Barbie Doll's Influence on Gender Perception and Social Expectation on Girls

The seemingly harmless Barbie doll has been a leading competitor of the toy fashion doll industry for over fifty years. Making over $1.9 million in sales per year on these dolls alone, it's difficult to argue that Mattel, Inc., the company that owns these plastic queens, are far from establishing the ultimate toy empire; however, within the past few decades, Barbie has been falling short on sales and receiving negative feedback from concerned consumers who often question the impact these dolls have on self-esteem and gender perspective of the young girls who play with them. Despite the recent negative feedback from customers, Barbie's fifty year prevalence in the toy market industry has undoubtedly left its influence on the young girls of our society in the past.

Marge Piercy, a persevering feminist during the 1960s, wrote politically moving works of poetry to demonstrate the deprived reality of women. Marge Piercy's strikingly powerful poem "Barbie Doll," personifies the Barbie doll as a way to emphasize the cultural impact the societal perspective of expectation has on a woman's image and persona. Piercy explains through a third-person omniscient voice that a young girl begins to suffer from the social criticism of her environment to the age of maturity. It is portrayed that the young "girlchild" is emotionally ravished by society and under the conviction that she will receive acceptance, the girlchild matures and is led to believe that death is the ultimate satisfaction. Undoubtedly history displays the evidence of women struggling through a patriarchal society dominated by those who believe that social standards should be set by men. Through Marge Piercy's use of diction, imagery, metaphor, and irony in her critically acclaimed poem "Barbie Doll," the perception of women through patriarchal ideals portrays the effects of self-criticism and society's undying attempts to deteriorate one's self-worth.

"Barbie Doll" demonstrates the re-occurrence of the destructive standard that society holds for women as it deprives them of their humanity. Chris Semansky, a poet of a copious amount of eclectic work, examines "Barbie Doll" and concludes that Piercy's poem acts as an ironic exemplar of beauty and normality. Semansky explains the irony of how the way one is brought up in the world affects one's view of what is "normal": "This is not intentional or necessarily coercive process but one which adults themselves have gone through and have come to believe is 'natural'. As Semansky has argued, even women who grew up within the generation that these patriarchal standards were held, are convinced that the way they were brought up and the ideals that they were surrounded by were completely "natural". In a psychological aspect these standards were all they were taught. With these patriarchal definitions of "normal" that are prevalent today as it was back then, it limits women from being able to make decisions for themselves without criticism from others. Despite the change in culture, Piercy seems to suggest that progress has been minuscule. The poem symbolizes women more of as beings of objectivity that are "'...plasticized,' turned into creatures who have been riven of their humanity" than of people who simply seek to find worth in their own self evaluation of themselves (Semansky 38).

Piercy's diction throughout "Barbie Doll" exemplifies the coercive standard that society seems to hold for women, not only of that generation in which this poem was written but the present one as well. The words such as lipstick, stove, and diet mentioned in "Barbie Doll" are representative of the insurmountable regards that women are held to even through the innocence of simple household items: "Dolls, stoves, irons, and lipstick are all conventional things that little girls, especially in the West, are given to clue them in to societal expectations" (Semansky 38). With these small accessories mentioned in Piercy's poem that came along with the doll that this "girlchild" was playing with, it seemed to represent the process of womanhood in a degrading manner as this "girlchild" is portrayed to be ultimately fixated on the materialistic definitions that make up a woman of that society. Interestingly enough Alice Van Wart, a literature professor at the University of Toronto, describes Piercy's "Barbie Doll" poem as ironic and condemning. Wart suggests that the title itself "...points to the central and controlling device of irony and the symbolic associations between the doll and the women in the poem". Because of the "plasticized" and unauthentic connotation behind the words Barbie doll, it powerfully and metaphorically depicts the significance of control that the patriarchal ideals had on women.

Although Piercy displays a plethora of metaphors behind the use of diction in her poem, the imagery provides a vivid picture of the kind of lifestyle women lived. Piercy's poem strongly suggest that at a young age girls are expected to look a certain way in order to gain acceptance from her peers; however, "Because she wants the approval of others she attempts to compensate for her imperfections in other areas" (Wart 40). The imagery displays the young girl's undying effort to be perfect in comparison to the standards placed on her despite her reaching "Consummation at last," which symbolizes society's satisfaction with the young girl's image but unfortunately represents her death (Piercy 24). Wart argues that despite the efforts made by the girl in Piercy's poem to reach perfection, her strife ultimately ends as her life does as well: "Piercy subverts the traditional implication of sexual consummation to consummation in death". Interestingly as Wart implies, there seems to be a sense of irony behind the word "consummation" in itself as it can represent two meanings: one the significance that the idea of marriage is completed through sexual intercourse, in another the idea of oblivion as a way of being complete. Compelling diction such as coy, satin, and pink are also used in Piercy's poem portraying the perception of fragility and meekness in women, which can arguably emphasize that women were viewed as defenseless and frail. Coy, satin, and pink represent the idea that women are delicate and innocent; simply observing the context of how Piercy utilizes diction, it is evident that she wishes to give critics the idea that feminism and connotation behind the female gender is unintimidating and weak.

