Barbie, an American icon from the Mattel company, revolutionized the lives of young girls and women for many decades. The creation of Barbie meant for many young girls the possibility of having choices at a time when women were limited. Although Barbie has long been criticized for her association with domesticity and her appearance, among other things, she nonetheless remains an iconic figure in American history. As a woman who grew up playing with Barbie dolls, for many people like me she was more than a toy, she was an influence that many women tried to emulate because she was an innovative figure in the 1960s and continued to do well. in today. The intention of this article is to examine what the intentions of the creator of the Barbie doll, Ruth Handler, were when the doll debuted in 1959, as well as the extent of Barbie's impact on women and women's history. Ruth Handler, the creator of the Barbie doll, got the idea to create a doll after a family trip to Europe where she discovered an adult doll that was a German sex toy. Once back in the United States, she made a discovery about young girls' toys, saying, "I saw these little girls playing big and I knew that the only dolls available on the market were dolls where the the child is limited to playing mom, toddler or companion dolls where the child is limited to playing with a girlfriend; there was no adult doll with which a child could really dream in the early fifties” (Piche). Thus, the Barbie doll debuted through her company Mattel in March 1959. She not only revolutionized the way women viewed themselves, but also caused controversy because she did not directly encourage domesticity . When Barbie debuted in 1959, "she wore a black and white striped one-piece swimsuit, black heels, white sunglasses and too much eyeliner.