Formation of Gender Stereotypes in Barbie Doll - Essay Example

No: Marge Piercy's Poem the "Barbie Doll" Analysis Introduction The poem by Marge Piercy, Barbie Doll describes a girl who kills herself due to her inability to meet the overwhelming cultural and societal expectations that the society places on young girls as they grow up into womanhood. The author presents the gender label using Barbie Doll, an image enforced by the society as the ideal beautiful woman. She seems to concur with the author and feminist activist, Naomi Woolf (2002), who stated that “we are in the midst of a violent backlash against feminism that uses images of female beauty as a political weapon against women’s advancement: the beauty myth…is a dark vein of self-hatred, physical obsessions, terror of aging, and a dread of lost control. It assumes that the quality called ‘beauty’ objectively and universally exists. Women must want to embody it and men must want to possess women who embody it”. Her sentiments summarize how the society views women beauty and how it uses the perceived images to manipulate their lives. The sad truth as depicted in Barbie Doll poem is that women more than often fall victims. The stage is set from a normal birth through to a sad premature final journey at the funeral. This poem is a narrative of four stanzas written in a free verse style. Marge Piercy used different tones throughout the poem to pass the critical message of the impact of gender stereotyping on the women in the society. The tone of the poem depicts a depressed and sad life of a girl trying to fit into the expectations of the society but in vain. She uses a well known toy Barbie Doll to pass the message. She vividly describes real cultural and social pressures that young girls and women have to endure on a daily basis. Using culture studies approach, this paper provides a critical analysis of the poem using two different schools of literary criticism: feminist and psychoanalytic criticism to illustrate cultural and social gender stereotype on ideal women beauty and gender roles. Formation of Gender Stereotype According to Sharon Begley, stereotypes “make people painfully aware of how the society views them.” She argues that such awareness can extensively influence the intellectual ability of the holder as well as performance of other tasks (Begley, 2000 p66). In the poem Barbie Doll, Marge Piercy sets the stage by introducing the historical formative stage of the female beauty and gender role stereotypes. By using Barbie Doll an iconic beautiful toy manufactured by Mattel Toys, and widely adored by American girl children, she illustrates how the society form and transfer stereotypes from one generation to another. In this case, Mattel Toys represents the society and the toy Barbie Doll bearing Mattel Toys expected characteristics of a beautiful girl or woman is the culture that is passed on to the next generation. The salient characteristics of Barbie Doll are; she has blonde hair, blue eyes, large breasts, a small waist, and large hips. According to Wald 1998, these are the symbol of beauty and are used as the standard to gauge girls’ beauty by society (Wald, 1998, pp. 585-610). The first line of the first stanza, “This girlchild was born as usual” shows an innocent being brought forth into the world free from any cultural influence. Line 2 – 4, “and presented dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy” shows clearly, the society’s involvement in introducing and propagating gender stereotypes and the perceived gender roles. The items presented to her are symbols of ideal woman. The innocent child is orientated into chauvinistic society – to be a beautiful woman who performs household chores and thus, cultured with expected ideal woman characteristics of beauty (Barbie Doll and lipsticks) and roles (GE stoves and irons). In line 5 – 6 “Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said: You have a great big nose and fat legs”, the author explains how the society is reinforcing the perceived stereotype throughout the growth stages of the girl by pointing out imperfections on her body. The classmate’s remark in line 6 breaks the innocence of the girl and jolts her to self consciousness about her looks and how the society expected her to look like. That is why in stanza two line 10, “She went to and fro apologizing” for her looks. This behavior agrees with John Berger (1972) view that, “A woman must continually watch herself since her looks and actions are seen to be determining her success in life”. Line 11 “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.” further reinforces her guilt of inadequacy prompting repeated apologies, “to and fro”. At this stage in her life, the girl is made aware of her undesirable looks and is reminded that such looks falls below the expectations of the society. This brings her self-esteem to test. Note that, her positive characteristics line 7 – 9 “She was healthy, tested intelligent possessed strong arms and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity” are completely ignored and overshadowed by the beauty and gender role stereotypes. Even the girl is no longer aware of them as portrayed by her actions in stanza three. The author in lines 7 - 9 revisits the initial stages of the girl’s growth and points out that she was indeed health, intelligent, strong and full of life. This implies that the girl child was in perfect form