bi-kisses answered:
I don’t think there’s really any subtext suggesting she’s asexual, nor would it improve the messaging at all.
No offense because I get the desire for representation, but people not actively having a love interest in a movie is not ace coded. People in real life often have relationships, like with barbie and ken, that just aren’t… emotionally invested. The “no genitals” bit is because they’re literally dolls, I think we can all agree asexuals have genitals and to equate the two (being physically sexless and not feeling attraction) is actually very regressive as it wraps back around to this idea of asexuality making you broken and/or incomplete.
I think trying to warp the messaging to be about sexuality is missing the point. The sexualization of women can be contested and criticized without actually robbing women of our sexualities.
I know it does feel like a radfem take to say women get sexualized whenever they’re out in the world, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. Some women don’t at all, usually because of where they live, or if they don’t fit into the modern view of “sexy” to begin with. I know that I’ve been getting catcalled and leered at since I was in my preteens, it’s especially a problem with (this will sound weird) some of the Indian men who have immigrated here and just culturally have zero respect for women. I was in a bralette at the gas station and the old guy behind the counter couldn’t find the decency to look up from my chest while I paid. That’s one example of something I get pretty regularly, and tbh I don’t even HAVE nice tits.
All that to say that I didn’t find the barbie portrayal of being a woman dressed in tight/revealing clothes navigating the public to be unrealistic. I don’t think it’s meant to imply this is what every woman gets constantly, I mean, there are other women around in those scenes (and, I almost forgot, ken also gets ogled), it’s moreso discussing the way we’re all forced to portray ourselves in a muted and “sexed down” manner if we want to be respected, which really shouldn’t be the case. Women with skimpy shirts should receive eye contact at the gas station.
