
Marge Piercy’s poem “Barbie Doll” was written in 1973, and challenged the stereotypical roles women were expected to play in our society during that time, and even still in 2016. Today’s society has a peculiar way of accepting things, such as personalities and gender roles, in that we follow by the example of those in the limelight. Everywhere today there is a problem with people wanting to emulate others that are advertised in the media, such as “flawless” movie stars or the supermodels that everyone drools over. Being a teen today comes with all of the trials of attempting to look flawless and trying to fit in. If you do not achieve the high standards that society puts on your shoulders, then you are simply an outcast to the people around you. This creates issues for teenagers because it causes unrealistic goals, ultimately leaving the teen disappointed and with the sense of a failure when they cannot meet those goals.

“Barbie Doll” is a story in which a young girl is introduced many feminine things that she has received from family and friends, such as Barbie dolls and makeup. It is known that children tend follow along with whatever is shown to them at a young age, which is why young girls have no problem playing with Barbie’s while young boys play with things like footballs and G.I. Joe’s. This is called socialization; when children are raised in a certain environment they tend to shape their lives and how the react to certain situations according to their interests. So, because young girls grow up playing with Barbie dolls and makeup, they are exposed to the “perfect image” of how they should look and act at a very young age.  This is a problem because it has become an iconic thing to be somewhat “perfect” and sadly, because of this, when the girl in the poem is told that she has a “great big nose and fat legs” she begins to think that she could never be wanted or accepted since she could not meet the standards of a Barbie doll. The poem ends with the girl cutting off her nose and her legs because she could not meet the expectation set by society. That reaction, although it is an extreme one, occurred because the girl was bullied and degraded her about her body since she did not look as perfect as the Barbie dolls that she and others in her environment had grown up with. This led her to make a decision that ultimately ended her life.

Today the expectations of females are that they should be almost flawless, looking like princesses or in this case, Barbie dolls. Most young children love playing with Barbie dolls, as well as dressing like them, and throughout their lifetimes it also becomes ideal as women get older to look like these Barbie’s, whether that requires a certain diet, makeup, or even plastic surgery to achieve that result. Women of today are supposed to be perceived as beautiful beings and society outcasts them if they are not so, which sometimes leads women to do the unimaginable things. “She was advised to play coy, exhorted to come on hearty, exercise, diet, smile and wheedle” (Piercy 348 line 12). 

Second wave emerged when women began to believe that they should be treated equaly to men. “During the 1960s and 1970s organizations were formed that changed the way women viewed themselves and each other but the major victories of the Second Wave came in the form of legislation designed to give women more equal opportunities on par with men, and gave women (at least on paper) autonomy over their own bodies” (Feministactivist). In the poem “Barbie Doll”, the girl is first mentioned by the name of “girlchild”. This shows how women are looked at with a lower standard. Later in the poem it is stated that “She was healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity” (Piercy 348 lines 7-9), showing that the girl actually has the abilities to be able to do great things if she is not limited or does not limit herself. These lines show that the girl was not only strong, but also was striving to be great. The young girl in this poem was never able to experience who she really was due to everyone else trying to tell her exactly what she should be. 

In the last stanza of the poem it is stated that “In the casket displayed on satin she lay with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on, a turned-up putty nose, dressed in a pink and white nightie. Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said. Consummation at last. To every woman a happy ending” (Piercy 348 lines19-25). These lines show how everyone saw the girl in the open casket as beautiful. The young girl was beautiful after she was dead because she had a fake nose and nice clothes on, which is ironic because she was still the same girl she had been in life. The girl was degraded and put down like so many other women tend to be in this society; she changes in everyone else’s eyes because it was what society had told her to do to be beautiful. The last lines read “Consummation at last. To every woman a happy ending” (Piercy 349 lines 24-25). “To every woman a happy ending” (Piercy 349 line 25) can be interpreted in a couple of ways, one of which being a possible warning. Society can be cruel if you let it tell you who you should be or how you dress based on what they think is best. It can ruin a person such as the woman in this poem. Another possible interpretation of this statement is the allusion to all of the hard work that the women involved in the feminist movement had been going through and the possibility that every woman could have a happy ending when all of the hard work to achieve their goal is finished. 

Second wave feminism was a very important movement because even today women are seen as unequal to men or not as important because they seem weaker or not as capable for the same jobs that men tended to occupy. Females today are held to a standard that is somewhat unreachable, but this shouldn’t be the case. Society makes it very difficult for women to be happy with themselves, expecting them to be flawless and perfect in their appearances and attitudes, but not expecting them to meet the levels of success that a man does. Women should have the same rights and privileges as men so therefore there should be no discrimination for women due to gender roles.
