
Historically women here in America and around the globe have been expected and encouraged to meet the standards of beauty provide to them by society. Wither it be through television, magazines, social media, or even children toy’s women and girls are persuaded to look and act “proper.” During the 1920’s the fight for women’s equal rights and treatment were led by feminist and advocates that shared the common goal of equality in women’s expectations. Marge Piercy’s poem “Barbie doll” in conjunction with Mimi Nguyen’s journal “The biopower of beauty: Humanitarian Imperialism and Global feminism in an Age of Terror” and the young women Christian association article “Beauty at any Cost” argue these unrealistic beauty standards and their detrimental effects on both Women and girls. Each piece ties into the struggles that women faced in the past as well some of the issues that occur today, including their harmful effects. 

Mage Piercy poem “Barbie doll,” ideas and topics about women relate directly to the women’s rights movement issues and goals.  In her poem, she follows the life of a young woman, this “girlchild,” (Piercy line 1) like many other girls she grew up with dolls, toy stoves and cherry flavored lipsticks. After hitting puberty however, she was insulted by a classmate calling her “big nose” and “fat.” (Piercy line 6) According to this particular classmate the young woman did not fit the so-called standard of beauty. The situation depicted in this poem is similar to the situations many of the women and girls during the women’s rights movement encountered in the past as well as currently. The young woman in the poem was said to have tested intelligently, was healthy and of good nature. This was also the case with many of the women during the movement, yet despite these auspicious characteristics women were still viewed as just beauty items intended only for cooking, cleaning, maternity and to be sexualized.  

Topics discussed in Mimi Thi Nguyen journal “The Biopower of Beauty: Humanitarian Imperialism and Global Feminism” relate directly to the issues identified in Marge Piercy poem “Barbie doll”. This article can be used to identify many of the problems women faced in the past and present relating to gender and beauty standards. The article speaks about women’s fight to vote and reach mutual societal standards as men. Women during this time period received less compensation than men for many of the same duties preformed. They were viewed as less capable, and therefore identified as unequal to their male counterparts. Women were often time bullied or belittled by men and even other women about their image, and status. Each of these issues in the movement were used as the foundation to shape the poem by its many examples displayed throughout the text. In “Barbie doll” the young woman is insulted by classmates, encouraged to be coy, and change her appearance. These situations later in the poem caused the death of the young woman. She died trying to transform herself to the standards provided to her by others in society, in her efforts to change what was already perfect she died.  This is one example of the horrendous effects of beauty standards on women and girls. 

Women trying to conform to the unrealistic standards of beauty provided by society, are nearly always affected negatively. The effects of trying to conform for women can be detrimental both physically and mentally. The young women’s Christian associations article “Beauty at any cost” gives several statistical evidences of these effects on their website. On average women collectively spend a total of 7 billion dollars on altering their appearances. In many occupations, they make less than men so this can be harmful for women finances. From purchases of cosmetics, surgeries and even non-surgical procedures women dedicate a lot of money to creating a new appearance. In the poem “Barbie doll” the young woman “cut off her nose and her legs and offered them up” this symbolizes the manner in which people under go surgeries to change their looks. It also states that while in her casket the young woman’s face was caked with cosmetics. Aside from cosmetics and surgeries women also face many issues in the work place. Study shows that lookism, or the discrimination of one based on their looks has become common in the work place. Research also shows that workers with below average looks earn about nine percent less than their more attractive counterparts. Despite the financial effects of beauty standards many women also faced problems with their health. 40% of girls between the age of 15 and 19 are diagnosed with eating disorders, like anorexia or bulimia. Many of these diseases leave women feeling self-conscious, as well as malnourished and even resulting in death. These disorders can also affect women’s mental health, causing them to feel outskated and depressed.

The title “Barbie doll” was not used as a coincidence. Barbie was created as the epitome of the beauty standards women should follow, blond hair, blue eyes, slim waist, and perky boobs, however not too perky. The poem draws this correlation with the use of the title. The young woman in the text is aspiring the reach these Barbie characteristics and is will to give anything even her life to reach this. Feminist and other advocators in the women’s right movement fought to end this suffering. In Nguyen article, she speaks of a film called “Barbie Nation.” The movie opens with men dressed as Barbie at San Francisco gay pride parade. Another life size Barbie doll is displayed in a box with the price tag $4,250.00 under her.  These two scenes are important to both the poem and the women’s right movement as a representation of how far things have progressed. Women have grown from being viewed as items or dolls that can be purchased as a possession to something a lot more. The men dressed as Barbie dolls show the development of the movement also by changing or basically eliminating beauty standards. The ability for the men to be dressed as different types of Barbie show a mend between not only women standards but also shows a decrease in the gender gap.

The suffering and fight during the women’s right movement shaped the foundation for the poem “Barbie doll.” Many of the struggles that women in the past and present faced were depicted in the lines of the poem. Overall the use of the articles show the evolution of women’s beauty standards and bridges gender gaps.
