“Barbie Doll,” by Marge Piercy, is a poem shaped by cultural context. The Second Wave Feminism of the 1970s was occurring during the time the poem was written. This movement focused mostly on the social aspect of unequal opportunities for women. During this era, women struggled for acceptance into society. Through knowledge of the culture and events prompting the Second Wave Feminism, and through knowledge of the way women were seen during the 1970s, a reader of Piercy’s poem can better understand her position and the reasoning behind the feelings expressed in her writing. 

Marge Piercy opens the poem by describing a little girl being born into a traditional home and growing up playing with typical girl toys. These standard girl toys include a baby doll, a mini toy stove, and an iron. During the 1970s, it was common for girls to play with these household play items since their anticipated role, when they grew up, would be to manage their household. Women were rarely seen working outside the home, so, to parents, it made sense for them to play around with such toys. Although it was common for women to be okay with working around the household, this was not always the case.  In Myra Ferree’s “Working-Class Jobs: Housework and Paid Work as Sources of Satisfaction,” Ferree discusses how women did not like to be kept in the house all day. More women than not, actually, wanted to be out working in the workforce. Working outside the home gave them a better sense of usefulness and pride in their work performed. As Piercy writes her poem, she makes it appear as if the small child did not really have a choice in her toys. The girl was raised playing with these stereotypically domestic objects. By understanding that women were raised with these stereotypical toys to play with, a reader can better understand how women were influenced from birth to continue a lifestyle of working in the home. 

Myra Ferree continues to illustrate that working outside the home gave women connection with the world and more of a sense of purpose. In the home, there is a lack of social support, as the woman is usually at the home alone with just the kids and no adults to talk to. Ferree states: “Recently Warren (1975) also noted that fulltime housewives report more stress and anxiety than women with paid jobs, regardless of class” (Ferree 1). This stress and anxiety mainly comes from being isolated from adult society. Working in the house all day could cause the loneliness that leads to the stress and anxiety housewives were feeling. 

By having a better understanding of the struggles women faced while working as housewives, an individual can see that working at home was not every girl’s desire. Working in the home was not necessarily the ideal job. By keeping this in mind, a reader of Piercy’s poem can understand that, at the time the poem was written, people were driven towards following the social norms and doing what society displayed as human and right. Women only worked in the household because society portrayed it has the job that all women must do. When the girl in the poem was told by society that her legs were big and her nose was fat, a reader can understand how this affected the girl. She felt the need to do what she could to fix her looks since society didn’t approve. People at the time listened to society and followed what it told them; it told the girl that she needed to fix her legs and nose since they were big and fat. This put upon the girl the similar stress and anxiety that housewives had as she, like housewives, was not living the way she wanted to. The girl was stuck trying to exercise and diet to keep her weight down, while housewives were stuck in the house all day due to society’s pressure. 

In Anna Silver’s The Cyborg Mystique, she talks about important aspects of a 1975 film The Stepford Wives. This film revealed the realistic themes of the Second Wave Feminism. The film portrayed women’s hate towards housework and being a housewife, as well as the disproportional focus on the beauty of women. In this film, women were viewed, by their husbands, as robots. The robots were more beautiful in the men’s eyes, as the robots did not age, gain weight, or have any wrinkles on their faces. The image admired and expected by men in the film helps to understand Piercy’s poem as the poem continues to gets more into the head of the child. The girl in the poem “cut off her nose and her legs and offered them up” (Piercy 17-18). Since there was an ideal look and unrealistic expectation of women, it was typical for women to just completely turn into zombies who had no emotions or self-satisfaction. Knowing this drive towards an inhuman look helps the reader of Piercy’s poem understand the pain the child felt because she did not have the desired qualities in her appearance. 

Anna Silver addresses the way in which housework “turns women from individuals with goals and ambitions into cleaning appliances” (Silver 2). By understanding this effect, a reader of Piercy’s poem can understand why the child lost her good nature. The child’s good nature wore out as she exhausted herself by training to gain approval. It is evident that women did not find happiness in their unaccepting society. They were constantly working towards the robot wife, which society displayed as the ideal women that every guy aimed to have. As women sought to portray this unrealistic mold, they became worn down and experienced a loss of character. They were simply transforming into “robots,” like Anna Silver discussed in her work.  

As Piercy ends the poem, the girl lays in her casket with the “undertaker’s cosmetics” on her face (Piercy 20). Piercy shows the life cycle of the typical girl during this time. The girl in the poem grows up and finds no satisfaction, as she is constantly aiming to be approved. In the end the girl dies after having a sad life centered around seeking to reach an ideal look—these efforts eventually consumed all her time. By acknowledging that women were changed from having life ambitions and goals into being cleaning supplies, a reader of Piercy’s poem can better understand how the girl wasted her life as she only focused on gaining approval by fixing her features. 

By keeping in mind the way women lived during the time Piercy wrote her poem, a reader can fully understand why the girl in the poem acted the way she did. Most women during the 1970s did not stand up for what they believed yet did their best to seek the approval of society. The women who did stand up advocated against the societal pressure. Generally speaking, though women didn’t start fulfilling their goals and desires until later on in history. By understanding this societal norm, a reader can feel the pain the girl in the poem went through. It was easy for girls to fall into the trap of trying to please society and ultimately to waste their whole lives doing so. Piercy tracks the girl’s life from birth to death. This lets the reader experience and see how painful the girl’s life was. No one wants to live their life seeking the approval of others. Sadly, this was the case for many of the women during the time. 
