“Will the Lord deliver those in need who call?” asks this Sunday's Exploring the Word reflection. The psalmist responds with a resounding yes, assuring that the God “is close to the brokenhearted and those who are crushed in spirit.” Children who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy or illness face a unique form of heartbreak. Now the Vatican's official daily newspaper has added its voice to those calling for toy maker Mattel to sell a bald Barbie doll to help them cope.

Mattel released a bald Barbie after a Facebook petition for the doll garnered more than 157,000 supporters in early 2012. The doll, however, is given directly to hospitals and not sold on shelves. Last weekend L'Osservatore Romano featured an article by historian Giulia Galeotti promoting the sale of the doll.

"Why not sell the bald Barbie?" Galeotti wrote, noting that Barbie has walked many paths in life with careers as an astronaut, a surgeon, a paleontologist, and an ambassador for peace. She also has a friend named Becky who uses a wheelchair.

The "The Beautiful and Bald Movement" was first launched on Facebook last December by cancer survivor Jane Bingham. The campaign took off, and in March Mattel agreed to make the doll, but the company did not want to sell bald Barbie for a profit.

Bingham is elated with the Vatican's support of selling the doll on store shelves. "We are thrilled with the Vatican's stand and appeal to Mattel to bring these dolls to toy shelves so that they can be in the public eye, not hidden," Bingham wrote, urging Mattel to sell it and donate the profits to a good cause.

Toys R Us currently sells "True Hope" Moxie Girlz and Bratz Dolls, bald dolls created in response to a social media petition to raise awareness about children undergoing chemotherapy, those affected by alopecia, a hair-loss disease, or those dealing with a parent with cancer.

 

Source: An article by The Huffington Post, citing an article by Tom Kington for The Guadrian (UK)