Am I Kenough? (Barbie and) Ken’s masculinity in process

Abstract

ABSTRACT Whilst the Barbie movie (2023) has been recognized as a feminist success especially for women, it has important – yet often overlooked – insights for masculinities and men. What might a movie about ‘becoming' have to say to the Kens of today and their masculinities, often considered ‘fragile' and ‘in crisis’? In this essay, I argue that Barbie is a work of Kellerian process theology. This is particularly enlightening for understanding gender and masculinities. In asserting that, in this movie, masculinities are in-process, or in-becoming, I show how Ken’s masculinity is actually part of a co-creative discernment process with the Other (Barbie), in which gender is negotiated and explored. Using beginnings as my framework, I will show how masculinities ought not be yet another aspiration of an idealistic incarnation of a hegemonic Ken but be recognized as already in an ongoing creational process, relationally and yet uniquely performed.