Yesterday was a very special day: our fearless leader Riese took it upon herself to rank 75 Lesbian Ken Dolls, by Lesbianism, so that we could all better understand our Kens, our Selves.
What a time we all had, staring at those photos of plastic dolls, recognizing our exes, our friends, our friends and exes who are dating each other, four different versions of our selves…being queer is magical, isn’t it? It sure is.
And now, to keep the magic alive, we have a request for you. Don’t worry, I think you’re gonna love it. In fact, I’m willing to bet 75% of you have already partially fulfilled the request and you don’t even know it yet. Ready?
We want you to send us photos of your Best Ken Self!
What do I mean?
Feast your eyes on these babes:
Okay do you get it now?
As the incomparable Taylor Hatmaker tweeted, just as I was brainstorming in the Autostraddle Slack Channel about this very idea (because great minds think alike):
a fun game is to see how many kens you can recreate w/your existing wardrobe https://t.co/Hi6VueEeor
— Taylor Hatmaker (@tayhatmaker) June 22, 2017
Many of you have already expressed that you found yourself (or your girlfriend!) in one or many Kens, which is why I know most of you are already 75% ready for this. (The final 25% is just taking the photo and sending it to me!)
I’m just saying my girlfriend owns 4 of these outfits pictured. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/PHBH9ATm5m
— Julia Chelly Johnson (@Juliadapted) June 22, 2017
So yep, that’s the plan. You send us photos of your very best Ken (paired with the image of actual Ken) and we make a gallery showcasing our very attractive community proving once and for all that Ken is very, very gay. And duh, if you’re more of a Barbie or Skipper, find the doll model you identify with most strongly and send us those comparison photos! I’m a long haired femme with a penchant for dresses – I see all my exes (ugh, literally all of them) in the Ken dolls but I don’t see myself – so I feel you if you’re worried that you can’t contribute to the Ken roundup! But you can! Let’s get Barbie and Skipper and whoever the fuck else from the Mattel Plastic Doll Dreamworld in here to round out the scene, mmmkay?
So, to review:
1. Decide which Ken/Barbie doll best represents you.
2. Dress up exactly like them. Bonus points if the entire outfit comes from your closet and you don’t have to buy anything new.
3. Take a photo of yourself dressed as your doll. Make sure to take a vertical portrait and include your whole body so we can see all the details! Show me those shoes!
4. Send the photo of yourself and a photo of the doll you’re emulating to vanessa [dot] pamela [at] gmail [dot] com. (Please note the change of email address from when the post originally published on June 22! I am currently having technical difficulties with my autostraddle.com email! If you already emailed me a photo to my autostraddle.com address I will be reaching out to you to ask you to resend it! I’m sorry for the confusion! This is some ~behind the scenes~ stuff about how your Very Favorite Website runs! Sometimes there are technical difficulties! Exclamation Point! Woohoo!)
5. Prepare yourself for the best most hilarious gallery we’ve ever compiled.
Deadline for photos is one week from today, Thursday, June 29 at 11:59pm PST.
PS: Feel free to pick multiple options and send multiple photos! Also, get creative! I am so excited about this! CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL LOOKING LIKE YOUR BEST SELF/BEST KEN!
This is a top autostraddle post, and I’m excited for it… now, i just have to decide which of the 10 outfits I already own to go for!
WHY NOT ALL OF THEM
I AGREE WITH STEF I AM ACCEPTING INFINITE AMOUNTS OF KEN DOLL PHOTOS FOR THIS GALLERY.
also also – plz note the change in email address re: where to send your photos! if you already sent it to the email in the original post i will reach out to ask you to resend. sorry for the confusion! xo <3
I’m in. Now, how to “borrow” Ken from the 4 year old mean girls at daycare… They won’t let me play because last time Barbie didn’t want to dance with Ken, and made out with her friend instead. The girls were not impressed with me destroying their heterosexual dystopia…
this is hilarious. i’m super excited to see what you come up with.
also also – plz note the change in email address re: where to send your photos! if you already sent it to the email in the original post i will reach out to ask you to resend. sorry for the confusion! xo <3
Logistical question if our Ken has a net shirt should we uh nix our nipples with tape or something?
Philosophical question if it is a Ken we once were do we still count as that Ken?
logistics: ugh yes good point plz put tape on your nipples i fucking hate the patriarchy *insert eye roll emoji here*
philosophy: you are every ken you want to be, past/present/future, let your heart decide
also also – plz note the change in email address re: where to send your photos! if you already sent it to the email in the original post i will reach out to ask you to resend. sorry for the confusion! xo <3
I don’t think I look like any of the Kens, but I wish I did. Welp, now I am jealous of Ken dolls. This is what my life has come to.
