Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll

Before we even read the poem, the title “Barbie Doll” should raise some concern. Why would Piercy title her poem this? As a young child, we are introduced to superheroes and beautiful girl dolls. This automatically creates an image for us as to what we wish to be when we grow up. Barbies are always very pretty and this sets a standard for what girls should look like.

The idea of the Barbie Doll has been debated or many years. Released in 1959 during the largest feminist movement in America, it was labeled as an icon for women. However, the physical appearance of Barbie has caused many feminists to argue its intentions. It portrays unrealistic body standards for women, accentuated by tight, skimpy outfits. At a very young age, girls are taught to be perfect and perky.

She has been an inspiration to all with her many different jobs and clothing choices. However this may be, Barbie has been a controversial matter for many, many years. With her body image, size and weight The Barbie Doll has been the topic of great debate on whether she is great to allow young children, in particular girls, to play with. Many believe the doll shapes young girl’s perceptions on how to look, what to wear and how to live life. Barbie holds an unrealistic body shape, in which young children seek to obtain, it inspires them to have expectations that they will never meet.

How Lookism Influences Adolescent Girls Lookism is defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary (n.d.) as the "prejudice or discrimination based on physical appearance and especially physical appearance believed to fall short of societal notions of beauty. " The issue of lookism has inundated our youth through the many forms of media including magazines, music videos, and daily television. Girls are often on the receiving end of lookism with the expectation being that they should be attractive and that there is only one definition of attractive. Mary Pipher (2008) describes it by saying "In early adolescence girls learn how important appearance is in defining social acceptability. Attractiveness is both a necessary and a sufficient condition for

“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.”

Lastly, the lipstick represented being pretty. Her parents made her play with these toys, so she would grow up knowing she was suppose to be “pretty” and that she should become a mother. Her parents wanted her appearance to be known by the society. While she was in school, puberty struck her, and her nose grew bigger and she had

Then, when she reached puberty everything changed. She lost here childhood life which she has nothing to worry about such as how she looks and acts. “You have a great big nose and fat legs” is the what her friends called her. The girl is humiliated by a really harsh and mean words until she loses her confidence and questions her physical appearances.

Baby Alive! A toy that prepares young girls for motherhood!     Gender roles in society are imposed upon us through many different ways such us what we are expected to wear and even how we are supposed to behave. Before being born, children are assigned a gender because of their sex and from there one their parents decide what their name will be, what colors they will wear, what toys they will like, etc. For female children, parents buy them toys that are assigned to their gender such as baby dolls.

She says that they undermine the girls and how they will grow up. Then Orenstein goes on to point out some other facts like how, “girls can embrace their predilection for pink without compromising strength or ambition.” (Orenstein 328). After this realization she begins to believe differently contradicting her former belief that pink and princess culture is all bad. Although she doesn’t confirm her change until the very end.

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

Martin also states that “Barbie wasn’t an oppressor; she was an exciting vessel that we could fill up with all of our confusion and excitement professional life and plenty of self- confidence” (1). People want to say Barbie is a bad influence, but is she real the problem? A mother has a major impact in her daughter’s life. A girl’s number one role model in her life is her mother. A mother and daughter have an unbreakable bond that they share.

Marge Piercy, is a famous author who is known for many of her writings. One of her most famous poems is titled "Barbie Doll". " Barbie Doll", is a poem that expresses some of her reasonings of being a feminist and the reason why she chose to stand up for the rights of women all over the world. She was the voice for many women that rather not be placed in a particular category, stating how they should or should not appear. With "Barbie Doll", she tried to break many sterotypical bonds that was keeping women from expressing themselves and showing who they really were.

In the novel The Edible Woman, author Margaret Atwood tackles the difficult subject of anorexia nervosa. Although this subject is often handled with kid gloves by many writers, Atwood’s novel candidly addresses how different food related stigmas affect the main character’s day to day existence. In the late 1960 's, young women faced a society that expected them to conform to certain qualities in both appearance and demeanor. The portrayal of young women in popular movies, television and music of the time period led to internal conflicts among women who struggled to achieve the norm put forth by society.

Both authors agree that society's definition of beauty is not realistic. In pearcys poem Barbie Doll.the girl ends up committing suicide because people focused to much on her looks. When she was born she was a usial baby until she went through puberty she was told she had a fat nose and fat legs.in the poem it says “everyone saw a fat nose and thick legs. This figurative language shows us that people focused to much on her imperfections. this evidence soports my claim beacuse even though girl was healthy and strong, this show that everyone focused on her fat legs had big nose and this displays that the definition of beauty is not realistic To add on she was given alot of advise to look prittier but instead she chosse suicide.

The 1950’s was a very controversial time specially for woman, during that era they symbolized the traditional gender roles; housewife’s, submissive and conservative. Surprisingly, Marilyn Monroe, Barbie and beauty pageants became very popular even though they challenged the image of an ideal woman at the time by portraying more beauty and sexuality. These icons symbolized various messages while still upholding some of the traits that dominated that era. The beauty pageants portrayed various messages regarding woman’s beauty and sexuality a very dominant one was the qualifications to be considered a candidate for Miss America.