The issue of gender stereotyping, especially against women, has been prevalent in society for a long time. Whether it’s the idea that women are meant to cook, clean, and take care of the kids or the thought that women exist to look pretty, people have become accustomed to viewing women as the inferior gender. Women react to and think about their stereotypes differently from each other, which is what we see in the two texts “Bitch Planet” by Kelly Sue DeConnick and “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy. Through the discussion of female stereotypes in “Bitch Planet” and “Barbie Doll”, we can see how women are affected by their stereotypes and their ability to overcome them. This suggests that people who care about what others think of them, like the girl in “Barbie Doll”, are not able to overcome stereotypes while people like Penelope in “Bitch Planet” are able to overcome them.  

In the poem, “Barbie Doll”, a young girl is constantly being stereotyped. She plays with dolls, pretends to cook and clean with fake stoves and irons, and wears lipstick (Piercy 348). Because she fits the stereotype of a little girl, Marge Piercy suggests that she is normal (348). This represents that in order to be considered normal, one must conform to society’s stereotypes and standards. Although the girl possessed several great qualities like intelligence, health, and strength, people judged her solely on her looks. The girl in “Barbie Doll” did not meet the expectations of society’s image of what a girl should look like, which she knew and so she went “to and fro apologizing” (Piercy, 348). Because she did not fit the stereotypes and could not handle the expectations set upon her, she killed herself. In this case, the girl was negatively affected by the expectations put on her. Because the girl cared about what others thought about her and agreed with them, she succumbed to the stereotype put upon her. The message from “Barbie Doll” is that people are not supposed to care about what others think of them because it will negatively affect the reader like it did to the girl. In contrast, the girl in “Bitch Planet” was affected differently and was able to overcome the stereotypes. 

In “Bitch Planet,” Penelope, the main character, is represented as a criminal. Every aspect of who Penelope is is seen as wrong because throughout the comic she refuses to conform to what is expected of her. Penelope is an African American woman who isn’t as skinny, as fragile, or as feminine as most girls. Instead she is somewhat violent. People were insistent on changing Penelope so she could look and act like a “normal” woman. One of the quotes that is said to Penelope is, “What are we going to do with this hair of yours, hm?” (DeConnick 187). Because Penelope’s hair is unlike most women’s, she is instantly expected to change it so that she can fit in with the rest of society, which shows that in her daily life, she is constantly being told that she is not good enough. In the scene where Penelope is working, two men comment on her unusual looks. “No wonder she’s state sponsored, Christ, look at her. Who wants to come home to that?” (DeConnick 194). A stereotype that is shown here is that women live to please men. Because she looks the way she does and not like a “normal” woman, she is undesirable to men. The other women in the comic talk about dieting and counting calories. Once again, this represents that Penelope is expected to be thin and care about her body and looks. However, in the end, despite all the negative views that Penelope receives, she says, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I ain’t broke. And you bastard’s ain’t never gonna break me” (DeConnick 199). In the end, Penelope accepts who she is. She realizes that her ideal image of herself is who she already is, despite what everyone else’s ideal images are. She is self-accepting and prideful. Penelope was positively affected by the stereotypes, so she came out stronger, more confident, and not even the slightest bit broken. So, so was able to overcome the stereotypes because she didn’t care what other people thought of her.  

In “Barbie Doll” and “Bitch Planet”, similar stereotypes are used towards both girls. People overlook the girls and judge them based off of their looks. In “Bitch Planet”, Penelope’s background is overlooked. When she was a young child, her mom was taken away, which is one of the reasons she is so violent. But instead of considering Penelope’s tough childhood, people judge her because she doesn’t act or look like a “normal” woman. The great qualities, like intelligence and health, that the girl in “Barbie Doll” has are overlooked because of her looks as well. People only focus on her big legs and strange nose and judge her because she too does not look like a “normal” girl. Both Penelope and the girl in “Barbie Doll” are told to conform to society’s norms. Penelope is told to change her hair and act more ladylike, while the girl in “Barbie Doll” is told to “…diet, smile, and wheedle” (Piercy 349). Although both of these girls are stereotyped and constantly told to conform to look like other girls, they react to the hate they are given differently. Penelope brushes off the criticism and continues to stay proud of who she is, despite all of the mean critiques that people have to say about her. The girl in “Barbie Doll”, however, does not take the criticism and judgements so well. Instead, she overlooks her great qualities and focuses only on what people criticize about her. Because of this, she commits suicide because she was not able to withstand the expectations that were put upon her. 

Both Penelope and the girl from “Barbie Doll” were impacted by the judgements and critiques of other people. However, they had opposite reactions. Penelope took the criticism positively and was more confident because of it. This shows that she was able to overcome the stereotypes because she did not care what others thought about her. However, the girl in “Barbie Doll” took the criticism negatively and committed suicide because of it, which shows that she succumbed to the stereotypes and did care what people thought of her. Both girls are expected to look and act “normally”. In the case of these two texts, normality is conforming to what others want. To please society, Penelope and the girl from “Barbie Doll” were told to look and act accordingly and if they didn’t, they were deemed “abnormal”. 