
In the mid 1960’s a “Second Wave of Feminism” washed over the United States and several other countries. The first “wave” of feminism had been in the early 1900’s when women won the right to vote. The second was centered around gender roles, social expectations, and inequality amongst men and women. During this time, Marge Piercy, an American poet, and novelist, highlighted the effects of second wave feminism and the need for change regarding social expectations through her poem Barbie Doll. Many people today associate the poem with modern day society and the expectations women are pressured to uphold. Although the poem Barbie Doll is relevant to today’s society in regards to gender roles, without a brief knowledge of the poem’s relevance back then, the original purpose of the text can’t be appreciated. The following articles are from the second wave of feminism and accurately describe the struggles women were facing during this time and can be used to shape the meaning of the Barbie Doll text. 

An article from The New York Times in 1968 describes in detail the different issues women were addressing in the second wave of feminism. The article “What do these women want? The Second Feminist Wave” was written by Martha Weinman. The Article starts off by describing a scene in which a group of feminist chose to protest. “Twelve comely feminists, dressed for cocktails, would crash the hearings of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission on sex discrimination in employment” (By MARTHA). She explains how the women were a part of NOW, the national organization for women. The article continues to go into the rights that women in this time wanted and the discrimination they faced based on their sexuality and not their intellect. Weinman says “This makes it clear, they would say, that women are valued not for their intelligence but only for their sexuality-i.e., as wives and mothers -which, stripping the matter of its traditional sacred cows, reduces the Women’s Role to a sort of socially acceptable whoredom” (By MARTHA). 

As the article goes on Weinman describes how men and women were not given the same types of jobs and were limited in what they could do at the jobs they acquired. Women were expected to stay in the home and raise the family and even goes on to describe some of the responses that were received during the second wave. Weinman talks about a meeting she has with a man who didn’t believe that women even existed therefore they shouldn’t have rights. Weinman then explains how women in this time didn’t think they existed either. They live through their family members and often see themselves as their husbands. One of Weinman’s associates, Miss Atkinson, was also present in the meeting and described how married life was draining and unfulfilling. Women were expected to control their children, fuss at their husband, and grow old doing just that. The conclusion of the article is a quote from Betty Friedan, the president of NOW at the time. She says “What I do know is this: If you agree that women are human beings who should be realizing their potential, then no girl child born today should responsibly be brought up to be a housewife. Too much has been made of defining human personality and destiny in terms of the sex organs. After all, we share the human brain” (By MARTHA). 

Another article from The New York Times describes Feminism in a different light. The article “Liberation Yesterday-the Roots of the Feminist Movement” was written by Marylin Bender in 1970. Instead of focusing on the social expectation of women, this article compared feminism in the 1920’s to feminism in the 1970’s. The points of view in this article come from women who understood, and even lived through, the first wave of feminism. The older women describe how they protested in private, and how women today were protesting in the wrong way. “I think they make too much about sex” (By, MARYLIN). They describe how no bra days and skinny dipping in public objectified women, and that those things could be done but in the privacy of their own homes. The women protesting had done nothing to help the cause by making it public. Instead of spreading awareness the women themselves were simply the conversation of interest while they sipped on cocktails. The article describes how women controlled the homefront, and change within their homes would result in change out in the world. Miss Kenyon, one of the older feminists, believed that women should participate in things like karate instead of no bra days. She describes how men have always had more power than women only because women never realized their full strength. “They always surpassed us in horsepower. If we have karate, we have that too.” 

Without the cultural and historical background of a text you can’t appreciate the writers true purpose. These articles are two of the thousands of texts that can be used to shape the poem Barbie Doll. In the 1st line of Barbie Doll Piercy writes, “This girlchild was born as usual” (Piercy). This term had also shown up in the first article as a quote from Betty Friedan. The poem then goes on to give an elaborate picture of the child’s toys. Things like irons, makeup, and stoves. All of them seen as “feminine toys”. Girlchild was used back then to describe female persons who had not been married and therefore had not become societies image of a woman. Society had this idea that women were nothing but housewives and mothers so until they became one they weren’t seen as anything but a young female. They were groomed for married life where they would become maids, cooks, and essentially become slaves to their husbands. Friedman commented on this saying that young women should not be trained as housewives, and it deprives them of individuality. 

The poem then goes on to state how, “in the magic of puberty” (Piercy), someone pointed out the girlchild’s “fat nose and thick legs” (Piercy). Although the girl was smart and kind hearted with a healthy sex drive, society sexualized her and had seen her as nothing but a body with a big nose and thick thighs. This is also seen in the first article where Weinman makes the statement, “This makes it clear, they would say, that women are valued not for their intelligence but only for their sexuality-i.e., as wives and mothers -which, stripping the matter of its traditional sacred cows, reduces the Women’s Role to a sort of socially acceptable whoredom” (By MARTHA). The poem goes on to say that the girl had played coy, she had ignored the words people would say but that type of emotional baggage weighed heavy on her. After a while, she “wore out like a fan belt” (Piercy). The girl hadn’t seen the potential that she had to be something greater than a sex object because society wouldn’t let her. They just constantly reminded her that she wasn’t enough and she eventually gave in. She cut off the parts of her that society wanted her to change and she died. It’s extremely sad but adds to the point that society had all the power. 

Second Wave Feminism wanted to change the level of power that society had. The women involved wanted equality and justice for women. They wanted women to know that they had power. The second article described how women had controlled the Homefront. They raised the children and influenced their husbands and if women had recognized this that they would have power to change society. If women taught their sons to realize that there is more to a “girlchild” than her appearance and advocated for women’s rights in the home, then the girl from the poem may have been less susceptible to the judgment of her peers and could still be alive. Women could find contentment in living rather than succumbing to the pressures of society. Like Piercy said, “to every woman, a happy ending”. 
