Barbie Doll
Marge Piercy
I think this poem falls into the category of a satire. The purpose then would be to bring to light the cruel manipulative power society has on women. The poem starts describing this particular girl "born as usual". "She was healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity." She was basically born into a perfectly normal body, and it wasn't until someone called her legs fat and her nose too large that she felt oppression. She did not fit into a Barbie doll-like body. This expectation to be "Barbie" did not originate however with the production of this children's toy. For thousands of years women have manipulated themselves to be physically attractive to the opposite sex. We are driven by a misogynistic view of women and our society craves to feed it. We are convinced that women are equal to men in 21st century United States, but actually the entirety of the system is run by either, A. men and their disgusting manipulations of power, or B. women's over-sexualized bodies. This poem also brings to light the fact that this understanding of women and their bodies is started as soon as children can grasp a Barbie doll. It is from society's very core that we marginalize women, only bringing them into the picture to shape them into the Barbies that women are convinced that they should be.
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