Vanity Press

Barbie is pregnant. Not, of course, with child (Ken doesn't have what it takes) but with potent significance for American womanhood. Conceived in the era of the Playboy Bunny, she has all the seductive but sexless characteristics required of a Miss America. Which is why her eponymous magazine for preteens is such a success. The quarterly's first-anniversary issue, out this month, will sell over 700,000 copies. Packed with pictures of Barbie and friends in their latest outfits (manufacturer Mattel sells 20 million garments a year), it also includes such regular women'smag features as hair and fashion make-overs on live little girls and interviews with living dolls like Ricky Schroder ("People expect even more of me now that I'm a teenager") and Vanessa Williams ("My very favorite colors are blue and peach ").