Now, what this means is that a U.S. Court of Appeal has ruled that Mattel, Inc., the worldâs largest toy maker ÷ a division of which once employed a recent commanding officer of USNAS-Bermuda upon his retirement ÷canât sue a Utah artist, Thomas Forsythe, whose photographs portray naked Barbie dolls ãattacked by household appliances.ä

Now, forgive me, how big a market could there be? According to reports, Forsythe earned less that $3,700 for his ãBarbie workä, with half the sales coming from Mattel investigators!

Mattel, it would seem, is concerned about Forsytheâs use of its copyrighted Barbie image.

But, my guess is that those concerned investigators who bought some $1,850 worth of Barbies just didnât ãget it.ä

Forsythe, it turns out, used the image to critique ãthe objectification of women associated with ÎBarbie.âä

Now, I ask you: Do you get it?

Somewhere along the line, whether we are female or male, I hope, most of us are capable of seeing what stereotypes (sexism, agism, racism, and so on) do to our children and ourselves. However, some still donât ãget it.ä

For example, columnist Kathleen Parker of USA Today a few years ago discussed a drop in viewer numbers for the annual Miss America Pageant (begun in 1921). Her words scare me.

With the 1996 pageant, viewership was the lowest in decades. ãEach year,ä she noted, ãseems to produce a new twist in the effort to get Americans back in front of the tube·ä

Thus, in 1997 the pageant turned to two-piece bathing suits. Then, in 2001, contestants brought with them a ãplatform,ä and the finalists competed with each other to answer, mostly incorrectly, questions that most 11 year olds, I believe, would find simple.

But this was okay with Ms. Parker. We donât want intellectual stimulation from Miss America, she purports. If we did, weâd go to a library.

ãMiss America is breezy, cheesy, cheeky, pink chiffon, retrograde, big-hair, blond, coffee-tea-or-me,ä she states. Itâs ãnostalgia,ä not relevance. Relevance, she submits, includes such things as sexual harassment in the work place and equal pay for equal work. But one has nothing to do with the other?

Somehow, like others who promote pigeonholing, Ms. Parker believes that individuals who are exposed to sexist hype and stereotypes will be immune from their effects. Theyâre just having fun. How can one discredit ãnostalgiaä? Like Barbie! Or ãThe Bachelor(ette)?ä

Now letâs look at ãnostalgia.ä To some individuals, nostalgia is professional sports teams being named after Native Americans, and to others nostalgia is the Confederate flag. And for 40 years a sign that many considered nostalgic welcomed folks to Greenville, Texas. Removed just a few years ago, the sign read: ãThe blackest land and the whitest people.ä Needless to say, what used to be considered nostalgic is now considered reprehensible.

Why would Ms. Parker and others participate in her own deprecation? If a woman had a problem, she would know that she had a problem and do something about it, wouldnât she (or he)? Or would they?

Over and over, we justify the way things are, even if they are to our detriment.

Psychologists call this system justification, referring to the process by which we keep things just the way they are, even when itâs detrimental to ourselves. The situation is explained and justified ÷ simply because it exists.

And, in order to justify the system, we adopt inaccurate beliefs ÷ adding to our disadvantage.

For example, many of us believe that what we do or from which family we come represents our true human worth. Often Iâve had clients who tell me that they are from this family or that family, as though that makes them somehow more worthy than another.

On the other end, though, are people who believe that because their birthright entitled them to no wealth or power, they are unworthy and are surrounded by others who are somewhat ãbetter than they.ä

Of course, all of us are born human. That is our only entitlement, as I see it.

So, when we believe that personal suffering is justified or cannot be avoided, we create beliefs about ourselves so that we validate our situation.

If you look around you, I know that you will find many examples. We may find ourselves ãgetting used toä dealing with financial distress or other forms of deprivation.

Or we may notice that we are being negated when we speak up in a business meeting.

We take on false beliefs that are contrary to our social interest when we tell ourselves that this situation is acceptable, unavoidable, and just. After all, perhaps we really deserve this! Well, we donât. And Bermudians, like those who live in many democracies, are getting quite aware of this.

Therefore, we may empathize with those at Mattel, who only want to keep their incomes secure, but I doubt weâll lose sleep. Because more and more we realize whether Barbieâs all dressed up combing her long blonde hair, or sticking out of fondue, a lot of us now recognize stereotypes and get our kids good books instead!