 “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy was first published in the 1970’s. The first wave of feminism was in the 20th century, and was focused mainly on legal obstacles for women. In contrast, the second wave feminism movement started in the 1960’s, which broadened the movement to a wider range of issues, such as family, work, and sexuality. The second wave feminism movement was at its peak after the denial of The Equal Rights Act in 1973. The act states that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied by any account of sex. This was the most important goal for the second feminist movement. “Barbie Doll” focus on women’s typical roles and appearance standards of women. At first glance the title of this poem gives us the immediate impression of the Barbie doll iconic toy, known for being “perfect” in the eyes of people all over the world. Barbie dolls are known for having perfect legs, hair, face and other unrealistic features of the average women.  Some people even think of the Barbie icon as dumb when you imagine a doll. But it is not just a toy, it is a symbol of the expectation of society associated with women.  You will notice that throughout this poem Piercy never uses the word “Barbie” except for the title. But the image of a Barbie doll in is all throughout the poem. In Piercy’s poem the “Barbie doll” gets a complete makeover. Her poem is to help understand feminism transforming American culture and the expectations of women during this time period.

Since “Barbie Doll” was written in the 1970’s, we know that most people were ‘free’. It was a time of the bellbottom pants and disco. This making sense that Piercy’s poem is a free verse. Making a free verse poem makes it easier for Piercy to tell her poem in a dark modern fairytale kind of way. Throughout the poem there are run on sentences and sentences that are short and to the point. The combination of run on sentences, and short and to the point sentences makes Piercy’s poem sound sincerer and she is able to convey her message easier. Free verse also allows Piercy freedom to tell her story without using literary devices.

In the poem’s first sentence “girlchild” gives us the idea of young girls growing up in America in the 1970’s. “The girlchild was born as usual” (Piercy 348), Piercy makes fun of the gender assumed role in the typical American household. We get a clear idea of some of the ridiculous expectations that society often puts with young girls and women. She was just a girl born into the normal expectation of women. The next two lines of the poem, “and presented dolls that did pee-pee/and miniature GE stoves and irons” (Piercy 348) which points out the gender stereotypical role of women staying at home, cooking and cleaning instead of having a real job just like men. One of the feminism movement goals was to change this and create equal opportunities for women (Napikoski). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 helped out with this, it prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of sex, making it easier for women to get jobs, instead of the typical stay at home women.

The young girl in the poem gets teased by other classmates: “Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:/You have a great big nose and fat legs” (Piercy 348). From these lines we know it is a young girl in school. The kids in school realize that she does not look like a Barbie doll, but they do not either since they are all going through puberty. They still continue to call her fat. We then find out, “She was healthy, tested intelligent, /possessed strong arms and back, /abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.” (Piercy 348). This should blow the typical “Barbie” appearance out, because being smart and healthy is much more important than looking like a Barbie doll. The “strong arms and back” are features of male traits and young girls see theses as bad and not natural for a girl to have. And still the kids still will not leave her alone, “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs” (Piercy 348). On top of expecting to look like a Barbie doll, she then is expected to behave in a typical “perfect” way, “She is advised to play coy” (Piercy 348). ‘Play coy’ originally meaning shy and quiet. This is how young ladies were expected to act, even though the kids were being mean she “exercise, diet, smile, and wheedle” (Piercy 349). 

Toward the end of the poem the girlchild finally had enough with her classmates. “Her good nature wore out” (Piercy 348), she was done with everyone expecting her to be a certain way. “So she cut off her nose and her legs/ and offered them up” (Piercy 349). We think she is being sarcastic since she is “offering them up”. But in the last stanza we find out that she actually committed suicide. You would think that when she is dead that everyone would leave her alone. That is not the case, “In the casket displayed on satin she lay/ with the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on, /a turned-up putty nose/ dressed in a pink and white nightie”, even when she is dead she is expected to have the perfect Barbie doll look (Piercy 349).  Society still does not see her as a “real” person. Piercy then writes, “Consummation at last.” (Piercy 349). Her death has achieved society’s goal for her to be a true “Barbie Doll”. The final line of the poem, “To every woman a happy ending.” this saying that a woman is fulfilled if she has this psychical appearance of a Barbie doll and acts in the certain manner that society expects her to (Piercy 349).

In conclusion, Piercy is trying to make the point that women’s appearances should not matter in society. Beauty should not be measured by the society’s expectations. By using a fairytale like story, Piercy created a suicidal girl rather than the typical Barbie Doll. This poem offers a sad but realistic view on what judgment was like on women in the 1970s. Today society still sometimes fails to see a women’s true beauty by refusing to recognize and appreciate their true intelligence and personalities. 

