Mysterious Experts Say Barbie Video Cam Too Pedophilic

Barbie Video Girl is a doll with a fully functional video camera in her chest — necklace-style lens in the front, teeny screen on the back — that kids use to shoot, upload, and edit mini-movies. And although the BVG’s already a popular toy in America, in Australia “experts” are calling for it to be banned, saying pedophiles might get their hands on the footage and ruin the fun. Which, 1), the way it’s presented (and the franticness of it all) makes it seem like the “experts” are experts in pedophilia, which isn’t a laughing matter, but is actually sort of darkly funny. And 2), unless I’m missing something, there’s a leap in logic — a pedophile would have to be handing out Barbies with the specific instructions that the child bring the Barbie back to him so he could watch the material (also, sorry, I’m getting in a little too deep here), which seems unlikely. Or a pedophile would have to lurk around trying to steal a Barbie Video Girl from someone, but that, too, seems like a stretch.

Do these pedophilia experts regular experts understand that it’s not like this footage is being streamed on the web in real time à la the Shiba Inu puppy cam? Not clear. Here’s my favorite quote from the leading “expert” cited:

As a child and adolescent psychologist, must I now also deal with clients who have been traumatised by a misused Barbie?

IDK, must you? And again, nothing about pedophilia is funny, so I realize this is a fine line to be walking, but “traumatized by a misused Barbie” would make a solid epitaph. In a non-pedophilic way. How many times can I say pedophilia in one blog post, I wonder, without setting off some kind of deep internet alarm? Maybe one is already sounding.

(Oh, and the Wall Street Journal’s Lauren Goode has a good run-down of the Barbie Video Girl if you’re thinking of buying.)