BARBIE DOLL - a poem analysis on the objectification of women in society

Objectification of Women and Societal Influence on Beauty and Behavior

examined in Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll”

The Sixties was a fairly complicated decade for women. While it was a time for the emergence of the “Supermodel”, such as Twiggy, who inspired women to crop their hair into short blonde locks, wear heavy eye makeup and diet until they had the lithesome figure that Twiggy and other models had, there was also a strong feminist backlash against the prototype of typical female beauty standards. This was evident during The Miss America protest demonstration at the Miss America Pageant on September 7, 1968, one year before “Barbie Doll” was written, by about 400 feminists and civil rights advocates. As part of the protest, a collection of symbolic feminine products, including false eyelashes, were thrown into a trash can located on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. There is a dissonance of theme in “Barbie Doll” which suggests how our main subject was influenced by society and the peers around her into fitting a more objectified mold of what a young woman should act and look like and ultimately her own demonstration of how she discarded these outer physical values.

The first example of how the author views society as objectifying women is in the first stanza “This girlchild was born as usual/and presented dolls that did pee-pee (1-2). The use of the word “girlchild” seems very objective and almost as though she does not have a personal identity of her own but rather could have just come off the assembly line, similar to the way a doll would. Early on, she is influenced to be what is considered a proper little girl should be when given household items that are thought to be feminine, such as "miniature GE stoves and irons/and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.” (3-4).  Puberty is an especially sensitive time for young people, particularly girls, because they are so receptive to the criticism of society around them. “Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:/You have a great big nose and fat legs.” (5-6). This marks the beginning of the girl not feeling as though she measured up to what the standards of beauty were considered to be.

In the following stanza, we see important information that shows how the qualities that a man might have, such as intelligence, strength and sexual drive, are not considered to be as valuable in a woman: “She was healthy, tested intelligent,/possessed strong arms and back/ abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.” (7-9). The term “manual dexterity” shows that, being quick and skillful with her hands, she could have excelled at being a surgeon, dentist, mechanic, or even a bomb diffuser (explosive ordinance disposal technician) - all highly skilled and noble professions which would not require one to be especially good-looking or possessing dainty manners and charm. Rather than pursue a course that would have tapped into the strong skills and resources she had, she relied on good manners and sweetness as a way of compensating for what she felt she lacked in society’s eyes regarding good looks, as examined when reading the lines at the end of the second stanza: “She went to and fro apologizing./Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.” (10-11). She discarded her own personal worth, because she felt society discarded the other values she had; they were canceled out by the physical features which were more prominent as shortcomings.

She further slipped down a sliding scale of moral ambiguity by trying to become the model perfect “girlchild” inside and out by listening to advice on how to flirt, charm, use feminine persuasiveness and continue to adjust her looks by diet and exercise to win approval rather than on merit of intelligence and hard work. This can be seen in the third stanza in the lines “She was advised to play coy,/exhorted to come on hearty,/exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.” (12-14).

Eventually, she breaks down and becomes the "perfect", lifeless Barbie doll that society influenced her to be, by losing the vivacious personality she likely once had and sacrificially offers up the vilified features she possessed that were unique to her: her nose and legs. “Her good nature wore out/like a fan belt./So she cut off her nose and her legs/and offered them up.” (15-18). Lying in the casket, with full makeup, a doll-like putty nose and a feminine dainty nightie, she finally fit the image everyone had of what she should be like. She possibly killed herself literally or died symbolically by letting the inner fire she had as a unique human being go out.  The very last lines, “Consummation at last./To every woman a happy ending/ (24-25), suggest that the final result was bittersweet, after a painful process and crossing over a boundary that could never be crossed back. Her transformation was complete and irreversible.

When examined closely, it is evident that Piercy shows that she recognizes how important physical looks and dainty manners were for women at that time but how she ultimately throws those values out by killing her main subject.

Works Cited

Piercy, Marge. “Barbie Doll.” Literature: Reading to Write. Ed. Elizabeth Howells.
New York: Pearson, 2010. 233. Print.