Actress and LGBTQIA+ activist Laverne Cox is getting her own Barbie from Mattel's Tribute Collection. The doll is the company's first transgender woman Barbie.
The Laverne Cox Barbie isn't the first time that Mattel has expanded its collection in recent years. In 2016, the company introduces three additional body types (petite, tall, and curvy) to the line of dolls. Then, in 2019, Mattel launched the Creatable World line of gender-neutral dolls. Almost immediately after the gender-neutral dolls hit online shops, the virulently anti-LGBTQIA+ group One Million Moms' targeted the Creatable World line with anti-trans hate speech.
The attack clearly didn't stop Mattel's lead designer Carlyle Nuera from designing a Barbie based on Cox, a trans icon. In May, Nuera posted on Instagram about the process of designing a doll for a "living icon," saying that Cox wanted her "Barbie to serve multiple looks."
The Barbie Tribute Collection Laverne Cox Doll can be purchased on the Mattel Creations website (here) for $45. The product description reads:
As a four-time Emmy-nominated actress, Emmy-winning producer, and the first transgender woman of color to have a leading role on a scripted TV show, Laverne Cox uses her voice to amplify the message of moving beyond societal expectations to live more authentically. She wears a triple-threat original design, featuring a deep red tulle gown gracefully draped over a dazzling, silver metallic bodysuit. Her hair is swept into glamorous Hollywood waves while dramatic makeup completes her look.
Cox rose to prominence in her role as Sophia Burset in Netflix's Orange Is the New Black from 2013 to 2019, for which she was nominated for an NAACP Award, Critics' Choice Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and two Emmy Awards. With her 2014 Emmy nomination, Cox became the first trans person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category. Most recently, Cox appeared on the series Inventing Anna, inspired by the story of the fake German heiress Anna Sorokin/Anna Delvey. In the Netflix series, she plays Kacy Duke, a high-end celebrity fitness consultant and personal trainer who was hired by Delvy for $4,500 for a package of sessions.
In addition to being a trailblazing transgender actress, she is also an activist. Cox regularly works with the Williams Institute and other organizations on crafting national policy recommendations that impact the LGBTQIA+ community.
Rebecca Kaplan (she/he) has a JD and an MS but believes comics do more good than law. His work can be found at Prism Comics, MovieWeb, Geek Girl Authority, PanelxPanel, StarTrek.com and Comics Bookcase, and in Double Challenge: Being LGBTQ and a Minority, which she co-authored with his wife, Avery Kaplan.