and able to carry out any work in the society. However, the society already had her destiny decided. Although she possesses these good qualities, the society cares less. In fact she is viewed as just a woman or a girl for that matter. The Painful Fit-in Line 11 also sets the stage for a depressing and sad life for the girl in her next stage of life - womanhood. No matter how many times she apologizes, “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs”. The feeling of inadequacy is further reinforced even though the natural being is perfect. As Michailidou, (2004) puts “what we take to be an essential essence of gender is manufactured through a sustained set of acts, posited through the gender stylization of the body” shows that the girl has no alternative but to conform to society’s gender stylization of the body and act so as to gain acceptance in the society (Michailidou, 2004 pp. 117-140). In the society’s eye, her physical looks are unacceptable and is offered advice: stanza three lines 12 – 14, “She was advised to play coy, exhorted to come on hearty, exercise, diet, smile and wheedle”. This is the solution meant to enhance her looks and hence fit in the society’s idealized perfect woman. Looking at the modern world around us, we cannot miss these pieces of advice. In her book, Schoolgirls, Peggy Orenstein (1994) explains clearly the hypocrisy in the modern society’s pieces of advice. She observes that although the society encourages girls to discard the limits of tradition, it constantly reminds them that their abilities alone are not sufficient to ensure success instead they must also conform to an impossible, media-driven standard of beauty involving dieting rigorously in the name of beauty. These sentiments echo the society’s total disregard of the girl’s other abilities. The society as it offers advice focuses much attention on her beauty at the expense of other qualities. Due to the overwhelming pressure to conform to the society’s norms and the desire to be accepted, the girl painstakingly gets down to work on the undesirable body features. She struggles to acquire the perfect characteristics but in vain. Every attempt leads deeper and deeper into depression, as the society continue to disapprove of her looks and completely ignorant of her efforts. The result is in lines 15 – 16, “Her good nature wore out, like a fan belt.” The pressure to fit in the society finally consumes her body and spirit and is completely worn out. It becomes apparent that she cannot fit in the society’s beauty standards. This painful experience and the realization that her body looks will never change, drove her into desperation and in lines 17 - 18 “So she cut off her nose and her legs and offered them up”, she gave up her life. This is the sad end in which the society condemn those who are seen as not meeting the cultural expectations. They are subjected to physical and emotional turmoil throughout their lives. This is real in our society as Yonka Nadine (2008) observes, “Women are at the mercy of the media, the cosmetic industry, and the male dominated beauty industry which dictates what beauty is or should be, and women appear to be willing to do whatever it takes short of killing themselves in order to fit this idea of beauty. Even the strongest of women are susceptible to this ideal body image controversy and abuse because each and every woman was raised in the same type of culture that commercializes beauty”. Indeed, young girls and women are bombard on a daily basis with a lot of stereotype about the beauty and gender roles they are expected to display and perform in order to be perfect women as perceived by the society. This has brought about enormous suffering and no wonder social problems such as drug abuse, suicide, unsafe plastic surgeries etc. are on the rise. The Final Rest In the fourth and final stanza, the stage is set out for the girl’s final journey to rest – at her funeral. Lines 19 – 22, “In the casket displayed on satin she lay with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on, a turned-up putty nose, dressed in a pink and white nightie”. This shows the extent to which the society goes in its emphasis on gender stereotypes. Although the girl is now dead, she is ironically dressed in a pink and white nightie and made to wear make-up so as to be beautiful the way the society wanted. Thus, even in death the girl is still expected to display feminine characteristics. The image according to Yonka Nadine (2008) “is grossly sexual; it’s as if the girl is dressed to have sex rather than to be laid to rest. She finally fits the profile men (in this context – society) feel is desirable while laying in her casket”. Lines 23 – 24, “Doesn’t she look pretty? Everyone said. Consummation at last” shows the society’s final approval that is; with the undertaker’s make-ups the girl was indeed pretty. This portrays the society as merciless and unjust to women. It does not acknowledge the pain, suffering and mockery that women have to endure in their quest to fit into it. The resonating message is that, one must conform alive or dead. The last Line 25, “To every woman a happy ending” is sarcastic. The author although, imploring women to enjoy happy ending she knows very well what the society’ culture has in store for them (many more victims on the way). She is fully aware that battle for freedom for the girl child and women in general is still a