In America, there has been an ongoing fight for gender equality; women want to equally share the common rights that men have. Women have fought for so long to gain economic, social and political equality but still seem to come to a standstill when they come across the cultural and social boundaries America puts up for women. Feminism is a growing movement towards achieving political, economic, personal and social rights for women. The First- wave feminism was a period of feminist activity and thought that focused on gaining women’s suffrage. The Second-wave feminism focused on social/ and cultural barriers to equal opportunity. In Marge Piercy’s text, Barbie Doll, she highlights the gender and social expectations that are still so relevant and apart of the cultural and social barriers to equal opportunity. The second wave feminism is fighting to break down the stereotypes of women, that women are indoctrinated from the start of young adolescence years to death to fit a certain unrealistic “perfect” and domestic image. These women are held to a high standard and live in an image-based culture where their physical image matters and not their inner attributes, who they really are. 

The poem, Barbie Doll, has a title and is set up in a certain way that some may think is ironic. It starts off talking about the birth of a girl, her death and then even after she is dead, her corpse. It follows in this chronological order to symbolize that women are indoctrinate right from the start of birth to even after death that they should look and act a certain way. The girlchild conforms herself and her identity to fit the standards society expects from every women at a very young age. Even though she was smart and had all of these great attributes, she ignored them because they didn’t make her “pretty”. Eventually the girl dies because she could not meet the unrealistic expectations she was held to. No matter how young or how old, women struggle because of the societal issues that influence girls in negative ways. Cussins repeats multiple times in her piece “the cultural desire for thinness replaces a healthy striving for true individuation of the feminine self and mercilessly subjugates their ego” (Cussins 1). She is referring to just like Piercy does in her poem that a healthy, normally lifestyle goes away when girls strive for the unattainable body image society wants them to have. Not only does society puts these expectations on girls but also so do the market and its sales. The title “Barbie Doll” is referring to the toy that stores market for little girls. The doll gives off this sexist image that little girls strive to look like and that society expects them to look like. Like Howard states, “Sexist depictions of women in advertisements offered feminists an arena which to attack gender bias” (Howard 1), the Barbie doll is a perfect example of an icon that little girls look up too but in reality represents the stereotypical gender roles and body image a women should achieve. 

In the first of the four stanzas of the poem, Piercy starts off by saying “This girlchild was born as usual”(Piercy 1) using the phrase “as usual” to highlight that what the rest of the poem states about this girlchild is what is true for all girls. The girl was born in an environment where she perfectly fit the image society wants to her be and look like. Piercy then goes onto saying how the girl is “presented dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy” (Piercy 2-4). These are all toys that the “usual girl” should be given to play with. They are presenting the girls with toys to prepare them for adulthood when they are supposed to be housewives who cook and clean, the domestic things. Girls are given these toys without even realizing the significance to it. Often times girls are blind to the fact that they are conforming to what society says is the role of women. In the Pink Truck Ads: Second- Wave Feminism and Gendered Marketing article by Ella Howard she even agrees with the stereotypes that women get domestic toys, “retailers had long identified women as the principal buyers of domestic items” (Howard 1). Even retailers have used the stereotypes of women and their domestic roles as marketing ideas. In the second to last line when she talks about the lipstick, she introduces the idea of the body image young girls are presented with and how they should look. Piercy ends the poem with the girl going through the “magic of puberty” (Piercy 5), and is being sarcastic with the word choice “magic” because it is supposed to be something natural and exciting but the girls classmates points out how her body is changing and wont fit the criteria society has on how a girls nose or leg looks like. At this point in the poem, the girls’ insecurities have been grounded and her unrealistic goal in life is established. 

The second stanza of the poem is the stage in a girl’ life when she starts to become an adult and possess qualities that make a strong, beautiful woman. In this part of the poem, Piercy expresses the attributes the girl had “she was healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity” (Piercy 7-9). These are all qualities one should strive to want and have but the girl was too blinded by the qualities society wanted her to have that she didn’t realize she had so many great things about her. She was not seen as important nor were these qualities seen as important either. “The individual who becomes ever more dependent on external judge of what is necessary for his/her well-being” (Cussins 1) starts to lose sight in what really matters. The girl becomes way too obsessed with trying to fit the “perfect” body image that she starts to feel bad about them that “she went to and fro apologizing” (Piercy 10). The girl actually apologizes to society for what she thinks is her imperfections because of what society told her. “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.” (Piercy 11), is only what society saw. This relates to Cussins text because she points out how only media points out the physical appearances of women, not what their personalities are like. This causes girls to feel even worst about themselves because they have this “role models” that they are supposed to look up too “more teenage girls than ever are affected by a compulsion achieve for themselves a degree of thinness that they see in every model and celebrities” (Cussins 1). Not only has society put a stereotype on women but also now even the media does. 

Normally when you let someone or something change who you are, you start to let that something or someone dictate your every move. In the third stanza, the girl’s life is now totally controlled by what society wants to her to do. Piercy lists all the expectations society puts upon a women, “she was advised to play coy, exhorted to come on hearty, exercise, diet, smile, and wheedle.” (Piercy 12-14). Women are expected to be nice and happy all the time, be skinny, eat healthy, and conform their bodies that end up not even being possible. This is how eating disorders are caused. “We have to understand that the social and personal dimensions meet in eating disorders and acknowledge a collective responsibility as these girls asked us too” (Cussins 1). She points out in her text that these disorders are often dismissed because it is becoming a new “hobbies” for girls in order to meet the standards they are held too. Like Piercy expresses “Her good nature wore out like a fan belt” (15-16). Piercy expressed how there is so much pressure that is put on girls external images, it ruins them, sometimes resulting in not wanting to try anymore. The girl in the poem felt that way “she cut off her nose and her legs and offered them up” (Piercy 17-18). She gave everything that was “hers” left to society because there was nothing left for her to do. 

In the final stanza of the poem, the girl is dead but somehow still controlled by the society, which she once lived in. The girl died trying to fit the expectations society put on her. She was encouraged, even by her classmates in the very beginning, so try to conform herself to fit these standards. Even when the girl was a corpse, she was still controlled by people. “The undertaker’s cosmetics painted on, a turned- up putty nose, dressed in a pink and white nightie” (Piercy 20-22), the undertakers made her up to look like what is considered pretty. Society finally made her be and look the way they wanted her to be and look her whole life, but it wasn’t until they “killed” her that she got that from her. And how Piercy ended the poem “to every woman a happy ending” (Piercy 25) indicates that this is what the women wanted and therefore is happy with how her life ended. Girls often get wrapped up in the idea of being pretty, that harming themselves, and in this case, killing themselves, is worth it because in some way shape or form that goal of attainting the unattainable was achieved. 

Piercy’s poem, Barbie Doll was written during the Second- wave feminism era when women were struggling with cultural and social barriers towards the stereotypes and gender roles against women. Women are held to the expectations of fitting this “perfect” body image and taught to be domestic women at a very young age. Like Howard says, they are shown these stereotypes by the media and marketing sales or like Cussins shows in research with the pressures and effects women face in these sexist biased times. Piercy takes a deep analysis into the life of a girl who lives the life of most females in the world. The girlchild was born into innocence but the society that surrounded her corrupted her and ultimately killed her. Women are trained on how to perceive themselves- from the outside as objects. This is also the same way other people are trained to see women as well, which is shown after the girlchild died and her corpse was still controlled by “everyone”. 
