Marge Piercy Barbie Doll Essay

There are many ideas as to what makes a feminist icon. Samantha Brennan discusses about a childhood female character that represents feminism and a body-confident role model. In her article "Miss Piggy's Feminism, Redefining Human Relationships through Martial Arts" Brennan creates an educational diction through viewing how Miss Piggy from The Muppet Show has the potential to be a feminist icon. Writing with a proud and didactic tone throughout her article, she shows how Miss Piggy's character is a good choice as a feminist icon. Brennan states that at a younger age she did not look up to Miss Piggy but as an adult she sees the qualities that the character has as a feminist icon.

Many girls dream of their knight in shining armor, a perfect wedding, and a happily ever after ending. Disney princesses give them hope to find love and happiness along with emphasizing their want for the beauty and grace princesses illustrate. Authors of “Cinderella and Princess Culture” and “The Princess Paradox,” Peggy Orenstein and James Poniewozik respectively, agree that most girls like princesses. However, these articles convey differing parental opinions on lessons girls learn from princesses and the unfavorable effects this has at their young age. Orenstein describes her negative views on princesses through her experiences with her daughter and the knowledge of Andy Mooney’s business decisions on princesses.

In “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy and “Homage to My Hips” by Lucille Clifton, women are presented with societal expectations for their gender. The girl in “Barbie Doll” is told that she has “a great big nose and fat legs.” In the following stanza, the girl is described as healthy, intelligent, strong, and a number of other positive qualities. When the comments about her nose and legs continue, she is encouraged to lose weight, smile, and be pursued by males in order to be of worth. She loses her former good qualities in exchange for society’s standards for perfection. Eventually, the pressure to be attractive leads her to commit suicide and finally, people begin to call her pretty when she has a “turned-up putty nose” in her casket.

“Beauty is not just a white girl. It's so many different flavors and shades.” A quote most famously used by Queen Latifah. Julia Alaverze the author of ‘I want to be Miss.America’ faced the struggle of loving and appreciating her beauty when she moved to the United States with her family. Through the short story, she shows the message that If a person doesn’t see their true value they may constantly try to change themselves. It is shown through the literary elements of Imagery, Simile, and Verbal Irony.

The story was based on women and the lack of right in the society had in the past. “My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the same thing.”(376) The writer is trying to describe the prestigious life that men in the society had, and how women were forced to follow their rules. Marge Piercy wrote “Barbie Doll”. The poem main idea was based on girl child influenced by the idea of other people living in the society, rather than her own. “This girlchild was born as usual and presented dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.” (1023) The poet was trying to explain how the small girls were forced to play with the dolls and small stoves, and they were also given red cherry lipsticks to play with.

This poem makes sure to highlight how women felt and why they wanted to be flappers. Both the novel and the poem talk about flappers and have similar themes, plots, and symbols about women during the ‘20s. Similar to the novel, the poem has a strong message about women and how they were thought of. Both the novel and the poem show how women acted in order to get attention and to get men to notice them. In fact, early in the novel, Daisy believes that the best thing a woman can do is show off her feminine traits and be beautiful because after her daughter is born she says: “I’m glad it’s a girl.

As society has changed in the seventy-three years Disney has been making movies, so have the animated films themselves. While many young girls love the princesses and look up to them, others view these characters as negative role models. Disney Princesses have always appeared in movies as young women who dress in elegant gowns, have sexy bodies and perfect hair. They are always paired with a prince who lives in a castle, meaning that he has a lot of money. This description of what the Disney Princess is like; give us a big concern in the influence this image is giving to the little girls.

I think that the poem "Barbie Doll" was a very telling poem that really helped to sort of paint a picture of the way that standards on appearance and beauty are in our society. Piercy builds the outrage by saying that women are looked at upon to be coy, but also to be cheerful and jovial when coming onto others. Her choice of words leads to the conclusion that the women of our society are boxed in on how they should look and act. The imagery that the title "Barbie Doll" shows is that of a sense of normality; since Barbie Dolls are the norm for girls today. So many women are told what to wear, how to behave, what their weight should be that it degrades them.

But for every person you think is prettier than you, there is someone thinking the same thing about you. We all have different perceptions of people, just the same as the people who came before us. Every decade in America’s history since at least 1900, there has been a change in what society defines as beautiful. For example, in 1900-1910 the Gibson Girl was what everyone wanted to be. She was created by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson (“Body Image…”).

In the episode “Lisa v Malibu Stacy”, Lisa and her friends rush to buy the new Malibu Stacy doll, which resembles the popular Barbie doll. But after purchasing it, Lisa realizes that the doll represents “the perfect woman” to society but is an unrealistic role model to young girls. The writers of the episode use invective, irony, and hyperboles to reveal that the media and corporate America make sexist statements about the role of a woman. This can have negative effects, like low self esteem, on the mind of young girls who are