“Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.” (Carroll 313) In the 1970’s, a feminist movement occurred that transformed American culture and politics completely. Different from the previous movements that focused on the legal equalities such as voting rights, the 1970 movement focused on the social and culture hurdles against equality. Eventually, this anger against the inequality for women would be portrayed by Margie Piercy. For Piercy, she grew up in a working class neighborhood in Detroit that was plagued with racial conflicts. Consumed with frustration, she would later become a strong activist in student and anti-war movements. Piercy ultimately saw her voice the most powerful in her own literature that confronted a variety of cultural and social issues in America. However, her narrative poem “Barbie Doll” focused on her true passion women equality. By further understanding the social and culture expectations for women were in America in the 1970s, we can understand why Margie Piercy emphasizes on the social appearance of women in her poem “Barbie Doll”. She focuses on the exteriors because the opportunities that women were offered in the 1970s were often based on appearance. 

The 1970’s was a moment in United States history when the role of women was changing dramatically.  In this era, women were receiving more rights than ever before such as the right to have an abortion and the right to keep their job if pregnant. Women were motivated to make a footprint in society and wanted to pursue more than just the “traditional role”. Women wanted more than just legal rights, they wanted the exact equality men received. The equality that would allow them to work in law, classrooms, labs and offices. Ultimately this change would emerge from the feminist movement. Contrary from earlier feminist movements, this movement had a broader goal which in turn gathered a larger audience. However, Stevenson remarks, “others have noted that with the expansion of opportunities has come costs, and that men may have been the beneficiaries of the women’s movement.” (Stevenson 195). Yes, women have repainted the traditional role and “gained an unprecedented level of control in fertility” (Stevenson 195) , but women were still subjected by their appearance. This exact frustration is what Margie Piercy attacks in narrative poem “Barbie Doll”. For Piercy and many other women, they felt stuck in a box fitted for only twiggy-thin like women. This would cause a widespread impact and cause women into disorders like Anorexia nervosa. Women begin to feel the need to starve and take pills as the mainstream pressures of dieting, working out, and looking good consumed American industries. It is these pressures that Marge Piercy decides to highlight in order to show how true equality for women has to still not been accomplished.

   From the start of Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” attacks the traditional role women are assumed to play in American society. Before the 1970’s women were expected to maintain the household, please the husband, prepare the meals and look pleasing. Historically women were seen “in the roles of wife, mother, homemaker, and hostess. Roles out the family, such as career woman or professional work were given little or no attention” (Venkatesh 189). Piercy addresses this saying a “girlchild was born as usual and presented dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons and wee lipstick the color of cherry candy” (Piercy). Like usual the girl was forced into a certain direction. She was forced to embrace a “girly-girl” mentality, become familiar with kitchen utensils and wearing makeup. Piercy statement “shines light” on the fact that equality does not mean women should be strained into a particular appearance for society. 

From there Piercy’s poem describes how the girl went through the “magic of puberty” (Piercy) and came out of it with a classmate telling her she has “a great big nose and fat legs” (Piercy). This is interesting because Piercy is emphasizing how the appearance of girl over shadowed the fact that she “was healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arm and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.” (Piercy) In the 1970’s this exact issue persisted in films. This image of women was becoming a particular way with the rise of Hollywood. Carroll addresses this in her article when saying that “these practices” of displaying the female “imposes a male gaze on female spectators of Hollywood film, where that means that female spectators are presented with images of the the female that have been staged functionally in order to enhance male erotic appreciation for the female” (Carroll 352) Both Piercy and Carroll are addressing the fact that the appearance of a women means everything. In society at that time, a girl must look a certain way to be pleasing to the male population and Piercy saw no equality in that. 

As the poem progress, the girl becomes consistently “advised to play coy, which exhorted to come on hearty, exercise, diet, smile and wheedle” (Piercy). From there she felt the pressures of society and her “good nature wore out like a fan belt, she cut off her nose and her legs and offered them up.” (Piercy) Piercy tackles the fact that women face immense mental pressure to the point that it destroys them. There is this sense that if she doesn’t achieve this form of beauty then she doesn’t succeed in life and at that point life is no long worth living. To Piercy women are like the girl, “in a casket displayed on satin, with the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on, a turned up-putty nose, dressed in a pink and white nightie. How Does she look? Everyone said. Consummation at last. To every woman a happy ending” (Piercy). Davar also touches this issue when saying that society ignores crucial issues women face such as “the unequal decision-making power, unequal work distribution, work overload, unpaid labor, rigid role functions and stereotyping, all of which are dehumanizing and stressful for women” (Davar 2879). To grow up as a girl in the 1970s meant growing up through years of mental hurdles. Together Piercy and Davar emphasize how more often than not these issues can cause women their lives. The equality for women mentally is almost slim to none. 

Overall, Marge Piercy had a different vision of equality for women in 1970. She saw a world where women did not have to put into a box of gender and social expectations. Where women did not have cultural barriers that prevented equal oppturnity. A girl born in this world must be able to face the challenge of society wanting you to look, act and be a certain way to be a successful woman. Interestingly enough, this exact issue remains relevant in our time. Women today constantly feel the weight of the media focusing on their image. To be a successful media reporter almost feels like you must fit the role of a tall blonde female. Yes, the role of women has progressed exponentially and to unimaginable levels, but it still has not achieved the level of true equality. Margie Piercy believes that true equality for women will not be reached until this Barbie doll issue is removed. 
