Barbie book sparks outrage with its 'misogynistic' plot

The 'Barbie

Novelist and screenwriter Pamela Ribbon, who revealed and reviewed the content of the book, found the book at a friend's house and was dismayed to see how out of touch the content was from reality, the Mashable reported.

In the book, which is ostensibly aimed at young girls with the goal of interesting them in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) careers, Barbie wants to be a computer engineer, but requires the help of two male friends to solve her computer problems.

Barbie, who is working on a game idea to teach girls about computers using puppies, tells her sister Skipper in the book that she is only creating the design ideas because she'll need Steven's and Brian's help to "turn it into a real game!"

The plot thickens when a virus infects Barbie's computer, Barbie's female computer science teacher instructs her how to backup and repair an infected computer (a good skill), but to actually get that done she needs Steven and Brian's help.

The book, published by Random House, received withering comments online as female programmers, engineers and pop stars, who freelance as InfoSec experts, all chimed in with their criticism and "suggestions" to fix the text of the book.