Actually my greatest wish is to have Barbie’s hair and Ken’s style.
okay but have you seen the parody instagram account @socalitybarbie? https://www.instagram.com/socalitybarbie/
I had not! But I love her. I especially like the photo of her reading How to Live Authentic, Chapter 3: How to Wear a Blanket.
this is amazing
I thought the Ken post had ended me and NOW WE HAVE THIS. I am SO looking forward to finding all my future girlfriends/partners in this gallery thanks for setting this up Vanessa! Also I am SO glad you are moving in w me for the weekend so you can help me put together outfits for this xoxo
you are welcome, yes it is true, i basically brainstormed this to find you your next 75+ ex girlfriends, you are welcome. i am a true friend ;)
Is there a lazy femme Barbie? Asking for a friend
lol I seriously just thought that
Who knew all this existed in the Barbie universe?
I didn’t own any barbies or kens so I feel like I’d have to do research. ain’t nobody got time for this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Barbie%27s_friends_and_family
I googled hippy barbie and bohemian barbie and there are a LOT of those.
i googled “barbie wearing sweatpants” and found a whole world of etsy sellers who create comfy casual clothes for barbie, 10/10 would recommend
i know i mentioned her above but have you considered the parody instagram account Socality Barbie? i love her more than is appropriate to be real.
https://www.instagram.com/socalitybarbie/
I’m currently away from my home and wardrobe so didn’t think I was going to be able to participate, but it took me only 10 seconds of scrolling through the Kens to realize I already have the perfect photo for this. It’s fate!
WE ARE ALL ALWAYS KEN
(can’t wait to see the photo)
(if you haven’t sent it yet plz note the email change / if you have already sent it plz resend to the new email / sry for the confusion / xoxo)
I never thought my Second Sexual Awakening would come via Ken dolls/Ken doll lookalikes, but here we are.
HARD SAME
This caused me to google “barbie witch,” which is my new gender/twitter bio.
omg yes
Wait, we can recreate Ken AND Barbie? Genderfluid win. Challenge accepted.
What a great idea! I have lots of clothes from both Barbie and Ken’s wardrobe. Challenge also accepted!
YAY! plz note the change of email re: where to send photos. thx! <3
Do I take this to mean you’re gonna do one of each? Because I also feel up for this challenge!
this is literally turning out better than i ever could have hoped. plz note the change of email address re: where to send photos and also CANNOT WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU COME UP WITH! xo
CANNOT WAIT TO SEE ALL THESE LOOKS!
also plz note the change of email address to send photos to in the post! sry for confusion!
I wanna see all of your Gianfranco Kens
That’s definitely a suit from Wildfang, right?
co-sign
I did a spoken word piece as Barbie, does that count?
IT ALL COUNTS <3
(but also if you wanted to send photos i would readily accept them JUST SAYING)
I have found my exact Barie and now I’m SO EXCITED for this!! But also to figure out my Ken….”confused femme” ftw!
VERY EXCITED FOR THIS!
ps: plz note change of email address re: where to send photos! xo
I followed the instructions in the article and sent an email to [email protected] and I got this response. Should we send our pictures elsewhere? To [email protected]?
—————–
Hello!
I’m currently not writing for Autostraddle, as I have decided to travel and unplug for a while. You can read more about my decision to do that here [http://goo.gl/jVHnu0], if you want.
I’ll be back eventually, but in the meantime if you have any urgent Autostraddle-related matters you should email our editorial assistant Chelsey at [email protected].
If you were hoping to submit to Straddler On The Street, please hold that thought – the column is on temporary hiatus while I’m gone, but when I return I’ll be happily accepting new submissions.
Thanks, and have a lovely day!
XO,
Vanessa
hi, yikes, i’m sorry! i am having some email issues that i should’ve figured out before this post went live but oh well, now you all know my secret which is that i’m actually not very tech savvy at all and am frequently confused by this ~internet~ place we all live and play. just living my truth! anyway! i updated this post – plz send all photos to vanessa [dot] pamela [at] gmail [dot] com! i’m so sorry for the confusion but i can’t wait to see your ken photo!! <3
@floralprintdress Will you still get the ones that were already emailed to the other address, or should we re-send them?
Never mind, I just read the thing. Will re-send :)
This should be fixed now.
The day of the Kensbian post I legit started a Kensbian Facebook competition event of the same theme as this call, and invited 100 of my queer friends of all gender identities to participate. The prize was simply bragging rights and joy. Some of the posts we have are killer so I am gonna encourage everyone to enter ASAP.