to feel her breasts to see if they could tell which was real, Dr. Franck says.
So, from talk shows, to presentations and training for department store staff, Handler sold her breasts as she candidly shared her own mastectomy journey.
“Her efforts helped shed light on the physical, emotional, and psychological aspects of breast cancer, fostering a sense of community and understanding among survivors,” Dr. Savetsky explains.
Handler poses with The Nearly Me breast prosthesis.
Handler knew the inherent power a breast could have.
With Barbie, she helped create a new vision of womanhood, and with her prosthetics, she carried that dream one step further, carving a new path forward for breast cancer survivors. Having a prominent, powerful woman advocate on a then-taboo issue offered survivors hope. But most importantly, she “left a lasting legacy in the field of breast cancer care” that ensured “future generations of survivors would benefit from her pioneering work,” says Dr. Savetsky.
"When I conceived Barbie, I believed it was important to a little girl's self-esteem to play with a doll that has breasts," Handler once said, per The New York Times. "Now I find it even more important to return that self-esteem to women who have lost theirs.”
Rae Witte is a writer based in New York.
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