A mother, who had always prevented her daughter from owning a Barbie Doll on the grounds that it was demeaning to women was recently persuaded to capitulate to her daughter’s demands. “A friend pointed out that if I denied her what she wanted, then what was I saying about her desire?” the mother recounted. I have no qualifications to comment on the morality of owning a Barbie. My experience of dolls thus far has been that of stealing them from my sister and using them as target practice for my air gun. I can, however, comment on the mother’s judgment of human desire. The problem with such an optimistic view…