Society has created a nearly impossible physique expectation in women over the past 100 years or more.  One may wonder why this expectation is predominately in females and not males.  Males seem to be judged more on their muscularity, which is something that can simply be fixed in the gym.  Women however, are judged on their body frame as well as natural characteristics that were given to them at birth.  Females had very little ability to change their appearance in the in the mid 1900s.  This all changed as soon as cosmetic and weight loss surgeries were modernized.  The almost unattainable standard for women's "beauty" was raised instantly.  Marge Piercy wrote the poem "Barbie Doll" to portray how society perceives a woman's looks in comparison the child's doll named Barbie.  This children's toy actually had an impact on society's perspective and this led to the increase in self-consciousness, low self esteem, and insecurity within females.  They had to find a way out of the social oppression, and they finally did find this in cosmetic and weight loss surgeries.  By reading "New Techniques in Cosmetic Surgery for Every Part of the Body", an article from Vogue magazine in 1969, it is obvious that the demand for cosmetic surgery increased with the rise of the Barbie Doll.

Piercy starts her poem off by explaining a girl's life from the time she is born.  At this point every explanation she gives is completely normal.  Piercy goes on to state a few items that any typical young girl would play with.  One of the items listed is a doll.  As the reader proceeds through this sentence the author begins to paint a picture of a cute little kid playing with her toys and nonchalantly going through everyday life.  She creates a bit of irony in the very next sentence in which a completely different picture is painted in the reader's mind.  Here is an adolescent teenage girl who is sitting in class while being made fun of her "great big nose and fat legs."  This is exactly where society begins to judge a woman's "beauty."  Ironically, when she was a kid she was almost seen as cute, not by her physical features but the things that she was doing.  As soon as she entered puberty society considered her a woman and the judgment began.  

Then Piercy went on to explain other physical features that were, what should have been, assets to her overall appearance.  She explains how the young lady was healthy and intelligent.  These are things that most men would consider a necessity when attempting to find a spouse.  These assets are followed with more assets such as her strong back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.  These are also characteristics that everyone should be able to appreciate.  Even with all of these beautiful characteristics the text says that she went out apologizing for those only two flaws she had.  It's as if she needed to be perfect to obtain, what society would consider, "beauty".  

Next the author began to describe her personality.  "She was advised to play coy, exhorted to come on hearty "  These are characteristics of the dream wife in this society.  The young lady is told to "play coy" in an attempt to be an innocent girl.  This will allow her to come off as a girl that hasn't been with everyone.  Society seems to see purity as another trait of beauty. She was "exhorted to come on hearty" to show the passion that she has an individual.  The final beneficial characteristic that is given is that she appears to be very concerned with her overall health.  She exercises and watches her diet.  Obviously she is doing everything that she possibly can to portray all of the natural beauty that she has.  To top it all off, she walks around with a smile and compliments others as well as she can.  Piercy then changes the mood of the story once again.  After building the reader up about how beautiful this young lady is, she instantly reminds you that she still has those two flaws and that her good nature can't last forever in society's constant criticism.  In attempt to finally obtain these unrealistic standards she undergoes cosmetic and weight loss surgery.    Her "fat nose" was removed along with making her legs smaller.  

In the final stanza Piercy begins by explaining how the young lady lies in the "casket" with the "undertaker's cosmetics painted on".  On the surface the reader could initially believe that the woman has committed suicide.  However, if one is to look in to the symbolism it is obvious what the author's message is.  She is saying that the genuine and original young lady, that she once was, is now dead.  She had cosmetic surgery to remove her only two flaws.  After she is "dead" everyone who sees her compliments on how pretty she is.  One of the concluding lines simply states, "Consummation at last."  It is finalized and society can stop judging her now that she has reached their standard of "pretty."

Marge Piercy named this poem after the children's toy "Barbie".  Barbie was created in 1959.  She is a very thin and tall blonde teenage girl. The proportions of her body are completely unrealistic.  According to CBS news, if Barbie were life size, her waist would be so thin that she wouldn't even have enough room in her stomach to hold all of her organs.  Around 350,000 of these dolls were sold around the world in the very first year it was on the market! Obviously this small doll became enormously iconic.  It is even estimated now that around 90 percent of all American girls have owned at least Barbie doll.  By the 1960s weight loss surgery and cosmetic surgery were modernized and in full swing globally.  Marge Piercy didn't coincidentally write a poem in the very next decade about how the "ideal" female body is perceived.  This poem was written in 1973.  Percy wanted to show that the idea of the "Barbie body" created way too high of standards.  Not only did it create high standards but it ruined the woman's perspective of her own body.  

After women began to feel as if their "beauty" was insufficient they resorted to cosmetic surgeries.  These surgeries kill the individualism that women have.  This is exactly what Marge Piercy wanted to show.  "New Techniques in Cosmetic Surgery for Every Part of the Body", shows that women were resorting to cosmetic surgery to meet the societal standards. The "Barbie Body" is directly leading to the genocide of women individualism.  This is why the rate of the cosmetic surgeries greatly increased in the exact same time period of the mass production of the Barbie doll.

In conclusion, the standards of the ideal body that a woman should have has been on the rise for almost 100 years.  Not only were the standards rising with the implementation of dolls that depicted an ideal body, but the number of cosmetic surgeries were increasing as well.  The quicker the standards went up, the faster the self-esteem and self consciousness dropped within women.  The women needed a way out of this social oppression.  At the exact same time, cosmetic and weight loss surgeries on the rise as well.  They, of course, saw this as their way out!  This is what is killing the individualism in the women of today.  This is what Piercy was trying to get across when she continued to talk about all of the assets in the young lady, but always went back to her only two flaws.  It creates a sense in the woman's mind that they have to be flawless.  Society's perspective of the "Barbie body" directly increased the demand for cosmetic surgery as well as killing the individualism in the women's community.