Thomas Sepe, an assistant professor under the guidance of Peggy Dunn Bailey, explained his views upon the social imbalance and gender dysfunction that is embedded in Piercy's "Barbie Doll." Sepe explores the idea of how the protagonist in the poem is portrayed, immediately supporting the idea that the poem gives off the perception of how women are viewed in society. According to Sepe, Piercy uses diction to exemplify the idea of a woman's role in society: "Piercy's use of the word 'presented' makes the process more formal and makes the ceremony one of dictation rather than of choice". He emphasizes how diction and foreshadow in Piercy's poem portrays the idea of a woman as weak and easy while also making the poem sound more lighthearted: "Piercy blends diction, simile, and irony to create a unique tone of lightness that contrasts the reality of the main character, a contrast which is itself a mirror of the girl's life" (Sepe 2). Through this idea Sepe argues that Piercy utilizes diction as a way of presenting women more of as ideas of objectivity and control rather than of beings with self-identity and esteem.

Despite the overpowering diction to strengthen her voice on feminism, Piercy demonstrates through countless metaphors in her 25 line poem the inequality of women and the accepted façade of the female gender. Piercy portrays the issue a girl faces as it mentions in the poem that the girl proceeds to "...cut off her nose and legs..." while she also "...offered them up..." to the society that she believes so desires them (lines 17-18). Alice Van Wart further analyses the image that women held upon themselves during that sexist time period. Wart states that "The image of the woman cutting off parts of her body points to a growing popularity among women of using cosmetic surgery to perfect their appearances". This form of image altering as Wart implies, is popular because it allows women to have the ability to change their physical appearance to gain acceptance from the social setting they are surrounded by. Wart also argues that the mention of this in Piercy's poem implies "...history of abuse that women have inflicted on themselves in the name of beauty," meaning that self-criticism is what ultimately leads to drastic attempts to alter one's image. Image altering mentioned in "Barbie Doll" implies that society's judgments on physical appearance has left a detrimental effect on the self-esteem of women. Because of this, Piercy conveys the message that women do not inherently view themselves in a negative manner; however, social standards degrade the mentality that women have of themselves because of high expectations.

The Barbie doll in itself as Marge Piercy suggests acts as an ironic exemplar in that young girls traditionally play with it, viewing it as something seemingly innocent despite the underlying standards enraptured in a minuscule plastic woman who is defined by the realm of her household. The tone in "Barbie Doll" ironically does not imply any sense of animosity, which indicates that Piercy chose to be passively aggressive in sharing her message about female expectation in society. The irony lies within the fact that young girls who are represented as innocent and pure, unknowingly play with things that seem to criticize women themselves. Semansky observed the 1950s women-based culture and concluded that parents provide young girls with these dolls because of the popular impression that women are domestic: "...they believe that little girls will enjoy pretending to be a homemaker or a Barbie doll because these are desires with which little girls are born". Semansky suggest that the parents are also just as oblivious to the underlying message that the Barbie doll holds as they continue to push young girls to live a life as a controlled being with given accessories that society finds suitable.

As it has been known for decades now, the Barbie doll is still a leading competitor in the doll market; however, improvements to disarm the facade of women in general have increased dramatically after works such as that of Marge Piercy's have been released to the public. As metaphorically explained in Piercy's works, the Barbie doll in its prime symbolized a representation of how women hold "...expectations of the roles she will have to perform" (Sepe 1). According to Girl Culture's evaluation of the Barbie doll and its intentions, they explain that much of the way the Barbie doll was presented to society was involuntary and left overlooked. Ruth Handler, the original designer of the structure of the dolls, "...claimed that she based the idea for Barbie on what she saw in the doll-play practices of children" (Reid-Walsh 40). This explains that Handler's intentions for creating these dolls were solely to exemplify the behavior that young girls presented while playing with them anyway; however, it is apparent now that over the years, the Barbie doll has been disfigured by the expectations society has placed on it hoping that it can meet the ideal standard that women are perceived as.

Despite Marge Piercy's efforts to advocate for gender equality, progress has been slow and paced. Piercy emphasizes the social issues that women have had to face by portraying a young girl playing with a seeming harmless Barbie doll; however, Piercy elucidates the idea of predisposition of gender roles as she argues the insensitive oppression society has laid down on women. Sexism as a whole has limited women from occupational opportunities, health benefits, and in a sense a perspective on expansion of intellect and adventure. It has inevitably changed the scope of how women have been portrayed: weak and defenseless. Despite these unending social criticisms, political activists such as Marge Piercy use their proficient poetry skills to motivate many for a change in how women are perceived. Although there is much room for improvement for women to gain the same social and gender equivalence as men, works such as "Barbie Doll" continue to ensure hope for women even today.