Mattel’s 'Phoenix' Barbie Doll: It’s Just A Bun … So What?
Shouldn’t the first consideration on appropriate hairstyles be safety? Or perhaps readiness?
Ed. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts on motherhood in the legal profession, in partnership with our friends at MothersEsquire. Welcome Sam Sliney back to our pages. Click here if you’d like to donate to MothersEsquire.
A few weeks ago, I received my much-anticipated Phoenix Barbie doll. Mattel produced the doll as a representation of the woman fighter pilot, Phoenix, cast in the box office hit “Top Gun: Maverick.” First off, my intent is not a critique of the character Phoenix (I think she is fantastic and a complete badass!) but instead to highlight how industry and the Navy may have missed the mark on taking advantage of an opportunity to highlight diversity and inclusion progress in the Navy and the real-world experiences of women fighter pilots.
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One of the first things I noticed was that Phoenix has her lovely brown locks pulled back into a neat bun at the base of her neck. Admittedly, this has caused me a mixed emotional reaction since. In fact, as I pondered whether my mixed emotions were misguided or misplaced, I decided that on the heels of Women’s Veterans Day and Fourth of July, there is no better time than now to share my thoughts.
On June 12, 2018, the first Women’s Veterans Day was celebrated, recognizing the legislation, the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, signed into law by President Harry S. Truman on June 12, 1948, officially allowing women to serve in the regular armed forces and recognizing the contributions made by women as essential to the war efforts.
Now, what is the connection between Women’s Veterans Day and the Barbie doll Phoenix? Even though women have been allowed to serve in the regular armed forces since 1948, the Department of Defense and Services are still in the throes of figuring out how to fully integrate women into the services, particularly in combat communities like fighter pilots. As I have said before, we have come a long way, and having a woman fighter pilot in “Top Gun: Maverick” is evidence of those strides, but the mere fact that Phoenix sports a neatly kept bun shows that we still have a long way to go.
Only 4% of fighter pilots in the Navy are women. Only 2% of fighter pilots in the Air Force are women. The Navy had its first woman fighter pilot in 1975, Capt. Rosemary Mariner (retired). By contrast, the Air Force did not have its first woman fighter pilot, Maj. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, until 1993, some 18 years later.
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If you remember, Leavitt served as the inspiration for the 2019 Pentagon-supported box office hit, “Captain Marvel.” In that movie, a former U.S. Air Force test pilot, Carol Danvers, transforms into a Marvel superhero. One thing you notice is that images of Carol Danvers in military uniform also depict her hair pulled back into a bun neatly kept at the base of her neck. But another thing you notice is her co-star and best friend is a Black women fighter pilot, something you do not see often in real life.
So back to the “bun” and my reaction to seeing Phoenix sporting one. You see the “bun” is a symbol to many military women of the obstacles, hurdles, and downright “otherness” of being a woman in the military. In 1948, military officials at the time concluded that the “perfect” balance for women’s hairstyles as women were integrated into the armed forces would be the “bun” or the “bob” haircut. Leaders thoughts these styles struck the perfect balance between not being “too pretty” that men would be enticed to cheat on their wives and not “too butch” in fear that military women would all be gay. Just typing that sentence makes me cringe!
Shouldn’t the first consideration on appropriate hairstyles be safety? Or perhaps readiness? What is funny about the “bun,” and what is not depicted by Phoenix, is that a woman pilot cannot wear her flight helmet appropriately without taking her hair out of the bun and putting it in a ponytail. This applies anytime that a woman is required to wear a combat helmet, or the protective equipment worn during a chemical exposure, she must take her hair out of the bun to properly wear the equipment.
Clearly, this presents a readiness issue, and the woman is considered out of standards because a ponytail is not an authorized hair style! The “bun” has been linked to medical conditions like traction alopecia and migraines. So not only is this a policy not conducive to safety, but it causes medical conditions that impact readiness and for what? To satisfy an antiquated 1940s rationale? You can probably understand why Phoenix’s “bun” caused a reaction for me.
Now back to Phoenix and “Top Gun: Maverick.” In all accounts, the inclusion of a woman fighter pilot into this movie has largely been celebrated as a huge win for women (yes, it is a huge win for representation that should be celebrated just like we celebrated Captain Marvel and her rockstar best friend), but we must not overlook how we may have missed the mark here.
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The production of this movie started on March 30, 2018. Interestingly enough, the Navy updated its hair policy to allow women to wear ponytails on July 16, 2018, only four months after movie production started. Arguably, the Navy led the way in this movement, making changes almost three years before the Air Force and Army. (Big kudos to the Navy!) So why not capitalize on this milestone by showcasing it through the character Phoenix? Did the Navy and Paramount Pictures miss the mark on highlighting this “new” idea of what service women look like? Should we have celebrated this change through Phoenix?
Absolutely. We could have highlighted progress for women in the Navy and shifted the narrative from an antiquated idea of how women in the military should look. Our Marine Corps sisters are still battling this antiquated idea as the last service not to authorize the wear of a ponytail for its service women.
So, what is Mattel’s role in this by way of the Phoenix Barbie doll? Mattel’s Phoenix Barbie doll was released on November 10, 2021, well after the Navy change its hair regulations. While Mattel was likely focused on recreating an exact replica of the Phoenix character from the movie, does that mean it could not have made a doll with a ponytail vs. a bun? No, not at all. Should Mattel have helped celebrate this progress through Phoenix? Absolutely.
Did we miss the mark on promoting inclusivity for women in the military through Phoenix? Did we fail to accurately showcase women fighter pilots in today’s military? Possibly. Could Phoenix have been married like many women fighter pilots? Married to another woman? To another servicemember? Have children? The list could go on. All these things would have truly demonstrated what it looks like to be a woman fighter pilot in the U.S. military today.
Even more importantly and beyond just the “bun” is the reality that women fighter pilots often must delay or forgo things liking getting married and having children to be as successful as Phoenix was in the movie. The idea of “choosing career over family” is the reality that our women fighter pilots face every day. In the original “Top Gun,” Goose had a wife and child. It would be nearly impossible for a mid-20s Phoenix in today’s military to have that level of success and be married with kids. This is reality given the barriers women fighter pilots face in their career that their men counterparts do not.
Phoenix means so much more than just a badass fighter pilot. She is not just a Barbie doll. She is a symbol. A symbol of hope. Change. Inclusion. But also, a symbol of the barriers, obstacles, and the sacrifices women fighter pilots, and women in the military, face each day, and what they must give up and endure to serve their country. While Phoenix highlighted just how badass women can be (which we all knew anyways), it is a reminder to the American people of the continued efforts that are necessary to ensure we have the most lethal force ready to answer our nation’s call regardless of gender.
Sam Sliney is a mother of two and wife to an Army Green Beret. Since 2014, she has served in the U.S. Air Force as a Judge Advocate (JAG). She is currently assigned to a Special Operations Forces (SOF) unit where she provides legal advice on a wide array of legal issues to include operations and international law. Sam is passionate about creating an inclusive Department of the Air Force and Department of Defense to increase lethality of the joint force. Specifically, she advocates for equitable support and accessibility for women during all phases of womanhood, particularly pregnancy and post-partum.
