When young girl never quite “fits in,” literally and figuratively, she goes to great lengths to try and alter her image. To start like most, the girl “was born as usual/ and presented with dolls that did pee-pee/ and a miniature GE stove and irons” (Piercy 1-3). Given this, the girl struggled with her own body image. As she got older, “everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs”(Piercy 11).  Perpetuated by the toys given to her as a child, the girl felt she needed to live up to those standards. The GE stove led her to want to be a good housewife. Sadly, when she realized the way that others saw her wouldn’t allow for that, she didn’t know to achieve her goal with out altering her body. She tried everything, from diet to exercise, but eventually, “her good nature wore out/ like a fan belt,” causing her to “offer up” her body parts (Piercy 15-16). Ultimately, she developed a state of insanity in order to attain an unattainable goal. In the end, the girl got her wish when “ in the casket displayed on satin she lay… Doesn’t she look pretty? Everyone said” (Piercy 19, 23). In her world, she got “every women’s happy ending” (Piercy 25). The girl got her “happy ending,” but at the cost of her life. In or world today, this story still rings true. Girls everywhere, while they don’t cut off their limbs, still restrict themselves in order to fit the “Barbie Doll” image. What is scary about this poems relation to our society is that the end results in the death of a young girl. 

Body image and self worth is not something only young girls struggle with. We can see how adult women also struggle with these principles in Carol Ann Duffy’s “Mrs Faust”. Because Mrs Faust is just an object to her husband, she goes to great lengths to become an object of his affection. The way that Mr and Mrs Faust chose to live their lives has caused Mrs Faust’s relationship with herself to disappear and her feeling that she is just an object to be magnified. She has become detached from feelings and has ultimately let go of her soul in order to fit the lifestyle that she lives. Mrs Faust goes on to change her physical appearance: “Had a facelift, /had my breasts enlarged, /my buttocks tightened” (Duffy 76-78).  Mrs Faust is altering her body to become more of the “perfect human” that so many women strive for. Nonetheless, she is doing this because she feels like nothing more than a material object that has to be refurbished. The changes however, do not stop there. Mrs Faust “Went blonde, /redhead, brunette, /went native, ape, /berserk, bananas”(Duffy 84-87). What is striking about these four lines is not only the change in hair color but rather how they end. The word choice of Duffy is particularly interesting. The words “berserk” and “bananas” do not have the best connotation. When thinking of why Duffy chose these particular words, one can’t help but wonder if she was trying to tell the reader something. That all Mrs Faust has been through, plastic surgeries to hair color changes has had a deeper impact on Mrs Faust. She is being driven crazy by the constant need to be better, not for herself, but for those around her. 

Lily Myers speaks to this pattern in her poem “Shrinking Women,” emphasizing the connection between the men and women in her family. She notices herself picking up those habits that her mother has inadvertently taught her over the years. Spending so much time picking apart the pieces of each one of her mother’s many expressions has made Myers make the same subconscious decisions when it comes to her life also. She has watched her mom “make space for the entrance of men” in her life.  She has been taught to accommodate, taught to filter and to think before eating and before acting, but this is something only she understands. Her mother is a “fugitive stealing calories to which she does not feel entitle to”(Myers). Her brother does not understand their struggle “as [he] learns from [their] father to emit, to produce,” while Myers has “learned to absorb… [She] took lessons from [her] mother in creating space around [her]”(Myers). Growing up observing this dynamic has forced Myers to think about “how much space she deserves to occupy”(Myers).  As she has watched the inner conflict she, “either mimic[s] or hate[s] her and [she doesn’t] want to either anymore, but the burden of this house has followed [her] across the country”(Myers). Even as she strays from her home, Myers has found herself following the same patterns as her mother. It was a “circular obsession that I never wanted,” said Myers (Myers).  As she had watched her mother filter, and for that matter keep to herself, when she did talk, Myers found herself apologizing to start off every sentence, as if her speaking were an inconvenience. Myers is not sure that she deserves to ask questions and further her education like the men in her class, which pulls her closer to being in the same situation as her mother is.  With this poem however, Myers is challenging that very cycle. She is allowing herself to speak freely and address a real problem in society. 

The idea of the Barbie Doll perpetuates issues that Myers struggles with. Similarly, Lisa Simpson also struggles with the “Barbie Doll” culture. Lisa choose to play with her dolls differs from most of those around her. Instead of using Malibu Stacy a housewife, or something else of that nature, Lisa is imagining Malibu Stacy in front of the General Assembly. However, Lisa is disappointed when Malibu Stacy says things like, “lets bake cookies for the boys,” and “don’t ask me, I’m just a girl”(“Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy”) Lisa was distraught, because she believed that Malibu Stacy would have something relevant to say. Lisa is angered by the view, claiming, “Millions of girls will grow up thinking that this is the right way to act”(“Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy”). Lisa wants herself and others to “ be more than vacuous ninnies whose only job is to look pretty, land a rich husband and spend all day on the phone”(“Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy”). Malibu Stacy and the type of women that she depicts leads young girls to choose to act a certain way; to be vapid, to be a sponge that soaks up the situations around them, but never letting any of their own thoughts out. What was striking to me was how Lisa’s mother Marge said, “ordinarily I would tell you to stand up in what you believe in, but you’ve been doing that an awful lot lately”(“Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy”). In short, Marge is telling her daughter to filter what she is saying, as Lisa has been disagreeing with a lot of social norms. The Simpsons get angry with Lisa, as they feel that she has impaired their daily lives with her radical opinions. Homer complains about Lisa’s opposition to ideals, because he feels that it is an inconvenience to him. Furthermore, when Marge argues that she had a Malibu Stacy doll when she was growing up, and she “turned out just fine,” she then proceeds to say, “let’s forget our troubles with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream”(“Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy”). Lisa then promptly pulls on the string attached to Malibu Stacy, who then repeats the exact phrase as Marge. This shows how Malibu Stacy doll impacted Marge, and continues to really impact the lives of young girls. Marge makes her decisions based on what Malibu Stacy taught her as a child, which is she tells Lisa to stop disagreeing with the social norms, because Marge wants Lisa to grow up the same as she did.

The ramifications of this lifestyle go far past the life of Mrs Faust. This way of life that Mrs Faust lives, as an object of her husband, is a crucial example of why the “Barbie Doll” image is cruel.  Girls think that they need to fit the standard. Like Mrs Faust, these girls will find that this life does not make them happy. Instead of Mrs Faust being a goal, it should be a warning to the downfalls of the “Barbie Doll” persona.  The girl depicted in “Barbie Doll” also shows the dangers of body image standards. While in real life, most girls do not cut off their limbs in real life, it is a metaphor for how severe body image issues can be. The girl in the poem ends up dying really young, which can sadly be the case with girls who struggle with the body standards and develop eating disorders because of it.  Moreover Lily Myers speaks to this when she talks about her relationship with food. She emphasizes how her mom has influenced her in how she acts as a woman. Myers notices herself falling into the same habits as her 

Mother. Shrinking herself to make room for men. Not speaking up, or when she chooses to speak up, apologizing trying not to inconvenience others. However, Myers, by preforming this poem, is moving towards changings the old habits that are easy to fall into.  Lastly, Lisa Simpson challenges the heralded “Barbie Doll” image when she creates a doll that empowers women to break the standards rather the reach the standards that restrict them.  When she creates her own doll, Lisa Lionheart, she sets a realistic goal for young girls to strive for, thereby diminishing the “Barbie Doll” image that has wrongly shaped so many lives.
