Marge Piercy’s 1971 poem, Barbie Doll, addresses historical and cultural issues related to the second wave of feminism that lasted from the ending of World War II through the 1980’s. This text holds deeper meaning with historical knowledge of what was going on in society at the time it was written, as it only really portrays one tiny aspect of this movement. Historical knowledge definitely shapes the reading of the text much more than the text shapes the reading of the cultural period. What can be taken directly from the text is a message that is still relevant in current America and all around the world, the societal standards that girls are held to and expected to meet from a very young age.

The second wave of feminism, lasting from the end of World War II through the 1980’s, consisted of women fighting to involve their rights involving equality in the workplace, sexuality, and family and reproductive rights. (Dorey-Stein) Rosie the Riveter is commonly known as the face of this movement, although she was simply a cartoon on a poster who had an incredibly inspiring force on many young women. The piece of this movement that the text addresses is the fact that females are held to certain expectations of how they should look and act and are made to feel as if they are not good enough if they don’t meet these perfect “Barbie Doll” expectations.

The direct meaning of this text is to express the oppression of women when they are held to these expectations by society on the way they are supposed to look and act. “The girlchild was born as usual, and presented dolls that did pee-pee. and miniature GE stoves and irons, and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.” (Piercey, 348) These first two sentences of the text express how these expectations are forced onto girls at an extremely young age, even as soon as the time of birth. When the child is born, she is immediately given gifts that have a connotation of being “girl toys” or labeled as toys targeted toward young girls and never, or now rarely, to boys. “She was advised to play coy, exhorted to come on hearty, exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.” (Piercey, 349) This line from the text shows how these expectations are constantly forced upon girls as they grow up. The older she gets, the more expectations she is held to and the more responsibilities she is given. As a child, she was simply expected to play with the girly toys she was given, but as she ages she is given advice on the way she needs to be acting, the way she needs to look and how to do so, and in reality, the correct, or accepted, way to do everything. The last three lines of the text hold the most meaning of the entire passage in my opinion, as they are extremely deep and ironic. “Doesn’t she look pretty? everyone said. Consummation at last. To every woman a happy ending.” (Piercey, 349) These lines come after Piercey talks about how the girl in the story could no longer handle the pressures of these expectations and so she committed suicide, and talks about her funeral. Now that she is dead, people are finally saying that she is pretty rather than pointing out her flaws as they did before, and now she can finally have a happy ending even if that means having to take her own life to do so. Issues such as this still exist and are very prevalent today, and if anything, this is probably has only become a more common issue today, or has at least become more commonly acknowledged. 

The connection between this text and its cultural context is somewhat difficult to see, but it is in fact present. Background knowledge of the cultural context helps shape the reading of the text much more than the text shapes the reading of the historical period. The text gives only a slight insight to what was occurring in a much larger, vast movement across the entire country. The poem gives an idea of one small, day-to-day example of how living during this time would affect one given individual. The text is also not applicable only to that time period and movement, but also to current day and probably also to time prior to when it was written.

Overall, this poem gives a brief glimpse into the second wave of feminism, but the text has much more depth when reading it with background knowledge of the cultural context.
