The media is often considered another form of government because of the impact it has on society. Social media as well has a large impact on society. It is a great and easy way to connect with people all around the world. However, it has a larger negative impact than positive impact to women especially. So much that it has the power to persuade women to make changes on how they act and appear to everyone in society. Women, are held to a higher standard on social media which can have long term negative effects. Social media has changed the way women view themselves entirely.

The poem, “Barbie Doll” by Margie Piercy, is about a little girl who was affected by gender norms as she grew older. The young girl in this poem is happy with herself and does not have any expectations of what she should look like until society tells her differently. The minds of young children are so innocent but are quickly tarnished by society. Women are expected to be focused on their look and the superficial parts of themselves (Miller). Whereas men are expected to focus on their success (Miller). At the end of this poem, the girl is laying in a casket and the author mentions her looks. She uses the words “turned-up putty nose” and “cosmetics painted on” to emphasize gender and the superficiality of women. If a man was in this casket they would be mentioning his success and personality. Gender roles are very prominent in this poem. It was published in 1971, before the internet was created. The internet has had major effects on gender roles and it is continuously increasing. 

The poem, “Let Her Come,” is equivalent to the poem “Barbie Doll.” They were written during different time periods and are on slightly different topics, but have the same message. They both focus on the topic of feminism. “Let Her Come,” is striving for equality and “Barbie Doll,” is striving for a better life for girls. Women have been held to a high expectation even before social media existed. Women have been progressing for decades towards equality. The poem, “Let Her Come,” was written during the Women’s Suffrage period, a time where women were deprived of their right to vote. It uses real world examples of how women were not given equality, and the base piece of evidence in the poem, where it all began was women’s suffrage. “For woman is commissioned to reform the world, although, Jest by casually observin’, you might never think ‘twas so. (Let Her Come)” This quote from the poem “Let Her Come” represents how high of an expectation women were held to even at the time before social media existed, yet they were deprived of their basic rights. This issue only got worse in 1983 when the internet was created. 

Social media became popular around the 1990s and early 2000s. Where the influence of social media started to have an effect on people’s lives around the world. Popular social media accounts began to have millions of followers on a simple app; giving one person so much power and voice. People began to go to extremes just because of the popular trends on social media. Women became fixated on their looks and how they appeared to others on social media. Appearance started to become more and more important than personality. 

The article, How the World Changed Social Media by Daniel Miller, argues that gender relations, gender norms, and gender identities are influenced by social media and technology. Social media such as large public online spaces like Facebook is said to have an active role in reinforcing gender roles. This is because of the way men and women portray themselves on social media. Men are said to show their success and women are said to show their superficial aspects. It references Donna Haraway and her views on the power of technology. This article also talks about before the internet was created and the gender norms at that time, and then the differences of gender norms after the internet was created. After the internet was created, and even later on when social media came along gender norms became extremely different just because of what was happening on the internet and certain trends becoming popular on social media.

Social media’s negative affect on society has had an especially large effect on women. The poems “Barbie Doll” by Maggie Piercy, and “Let Her Come” both represent how women are treated before social media and after social media. The article, How the World Changed Social Media, by Daniel Miller looks into how social media relates to gender norms, gender relations, and gender identities. It has caused women to be held to a higher expectation and causes them to be more fixated on things that should be considered trivial. This is because of the constant pressure placed on them by society to fit a certain standard to the people watching what’s happening on their social media. Women’s reputation on social media is really held accountable to a certain extent. 
