FBI Issues Warning About Video Barbie's Cleavage

Poor Barbie.

If 12-inch plastic fashion dolls could talk, she'd probably say, "Quit staring at my chest!"

Barbie's breasts have been a source of one controversy after another ever since she made her first dramatic appearance in 1959. Now, even the FBI is interested.

Just above her cleavage, the new Video Girl Barbie sports an actual camera. The FBI issued a warning Dec. 2 that the camera could be used by pedophiles to make child pornography.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports an FBI memo to law enforcement agencies says Barbie's cleavage can capture 30 minutes of video footage, which can be downloaded to a computer. Traceable software is not required for editing the footage.

Although the memo was not released to the general public, the Post-Intelligencer reports several media organizations were sent copies.

FBI agents reportedly are concerned because sexual predators could use Barbie to lure children, then use the dolls to record movies.

So goes the life of Barbie.

She's held every job from astronaut to presidential candidate, but all people seem to want to talk about is her chest.

The controversy started when Barbie arrived back in 1959, and many grown-ups began complaining her breasts were just too darn big. While the size of her breasts has ebbed and flowed over the years, the controversy continues to dog her every high-heeled step.

A particularly memorable moment came in 1975, with the introduction of the Growing Up Skipper doll. Barbie's flat-chested little sister made her debut in 1964, largely in response to Barbie's much-discussed rack.

However, with a crank of Growing Up Skipper's arm, lil' sis would grow her own set of perky breasts. This proved a lot more popular with little brothers than it did with girls.

In 1991, a woman named Cathy Merdig came out with the Happy to be Me Doll. The doll had more realistic proportions and was hailed by feminists and psychologists.

But it proved far less popular among consumers and quickly disappeared. Ironically, although the doll's breasts were smaller than Barbie's, they had nipples. That failed to ignite a controversy, however. Apparently, it's the size of the breasts that matters.

That proved true again this year, when more fingers were waving at the African-American doll in Barbie's Back to Basics line. Once again, people were concerned about the size of Barbie's boobs.

All such controversies were never lost on Ruth Handler, the woman who invented Barbie, who died in 2002.

Handler retired from the toy industry in 1975 to focus on her second career. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970, she underwent a radical mastectomy, and, unimpressed with the prosthetic options, she created a line of artificial breasts called NearlyMe.

"I've lived my life from breast to breast," she often quipped.