By understanding the oppressive culture against women in the 1970’s, Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” argues this prejudiced culture of the time prevents women from having a choice in who they are. Ultimately, the death of her protagonist illustrates this struggle. The protagonist symbolizes the struggle of women during the time oppressive beauty standards existed. Examples of this include the dehumanization of women, and lack of opportunities. Overall, she is given no choice and this drives her to suicide. Social norms such as the pressure to look perfect, prevents women from being their true selves and choosing who they want to be. However, in order to get a true understanding of the ills of society, one must gain insight on what second wave feminism is. 

The second wave feminism movement was a social movement during the 1970’s that rejects the typical social norms that prevents women from having a choice. It was a direct movement against the oppression women had experienced in society up to this point, especially to fight the common idea of domesticity of the 1950’s. In the 1950’s women were expected to be docile and unintelligent. Second wave feminism fought this notion. Second wave feminists and their supporters knew women were capable of anything and fought to give them the same opportunities. They discussed difficult topics and hoped to allow women to achieve greater titles than being simply “pretty” or “beautiful.” Piercy is deeply moved by these ideas. She supports them by using gruesome imagery to show the ills of what they were fighting against. One example of this is exposing the unreal beauty standards all girls were expected to reach. 

The protagonist in Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” struggles against the social norms of the time such as unreal beauty standards. Feminist organizations at this time fought against this. Piercy incorporates several of these feminists’ ideas in her poem. Women at the time are expected to have perfect bodies, wear just the right amount of makeup and overall look “perfect”. The protagonist is looked down on for not conforming to social beauty norms despite her other strengths. The poem describes, “ [She] possessed strong arms and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity. She went to and fro apologizing. Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs” (Piercy 8-11). Despite the protagonist’s strength of sexual drive and manual dexterity, society only cares about her lack of “beauty”. Sexual drive and manual dexterity are not objectifying terms because they can and should apply to both genders. Second wave feminists fought for women to be praised for strengths that typically were only praised when they existed in men. Second wave feminists such as “WITCH (Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell)” fought against these notions by rejecting and protesting social norms of beauty. They achieve this by rejecting female undergarments, makeup and protesting institutions such as beauty pageants that promote unnatural body and beauty standards  (Zeitz 680). These second wave feminists had extremely radical ideas for their time. Piercy strongly believes in what they stand for. She illustrates this by showing how trying to conform destroys the protagonist of her poem. By the end of the poem she, “ cut off her nose and her legs And offered them up” (Piercy 17). This quote symbolizes the suicide of a young girl since no one can live through cutting of nose or legs. By using this gruesome imagery, she illustrates how the girl was destroyed by the fact that society looked down on her “fat nose on thick legs” (Piercy 11) despite everything else she had to offer. She was given no choice and is driven to perform such a desperate act because she felt that she had no other choice. Women at this time are not given the tools to be respected for more than their beauty. Piercy’s poem exposes the evils of society including the ideal that women should be quiet and docile.

Society’s norm of dehumanizing women into docile unintelligent creatures forces women into typical gender roles. In the 19070’s, during the time Marge Piercy wrote her poem, this is especially prevalent. A strong social movement during the 1970’s is white middle-class women’s shyness. Shyness and an overall quiet demeanor represented purity and a docile wife whose goal is to serve her husband (McDaniel 547). By promoting this ideal, women are lead down a path to never pursue anything greater than a wife or a mother. It is hard for women to go from acting quiet to taking charge in their life if they are never encouraged to do so. In Piercy’s poem, she describes this phenomenon by saying, “She was advised to play coy” (Piercy 348). This simple sentence sums up the pressure on young girls to be nothing but quiet. According to Mcdaniel, “In donning the mask of shyness, a white middle-class girl was required to hide not just her voice, but also her intelligence…Instead of impressing [a boy] with her knowledge, she devoted her energy to building him a firm foundation for his sense of superiority” (549). By telling girls to oppress their knowledge and their personality, women are never given the tools to succed. If women are told to be quiet, they have very little self worth. They therefore never pursue or even voice their interests.  Piercy illustrates this phenomenon when she describes the protagonist as dead and describes this gruesome scene as the opposite. She describes it by saying, “Consummation at last. To every woman a happy ending” (Piercy 348). She says this because the protagonist was only praised because she was dead. This furthers the notion that society at the time wants women to be silent and shy. The irony in this situation is she is silent because she is dead. This furthers the idea that women had no choice during this time. The protagonist felt her only choice was to commit suicide. The idea that she has reached “consummation” symbolizes the idea that this is the end of the journey. However, the true “journey” she has been on and had no choices. “Consummation” can also stand for the completion of sexual intercourse. This adds a whole new double standard because women are expected to be coy and bashful while at the same time serve their husband’s sexual needs. By saying reaching “consummation at last” the author is implying that serving her husband through sexual intercourse is the greatest thing any girl could do. Overall, a very sexist idea that Piercy knows encourages the oppression of women. Women are encouraged by society to stay silent and shy, but even if they reject society’s ideals, they have none of the same opportunities as their male counterparts. 

In Piercy’s poem, the protagonist has none of the same opportunities as boys. From birth she is put on a straight track to become society’s ideal woman; a quiet diligent wife with no thoughts of her own. This was shown when Piercy describes, “This girlchild was born as usual and presented dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons” (Piercy 348). This shows the girl that the only option she has is to be a mom (shown through the doll) or a wife (shown through the kitchen supplies). This phenomenon is also promoted in the classroom. While boys participate in PE and woodshop, girls only have the opportunities to learn sewing or cooking. Girls that complain are shunned and considered “weird” (Zeitz 685). Besides a lack of career options, women can have no participation in sports. It has been shown that participation in sports increases a girl’s self esteem and allows them to figure out their interests. Once again, girls who participate in athletics during this time are not accepted in society. The protagonist had several strengths such as her “Strong arms and back” (Piercy 348), however this is seen as a negative. If the protagonist was given a choice she likely would not have been driven to suicide. 

The culture of the 1970’s influenced Marge Piercy to write her poem Barbie Doll to critique how oppressive society was to women. Overall, learning the historical context gives insight on why Piercy wanted to expose the ills against women of society at the time. She is inspired by the radical feminists of the time. Through this inspiration, she especially placed an emphasis on the lack of choice women had at the time. Women and girls were oppressed in several ways. Women had no choice but to pursue unhealthy body standards. Society also dehumanized women by encouraging them to be quiet and unintelligent. Finally, girls were given none of the same opportunities as boys, further giving them no choices in their life. Marge Piercy’s powerful poem illustrates how all these factors lead to a lack of choice by her protagonist ultimately being pushed to suicide by her lack of choice. Thanks to this prior knowledge, the reader gains true insight on why she wrote such a radical poem. Through this gruesome poem, she challenges the society of the 1970’s to change and challenges readers today to avoid the mistakes of the past.
