Words can’t express how down with this I am. Long story short, there’s a petition on facebook to have Mattel make a ”Bald and Beautiful Barbie” doll to help little girls cope with the baldness associated with cancer treatments, Alopecia, and Trichotillomania. Long story even shorter: sign it, it’s good. The petition was started by some women whose daughters (and in some cases they themselves) had undergone chemo therapy, and it’s already gained enough steam that Mattel has responded with a “we get a lot of requests for new Barbies; we’re looking into it” statement. I see where this could go; with the whole “If we make this one, we have to make every other one blah, blah, fart noise”, but that’s not the case, because Cancer isn’t a race or religion or a NASCAR theme, it’s a horrible disease that kills indiscriminately, and little girls that are stricken with it deserve to feel as good about themselves as is humanly possible, because they’re fighting a battle that they didn’t ask for, and they’re doing it with less complaints than most adults would. If they want a Barbie, give it to them. There’s also a petition for a “Bald and Brave” GI Joe, and that should be made too, because bald guys look tougher anyway, so it’s not a stretch. So I call upon The Bald Army to check out the petitions here and here, and to sign the pants off them; and I close with this message to all the little bald-boys and bald-ettes out there fighting the good fight against the big C: Gentleman; you look tough as nails, and Ladies; you’re all beautiful. You’re welcome in The Bald Army anytime, because you’re some of the toughest little troopers in the world, and you’re my heroes.
