
What does it mean to be feminine? Does it mean that you have to play with toy dolls and miniature stoves as a child?  The answer is no: femininity is simply a mindset, one that explains the point in a woman’s life when she becomes content with herself.  Marge Piercy, an American poet and social activist, writes, “Barbie Doll”, a poem concerning the social expectations that women were presumed to meet, prior to the second wave feminist movement.  The poem tells the lifelong story of a girl who failed to see all her strengths because she was blinded by the patriarchal society that surrounded her.  In “Barbie Doll”, Marge Piercy illustrates the hardships that women face as they are objectified in society, by challenging the invention of the Barbie Doll, in order to publicize the realities of feminism and while altering the opinions of others.  

As a social activist for the second wave of Feminism, Piercy was highly influenced by the political situation at the time she wrote her poem.  “Barbie Doll” was published in 1971, in the midst of the Women’s Liberation Movement, shortly after the Barbie Doll toys were invented.  The Women’s Liberation Movement “meant more than the struggle for equal rights; it also illustrated the desire of women to break free from traditional roles and societal confines” (Hamilton, 1).  Primarily, Piercy focuses on the empowerment aspect, aiming to explain the true goals of this movement.  That being said, a significant motive for this movement, in Piercy’s perspective, was the attack on the invention of Barbie Dolls because it created a very distorted view of the ideal image of a woman. 

While being influenced by the political movement, Piercy begins her poem by explaining the issues young girls face when they are held to these unrealistic, dehumanizing expectations.  The format of Piercy’s poem mimics the timeline of a woman’s life, beginning with the girls’ childhood.  She starts with “this girlchild was born as usual / and presented dolls that did pee-pee / and miniature GE stoves and irons” (Piercy, 2-3).  During this time, girls were expected to be the cooks, playing with toy stoves, and the cleaners, learning to use an iron, of the household.  Piercy clearly states that women are subconsciously being exposed to these gender stereotypes at a very young age, compelling them to believe they must conform to society’s view of women.  Piercy concludes this stanza by explaining how the girls’ classmates view her, and describing the judgments she receives (Piercy, 6).  In doing so, Piercy introduces the idea that this girlchild does not have any say, by writing the first stanza in the point of view of the classmates: the only opinion that matters is the opinion of others. 

After explaining the opinions of the classmates, Piercy opens the next stanza from the narrator’s perspective, with a more uplifting tone to show that the true qualities of this girl differ from what others perceive her as.  Although this girl “was healthy, tested intelligent / possessed strong arms and back” she still “went to and fro apologizing” because her traits differed from those of the Barbie Doll, the figure that she was introduced to at a young age and thought of as her role model (Piercy, 7-10).  Girls were presented with these dolls throughout their childhoods, causing them to idolize these figures because it was generally the only model they were exposed to.  Child psychologist, Glenna Weis explains, “that the problem with the princess archetype is primarily that it presents young girls with an idealized image of beauty that cannot be attained in reality” (Issitt, 1).  Even though the narrator can see all the beautiful traits of this girl, the rest of society’s opinions blind her.  

As the poem progresses, Piercy explains the specific standards that women are held to in their later years to question the actual purpose of women in society.  A main goal of this feminist movement was to redefine the roles that women played in the world.  Piercy explains that, at that point, women were “advised to play coy / exhorted to come on hearty / exercise, diet, smile and wheedle” (Piercy, 12-14).  In other words, women are expected to be nice, smile frequently, and exercise to stay skinny because that, in the eyes of the patriarchal society, is what defines a woman.  In reality, however, the only important opinion is your own, it’s just a matter of realizing it or not.  In this case, the girl fails to appreciate her own opinion and lets others overpower her beliefs.  Piercy attempts to explain what the roles of women were at this time, followed by the suicide of this girl to show that something is clearly wrong with society and must be changed. 

As Piercy concludes her poem, she describes the final defeat that has overcome the girl while trying to fight the judgments and stereotypes from society. After a life of continuous failure, “her good nature wore off / like a fan belt / so she cut off her nose and her legs” (Piercy, 15-17).  As women are forced to live up to these expectations, they are frequently left feeling discouraged because without the satisfaction of looking like a Barbie Doll, they feel unaccomplished and dead inside.  The girl lay “in a casket displayed on satin” and finally, with “the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on”, she looked pretty (Piercy, 19-23).  Piercy write these last few lines to prove that society has forced this girl to take her own life because she was unable to live up to the unrealistic expectations originally presented to her (Issitt, 1). 

Marge Piercy writes “Barbie Doll”, to help readers see exactly what society is doing to women, in hope that the audience can see the issue and do something to change it.  While this movement influenced Piercy to write her poem, this poem also helped people understand the importance of the movement.  During this time, feminism was an issue of gender stereotyping, and although there have been laws and regulations passed to fix this, there is still a problem in today’s society.  Young girls still play with Barbie Dolls and still continue to suffer from low self-esteem.  But, since the time that Piercy published this poem, the awareness of the issue has spread immensely and the number of activists in support of Piercy’s views has greatly expanded.  So, what more will it take to complete this reformation?
