"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within. (Kubler-Ross).

In Marge Piercy's poem "Barbie Doll", the main character, anonymous girl, is born into an average, American family. The girl is said to be "healthy ... intelligent ... strong ... " and also has adequate motor skills (Piercy).  She has a major problem though: she allows herself to be influenced by other's opinions of her beauty. Her conformity ultimately results in her demise; making the real price of beauty, death.

Upon entering puberty, classmates began pointing out the girl's flaws: "her great big nose and fat legs"; in return, she began apologizing for her "deformities".  She is told to diet and take better care of herself. She is told to smile and pretend to be happy. She is told to disappear. She could pretend to be pretty no more. She committed suicide (Piercy). "In the casket displayed on satin, she lay with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on [and] a turned- up putty nose" (Piercy). Even after death, she is forced to conform. Despite, her cosmetic plastic surgery, the undertaker paints her face to make her appearance acceptable. Only while lying in her grave, does the girl achieve that acceptance: "Doesn't she look pretty" (Piercy).

The message of this poem is that people, specifically women, go to great lengths to be deemed as "beautiful"; however, the poem is a fictional literary creation concocted by a hippie in the 70's. The readers are allowed to displace themselves because of the "uncomfortable" reality that real people really do put their lives on the line to satisfy society's hunger for physical acceptance. In order to strip away the reader's option of displacement, one must look into real-world applications: foot binding, waist cinching, and the human "Ken" doll.

Foot binding has been a beauty practice for Chinese women for centuries. This practice results in smaller, more desirable feet and ankles. "The operation is begun by placing the end of a long narrow bandage on the inside of the instep, carrying it around over the four smaller toes and taking them under the foot. After several turns with this object, the bandage is turned so as to compress the foot longitudinally. At the end of a month the bandage is opened, and one or more toes is often lost. The shaping of the foot by the bandage requires from two to three years ...  The suffering at first is very severe". (Foot-binding). These women endure great trauma to conform to their culture's idea of beauty. In the poem, the girl exercised and dieted so severely, that she reached the point of exhaustion to meet society's expectation of "beauty".

Another extreme beauty practice is waist cinching. The idea of "waist cinching" as a fashion trend began in France in the early 1900's. Her peoples had small waists due to malnourishment. Such fashion icons as Coco Chanel and Christian Dior used this malnourishment effect in their fashions. (Gibson). Even today, this "cinched waist" is still desirable; however, it is now unachievable. To achieve unrealistically small waists, women began wearing custom boned, or metal, corsets. In order to secure this look, overtime, the corsets displace the major organs, thus creating the "cinched waist". The corset's effects are only temporary; however there is another, more permanent option: the surgical removal of ribs. Waist cinching can be seen in today's culture on many scales. Fashion icon and reality-star Kim Kardashian has been known to wear a less rigid form of a waist cincher. Even Academy Award winning actress Sandra Bullock promotes waist-cinching products. The most popularized modern form of waist cincher, though nothing compared to its French ancestors, are Spanx products. Waist cinching practices have been popularized for many years. It is a popular beauty practice because "people who matter" (i.e. Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Kim Kardashian, Sandra Bullock, etc.) have endorsed it. As Piercy says, "She was advised to play coy ...  exercise, diet, smile, and wheedle". The girl in the poem conforms to beauty norms because she is told to.

The anonymous girl struggled with how other's viewed her physical appearance. After reaching the point of exhaustion, she decided to take a surgical approach to aid in her "beautification". "She cut off her nose ... and offered [it] up" (Piercy). The girl sacrifices part of her to conform to a "plastic beauty". The Human Ken Doll, Brazilian model Celso Santebanes, much like the girl in Marge Piercy's poem, was consumed by other people's opinions of him. He died in June 2015 at only twenty years old. Celso began his modeling career at age 15 and was conventionally "beautiful"; however, several comments made on his social media accounts suggested that he looks similar to the Ken doll. He became obsessed with this similarity and underwent extensive plastic surgery to achieve an absolute likeness. He spent close to sixty thousand dollars to achieve his look (news.com). Santebanes was diagnosed with Leukemia and still risked his health for beauty. Leukemia is a disease that weakens the immune system and makes the diseased more prone to infection. He died at age twenty from pneumonia. "His father, Celia Borges, told reporters: 'When he was starting to fulfill his dreams, he discovered his illness and his dreams were interrupted. He had plans but God had others'" (news.com). He, like the girl in Piercy's poem, died striving for beauty. 

The girl in the poem is a mere glimmer, a fictional shadow created by her lust and obsession for acceptance. Her "beauty" was nothing more than an artificial glow crafted by others. Societal pressures smothered her inner flame. She is not to blame. "Beauty" is responsible for this girl's death. "Beauty" is responsible for the pain and trauma that people worldwide have suffered for centuries. "Beauty" is pain.

