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The sarcasm is strong in this one : 'Barbie' takes on 'white savior' complex. Wins social media

Speed News Desk | Updated on: 10 February 2017, 1:50 IST

Over the years, social media has seen heavy documentation of white privilege, condescension, and the savior complex. In simple English, this means that someone from the first world visits a third world country - experiences the local life - and puts up pictures of their 'adventures' among the under-privileged.

This Instagram account, Barbie Savior, was set up by two women who were formerly in East Africa for volunteer work. The account is just over a month old but has over 21K followers thanks to the 20-year-old protagonist (a white Barbie's) faithful coverage of her time in Africa and how her mere presence there is benefiting mankind.

Earlier, we had Hipster Barbie to drool over, now we have this. A Barbie who completely believes that her cultured Western white presence is cleansing 'the poor locals'.

Talking to Huffington Post, the two (who have requested anonymity) said: "It really just started as a joke between us, a way to get some of these things off of our chest. Its hard to pinpoint the irony at times in real life... the wildly self-centered person veiled as the self-sacrificing saint. We were never as 'savioresque' as Barbie Savior, but we did things back in our White Savior days that we regret."

The account is, of course, getting a lot of heat. There are volunteers who sincerely work and volunteers who just love to flaunt. So feathers were bound to be ruffled. 

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Edited by Aishwarya Yerra

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  • First published: 20 April 2016, 7:23 IST