Historically women in America and around the globe have been expected and encouraged to meet the standards of beauty provide to them by society. Whether it be through television, magazines, social media, or even children toys 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. The struggles that women faced in the past influence both issues that occur today and within the lines of  the poem“Barbie doll.”  

Mage Piercy’s “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,” like many other girls grew up with dolls, toy stoves and cherry flavored lipsticks (Piercy line 1). After hitting puberty however, she is insulted by a classmate that call her “big nose” and “fat” (Piercy line 6). According to this particular classmate the young woman does not fit the so-called standard of beauty. Her fellow classmates use the snide words above to decrease the young woman’s confidence and self-esteem. This is significant because it elaborates what these women and girls endured.  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 is said to have “tested intelligently, is healthy, and is of good nature” (Piercy line 7). This happened to be the case with many of the women during the movement. The significance of this quote is despite their 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 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 bullied or belittled by men and even other women about their image and status. Each of these issues in the movement are 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 cause the death of the young woman. She dies trying to transform herself to the standards provided to her by others in society; in her efforts to change what was already perfect she dies.  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 statistical evidence of these effects on their website. On average women collectively spend a total of 7 billion dollars on altering their appearances (YWCA 4). In many occupations, they make less than men which is harmful to women finances on top of the purchases of cosmetics, surgeries and even non-surgical procedures. women dedicate a lot of money and time 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 cosmetic surgeries women under go, described in the article. The poem also states that while in her casket the young woman’s face was caked with makeup. Her face being caked with cosmetics postpartum signify two important points. First it signifies the way that fighting to live up to beauty standards can potentially kill you, and more importantly the fact that trying to fulfill these ridiculous standards have no benefit especially not after death. 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 (YWCA 3). Research also shows that workers with below average looks earn about nine percent less than their more attractive counterparts (YWCA3). Despite the financial effects of beauty standards many women also face problems with their health. 40% of girls between the age of 15 and 19 are diagnosed with eating disorders, like anorexia or bulimia (YWCA 3). The young woman in the poem is described to be about this age and is enduring issues with depression and mental health that causes her to commit suicide Like the girl in the poem many women are left feeling self-conscious, as well as malnourished, which can result 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 willing to give anything even her life, to reach this goal. 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.

1219 words1219 wordsThe 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 articles aid in showing the consequences of women’s striving to reach these unrealistic beauty standards and bridges gender gaps displayed in both the poem and article.
