Image courtesy of barbiethemovie from IG

By Charlie Sawyer

Published Jul 18, 2023 at 01:13 PM

Reading time: 3 minutes

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Something that I didn’t predict for 2023 was none other than literal Barbie herself, aka queen of the film world Margot Robbie, being referred to as “mid” online. Saying that, the audacity of men really shouldn’t surprise me anymore. While I normally wouldn’t dabble or dip my toes into the cesspit of bearded 55-year-old men sitting behind computer screens trashing women who’re miles out of their league, I feel it’s part of my feminist duty to defend Miss Margot.

Twitter has always been a place where sexism thrives and, unsurprisingly, we’ve seen an uptake in misogyny on the platform ever since a certain ego-centric tech mogul, aka Elon Musk, took over. No wonder everyone’s ditching that dumpster fire and migrating to Threads.

So, while the Barbie bashing isn’t completely unexpected, the real madness behind this online discourse is the fact that while everyone is busy being angry about the conversation, we’re missing the actual crux of the problem here. This misogyny runs a lot deeper than surface-level sexism.

Internet trolls who, let’s face it, are mostly men, have deemed Margot Robbie as mid because she’s starring in a role where the male gaze is not a priority. Her beauty and femininity serve her and her alone—that’s why men have decided that she’s no longer f*ckable. It probably also doesn’t help that Ryan Gosling’s Ken is playing the soft superhero we’ve all been searching for.

The easiest way to understand this manosphere lunacy is to recall how Robbie was sexualised and objectified after starring in The Wolf of Wall Street. Robbie’s looks and attractiveness were never questioned when she played a young woman who embodied female sexuality, while offering herself willingly to the onscreen “alpha male”, and for the most part, accepted adultery as an inevitable part of monogamy. Weird how the concept of “mid” was never broached then huh?

Moreover, the fact that Robbie encapsulates so many Westernised concepts of beauty, shows how far these men are going to try and painstakingly prove that she only has an approachable level of attractiveness—like this matters at all anyway. It’s a worrying development, because if Robbie is now being deemed as mid—an actor who was cast as a doll that has long been the blueprint for identity crisis and dysphoria in young girls—what does that say about other women whose beauty doesn’t sit within eurocentric ideals?

Lead-chauvanist in this debate is undoubtedly Twitter user and “writer” Billy Pratt (who, naturally has the word “bad” in his username). Pratt’s most viral post regarding this conversation went as follows: “Margot Robbie is “hot” in a way that women think is hot and not hot in a way men find sexually stimulating. Her casting is a safe choice rather than an actress who actually resembles a Barbie doll because women would not want to watch a 24-year-old with DDs bouncing around the screen even if it’s more authentic to the character.”

Rather than completely dissect the sheer stupidity of this Tweet, I thought it’d be far more productive to consider some of Pratt’s otherwise knowledge. Some of my favourites are included below:

I personally don’t think I’ve ever seen such a distinct example of a man whose ability to reach an audience is solely dependent on the existence of women like Robbie, women who are barely even scratching the surface of a subversion of society’s beauty standards. She’s tall, white, and skinny for f*cks sake, it’s not like it was that much of a risk to cast her in the titular role, like Pratt seems to suggest.

Barbie has single-handedly proved the weight and power women have, both onscreen and behind the camera—and the film hasn’t even come out yet! The Barbie film encapsulates the feminism that we want to see in the 21st century, a diverse landscape where women aren’t bound by prehistoric domestic or maternal stereotypes. Some men clearly simply just cannot handle that, and relying on age-old quips about appearance and desirability is the only ammunition they feel they have left.

Oh, and not to mention, 100 per cent of the ‘mid’ jokes are basically shrouded coverups for the fact that grown men have an aversion to women who’re over the age of 25. Leo, you’re in good company. Have fun at the sad single’s mixer.