Never mind the emails, the list, or whether there was an actual invitation. Givhan claims that the Salahis got into the state dinner because "they didn't look like interlopers, which is to say, they didn't look like poor cousins who had scraped together their last dime to buy some fancy frocks from the local thrift shop."
And, even more important, she asks:

The Salahis weren't on the guest list. But instead of turning them away, the Secret Service waved them in. Would they have been so gullible if it had been a young black man in a tuxedo or a short, squat, gray-haired woman in a modest black dress standing out there in the mist insisting that they were on the guest list? Maybe. But probably not.

It's hard not to agree: From fairy tales to Barbie to Marilyn Monroe to glossy ladymags, the high-fashion runways and flicks like Legally Blonde, the iconic blonde is the one who gets all the attention, who people want to be around, who gets what she wants. As Givhan puts it:

She is the archetype for so many of the cultural touchstones of male-female interactions. The damsel in distress is not typically depicted as a dark-haired, middle-aged woman, after all. The Bergdorf blonde — that high-maintenance prima donna — still wins the wealthy prince. Why? Because even with her demanding, narcissistic ways, she's still the epitome of the trophy wife. He who has her wins.

The sad part is that even though we have a black man in the office of Commander-In-Chief, what it means to "look" like a VIP party-goer hasn't updated; we're still judging books by their covers. The Secret Service isn't suspicious of a tall, well-coiffed blonde. And think about it: This concept ties in to skin-lighteners in India (one of the leading brands is called White Beauty) and recent experiments (based on Dr. Kenneth Clark's tests in the 1950s) in which little girls declare white baby dolls "good" and black baby dolls "bad." If the election of Barack Obama is progress, doesn't Michaele Salahi's party-crashing suggest this nation still has quite a ways to go?

Why They Got In: They Looked Like They Belonged [WaPo]

Earlier: 'White Beauty' Has An Ugly Message
In India, Fair Is Handsome & Dark Is Doomed
September Glossies: Same Sh*t, Different Year
On The Runways Of Milan, Color Just Wasn't Considered Chic
Related: A Girl Like Me: A Short Film By Kiri Davis [Google Video]

It could be horrifying.
Remember the insane Lindsay Lohan/Tyra Banks Disney movie, Life Size? Lindsay played a girl who accidentally brought her Barbie-ish doll to life while trying to resurrect her mother. Tyra's performance as Eve was pretty painful. The story — a "classic overachiever" acting as a mother figure; the lesson that you don't have to be perfect all the time — was okay, but not worth repeating. (And it's probably best to leave out any music.) And let's get honest here: Barbie was, from her inception, designed as an aspirational/inspirational toy: the very first commercial was about encouraging little girls to long to be beautiful, have lots of accessories and lots of clothes. At the time, she was different, a breakthrough doll, since little girls usually played with baby dolls — not dolls made to look like adults. Her preposterous physique has been much discussed; one study suggested that if Barbie were a real woman, she would be five-foot-nine, have measurements of 36-18-33, and lack the body fat needed to menstruate. Her "All-American" look — long blonde hair and blue eyes — was actually based on a German doll named Lilli; and when held up as a standard of beauty leaves most people out; blonde hair is actually extremely rare — many sources say that only 1.8% of the world's population is naturally blonde. Plus, Barbie's message of femininity focuses on being pretty and getting dressed. We've had enough of that.

It could be awesome.
Barbie has evolved throughout the last 50 years: Though she was first marketed as being a "Teen-age Fashion Model," Barbie has been an astronaut, a ballerina, a tennis star, a pilot, a firefighter, a chef and a presidential candidate. While she may not be focused, Barbie certainly sends the message that a woman can do anything. Or at least pretend to. If the screenwriters could manage to make Barbie some kind of amazing, confident, not-annoying superachiever — who can rope a calf, whip up lobster thermidor, kick a winning soccer goal and speak 8 languages — that could be a really fun flick. Especially since she runs around with a multi-ethnic cast of friends. And when it comes to Ken, Barbie could take him or leave him; her life may be full of tiny chewable shoes, but she's never needed a man to make her who she is. Other ideas: Or Barbie could be an actress. Or a spy! And just fake her many professions. Either way, she could be a bold, independent adventurer: A character girls — and women — could look up to.

Or, you know, the filmmakers could end up with this:

And FYI, guys: Columbia Pictures has entered into negotiations to pick up He-Man, another Mattel property. So cue male body-dysmorphic order inciting storylines in 3…2…

Barbie Headed To The Big Screen [The Hollywood Reporter]
The Many Jobs Of Barbie [List After List]
Encouraging Girls to Identify With Barbie [Sociological Images]

[Riga, Latvia; May 31. Image via Getty]

Blondes parade through the streets of the capital Riga, on May 31, 2009 during Blonde Weekend. An army of 500 blondes will try to put a smile back on the face of recession-weary Latvians by staging a festival this weekend designed to show that they really do have more fun. AFP PHOTO/ ILMARS ZNOTINS (Photo credit should read ILMARS ZNOTINS/AFP/Getty Images)

I loved the science fair. If I didn't take home first place, I was mad. I love the element charts, and I can probably recite the formula for cotangent. I still remember the song we sang [to memorize it]: 'Sine, cosine, cosine, sine.' Sometimes I'll go, 'Hey sugar! C₆H₁₂O₆' And Tim will look at me like, 'Did I marry you? Why are you giving me the chemical formations of these things? Please stop, because I'm reconsidering this whole commitment!

To this day I use what happened to me there as the pH test for difficult things that happen to me now. You know, I'm standing in the grocery line or I'm waiting for an answer for something that means a lot, and I g, 'You stood on a log that was 12 inches in diameter for eight hours with the sun beating on your back with nothing in your body to sustain you.'

Okay, so we know Elisabeth excels at math and science. But she is also competent with analogies!

It's a different chemistry with each group. But I tell Whoopi, 'If you're driving the car, I'll go anywhere,' because I feel she really knows how to — I guess, shift, to stick with the analogy. She knows when to ease off the clutch and get on the gas, she knows how to drive that car, and I feel as though there isn't as much cross-talk.

"They basically decided they wanted 'The Simple Life' ... it was literally like, on Friday they loved it, and on Monday they wanted all these changes: more music! More manipulation! This happens all the time, of course, but not such a 180 like this." Sigh. The promos were changed, and yes — blond Lauren was "made to seem stupid — she's not stupid!" as raven-haired Annalisa was made into something "manipulative and ridiculous." Why, how very fresh, network execs! The most poignant thing: Annalisa's parting wish to the producers was apparently that they "Be kind." We suppose she got her wish, but we have one of our own: that next time a reality show decides to try and document the attempts of one woman to break out of the mindless blond bimbo ideal the reality shows like to promote so much, don't pussy out.

Also: put the extra episodes shows on Fox website as promised, thanks.

We've long suspected this: Old, fat and/or Catholic women have the hardest time getting dates. [NY Times]

We've long suspected this too: Sororities are full of superficial, skinny white bitches. [Salon, via NY Times]

India's health minister requests ban on gender bias in ads due to high rates of female infanticide. [Feministing]

It's the female illegals and their children who may be suffering the worst in the war on immigration: some swept up in raids are living in jail cells with inadequate prenatal care and an inability to feed their young kids. [Firedoglake]

Elderly women in America aren't doing too well, either. [Huffington Post]

More proof that blondes really do have more fun! Apparently it's more difficult to drug-test light-hued hair than dark. [Slate]

Wee! It's true! Female primates smarter than male ones. [Washington Post]