mirage. Nevertheless, she gives hope to woman knowing that there is more in a woman than physical appearance. Marge Piercy agrees with Robert Shultz (1995) observation that, “The woman is not merely the passive object of the gaze but is an active being with a history and a future”. The happy ending serves as a reminder that despite the severe impact of such stereotypes women ought to continue living happily, although their no guarantee anyway (Schultz, 1995, pp. 365-387). Conclusion The poem, Barbie Doll, explains what young girls and women endure as a result of the pressure exerted on them by society. The girl in the poem took her life because the society did not accept her as she was. She was intelligent, strong and full of life except for few imperfections – big nose and fat legs which were detested and thus became the source of her turmoil as she tried to change so as to fit in the society. The poem illustrates the current stereotypes of beauty and gender roles and shows how they have been influenced by historical views of women right from their tender age. In this poem, Marge Piercy emphasized that gender stereotyping begins early in development and results in children holding certain cultural norms of gender-related behavior into their adulthood. She vividly demonstrates how beauty stereotyping is introduced and propagated by the society. The poem has a tragic end, when the girl is physically and emotionally exhausted by her attempt to change the detested body parts and literally kills herself. As she lay dead dressed in pink and white nightie and wearing make-ups, the society is seen to be acknowledging her beauty. Annotated Bibliography Begley, Sharon, The Stereotype Trap, Newsweek, Vol. 136 Issue 19, p66 November 6, 2000 In this periodical, the author explained the significance of gender stereotypes and their impact on the behavior of people holding them. She discussed the findings of some of the studies by psychology scholars, such as Claude Steel and Joshua Aronson in 1995 and others; who studied the positive and negative effects of stereotypes on individuals. She concluded that; stereotypes are influenced by historical view about gender and the social roles, and that stereotypes are introduced early in the development of children. Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1972. . John Berger’s Ways of Seeing is a book published in 1972. It is a critique of art work. The author studied art images and argued that what people know is greatly influenced by how they see things and that the actual meaning of images is usually hidden. He noted that nude images in Western art depict women as objects and realism in oil paintings create a strong relationship between ownership of art and financial power. According to him such trends are propagated by modern photography advertising and publicity. Orenstein, Peggy. Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap. New York: Anchor Books, 1994. This book was written and published with the aid of The American Association of University Women's report Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America (1991). It details the results of a survey on gender and self-esteem carried out nationally on girls between age nine and fifteen years. The author discussed the challenges experienced by young girls in life as they grow into womanhood. She showed the root causes of sheer loss of self-esteem by adolescent girls and young women. Schultz, Robert. “When Men look at Women: Sex in an Age of Theory.” The Hudson Review, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Autumn, 1995), In the article, Robert Schultz discussed the involvement of women in pornography. The author suggests that naked and nude images of women in motion pictures are used as objects of male sexuality. He exposes the dangers of portraying women as sex objects in the society. Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Against Women. New York: Harper Perennial, 2002. Is a widely read book written by Naomi Wolf and initially published in 1991. In the book, the author argues that demystifying female beauty is one remaining obstacle that women across the world have to overcome in the quest for equality. She explained that the modern standards of women beauty are not realistic and that women beauty is used as a tool of control against women’s progress. Works Cited Begley, Sharon, The Stereotype Trap, Newsweek, Vol. 136 Issue 19, p66 November 6, 2000 Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1972. . Michailidou, Artemis. “Gender, Body, and Feminine Performance: Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Impact on Anne Sexton” Feminist Review, No. 78, (2004), pp. 117-140 Orenstein, Peggy. Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap. New York: Anchor Books, 1994. Schultz, Robert. “When Men look at Women: Sex in an Age of Theory.” The Hudson Review, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 365-387. Wald, Gayle. “Just a Girl?: Rock Music, Feminism, and the Cultural Construction of Female Youth.” Signs, Vol. 23, No. 3, (Spring, 1998), pp. 585-610. Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Against Women. New York: Harper Perennial, 2002. Campaignforrealbeauty.com. 2006. Dove. 20 March 2008. Review, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 365-387. Yonka, Nadine, "Women's Poetic Response to the Male Gaze: Cutting Them Down" Senior Honors Theses. Paper 205, 2008. Read More