24. Barbie Doll

Ruth Handler, the 1) _____ of the Barbie Doll, the word’s most popular doll, died at the age of 85. Since Handler’s creation, 2) ____ her daughter Barbara, was introduced in 1959, it has become a 3) ____ of cultural politics. It helped 4) ____ girls’ dreams while greatly angering feminists.

The doll has offended feminists, 5) ____ artists and drawn academic interest around the world Barbie even was placed in the official “America’s Time Capsule” buried in 1976.

Over the decades, the 6) ____ blue-eyed, blonde fashion model has been put into 7) ____ looks and has had many careers, from astronaut to veterinarian. More than 1 billion have been sold in 150 countries.

“My whole 8) ___ of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be,”Handler wrote in a 1994 autobiography. “Barbie always 9) ___ the fact that a woman has choices.”

With the new doll, girls could play out their dreams of 10) ____ and beyond. Barbie, after all, could go to the prom, get married, or even travel to the moon. “Over and over, I’ve had it said to me by women,” Handler said in 1994. “She was much more than a doll for them. She was part of them.”