Scientific Meeting

Drs. Rosemary Balsam and Phillip Blumberg will present a joint exploration of different dimensions of the 2023 Barbie film and the enduring cultural role of the Barbie doll since its debut in 1959. They will examine how both therapists and patients—across generations—have shared this symbolic object in their inner worlds, with particular attention to the psychological tensions around sex, gender, and identity that surfaced in clinical work since the film’s release. The making of the film, the design of the doll, and the narrative script all reflect deep psychic dilemmas surrounding these themes.

Dr. Balsam will explore the meanings and functions of dolls through the lens of classical psychoanalytic theory—particularly the influence of a traditionally male interpretive frame. She will address the inadvertent misuses of the concept of “femininity,” as reflected in the cultural portrayal of female “liberation” through Barbie’s body image, peer relationships, and adult interactions. She will further explore the countertransference risks of using culturally derived, punitive, or idealized versions of femininity in therapeutic work, contrasting them with a more clinically grounded, individualized developmental understanding of the term.

Dr. Blumberg will address the cinematic impact of the film as a cultural screen event. His discussion will include its cinematographic techniques, feminist and political dimensions, and the projection of inner conflicts around sex, gender, and power. He will examine how the film functions as a contemporary arena for the expression and negotiation of these psychic tensions.

The presentation will include visual slides, and audience members will be invited to share their own reflections on the clinical and personal struggles surrounding the concept of femininity.

Learning Objectives

• Explain the cultural concepts of ‘femininity” and show their unreliability in changing eras, as in the span of Barbie as an ideal since 1959, and the efforts to change her image, yet persistent bias in her presentations. Contrast the developmental building blocks of “femininity” that we observe clinically.
• Describe the traumata, and oppressive and progressive uses of “femininity” in growth, and its role in transference and countertransference entanglements.
• Explain how the movie makers of “Barbie” have revealed to us the history of building certain cultural expectations of females and males that can set up internal conflicts.