The Yassification of Ken: Earring Magic Ken and his enduring gay legacy
The entertainment world is abuzz with excitement over pictures of Ryan Gosling in his new film role as Barbie’s boy-toy, with a distressed jean vest and tan abs so defined they could truly be moulded plastic.
Some fans, however, have noticed certain similarities between Gosling’s look and another time gay fans went nuts over Ken. That’s right – Gosling bears a striking resemblance to Earring Magic Ken – sometimes known as Gay Ken or even Cock Ring Ken.Yes, somehow 1993 Mattel thought that this look made sense for a man in a committed heterosexual relationship:Looking back, surely even Mattel can admit that this logic seems faulty at best.
Between his purple mesh top and faux-leather vest, bleach-blonde two-toned hair, singular pierced ear and necklace holding a good sized ring (whatever terminology you want to lend to it), Ken screams early-’90s-gay-rave-attendee.
And the ring, for those who understood queer culture, only confirmed suspicions.As Dan Savage described in his 1993 article about the doll, wearing cock rings as accessories, especially on necklaces, had become commonplace for the LGBTQ+ community by the late ’80s.
