At last: a role model Barbie ... for boys

I WOULDN’T say Barbie, left, was much of a role model – at least in terms of what the doll tells our daughters about how a woman’s body should look.

But bravo to her creators for their latest stunt: a celebration of designer fashion house Moschino, which launched last week with an advert featuring a boy, below, extolling Barbie’s ‘coolness’ as he plays with his female friends. Gender identity is formed by genetics. But the environment we grow up in has a critical role to play.

Problems arise when toys are used to enforce not the natural differences between the sexes but outdated societal ones – like the shops only selling fairy outfits for girls when the boys can be doctors or policeman. Girls don’t need pink Lego: they can build with the real stuff and foster ambitions to make spaceships and towers just like their brothers.

Playing with dolls fosters caring and , nurturing qualities in boys and we should not be afraid of that. EVEN as a healthcare professional used to so-called medical marvels, I was amazed to see Ben Parkinson lay a wreath on Remembrance Sunday. The lance bombardier survived what were said to be the worst-ever battlefield injuries in Afghanistan, during a bomb blast eight years ago.

He stood on full-length prosthetic legs to lay his wreath and, having suffered brain damage and memory loss as well, his recovery can genuinely be described as miraculous. To see him stand at the memorial in Doncaster honouring the war dead is a huge testament to his courage and strength, and the hard work of everyone who has cared for him.