It’s getting to be that time of the year, you know, that time when families set out the menorahs, eggnog, decorative evergreens, and of course pleather-clad Barbie dolls for the kiddies! This year Mattel released a new doll, the Black Canary Barbie Doll, based on a DC Comics character with supersonic screaming capabilities and a dominatrix-like wardrobe. My, my! Roland Barthes (everyone’s favorite French Structuralist of “toys are like a Jivaro head, in which one recognizes, shrunken to the size of an apple, the wrinkles and hair of an adult” fame) would be so proud.

According to BarbieCollector.com:

DC Comics super heroine Black Canary is known for her martial-arts skills and her "Canary Cry" — a high powered, sonic scream with the ability to shatter objects and incapacitate villains. Barbie® doll captures this super heroine's essence, wearing her signature black "leather" bodysuit and jacket, patterned tights, and black boots with "golden" details. Long honey blond hair with bangs and black gloves with "golden" details complete the look.

For the last several months, the Christian Right has been having a hissy fit over Black Canary Barbie, the Christian Voice releasing a statement saying, “Barbie has always been on the tarty side and this is taking it too far. A children’s doll in sexually suggestive clothing is irresponsible— it’s filth.”

The Christian Voice can drop the F-bomb (filth) all they want, but the Black Canary Barbie is one of Mattel's more progressive toys in a while. It's a doll which, if indeed Barthes is correct in his assumption that toys are training materials for kids to become adults, evinces a sense to female children that they can be hot, tough, and capable. It is what action figures have been to boys. And that kind of confidence is always a great gift.