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Essay on barbie doll by marge piercy comment
Specific bullying in children and young people
Specific bullying in children and young people
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Barbie Dolls
Author, Marge Piercy, introduces us to a young adolescent girl without a care in the world until puberty begins. The cruelty of her friends emerges and ultimately she takes her own life to achieve perfection in “Barbie Dolls” (648). At the time when all children are adjusting to their ever changing bodies, the insults and cruelties of their peers begin and children who were once friends for many years, become strangers over night caught in a world of bullying. A child who is bullied can develop severe depression which can lead to suicide; and although schools have been educated in recognizing the signs of bullying, there is an epidemic that has yet to be fully addressed within our schools or society.
Bullying is described as
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a behavior. Behavior is first learned at home; from the time of birth all children absorb their surroundings which forms the bases for acceptable and non acceptable behavior. If the home environment condones violence or disrespect, the child will model that behavior as acceptable until taught otherwise. Behavior evolves over time and once a child enters school their behavior is influenced by the actions of their peers. Two children of the same age, from different families, never have the same life experiences, due to the sheer differences of individuals the stage is set for bullying behavior to begin. Reports of bullying behavior in general have been documented for hundreds of years.
In 1862, a soldier named John Flood killed another soldier due to the torment that had been inflicted upon him, he was sentenced to death but the Queen overturned that ruling (The Tablet, 504). “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens published in 1838, is reported to be the first novel in Literary Fiction to include bullying behavior. In regards to school bullying, the first documented case came from the King’s School in Cambridge, England after a twelve year old boy was bullied to death by a group of older boys in 1885 (Koo, 110). Given that bullying was identified so many years ago, it would seem that much more should have been accomplished to defeat this …show more content…
epidemic. Bullying has largely been viewed as a right of passage or expectation as a coming of age experience, to single out a peer that is deemed to be inferior because of gender, looks, parent’s economic status, sexuality, etc. A statistic from 2013 suggests “between 20% and 50% of young people are involved in bullying annually” (Hertz, Donato & Wright), which means that up to half of our children are either the perpetrators, victims or both in school bullying incidents which drastically increase the risks for long term health issues including depression and suicide. This is an alarming statistic, given that bullying was identified hundreds of years ago and to this day is still prevalent in our society. Studies suggest that children go through many phases and show several different signs that trouble is looming but unfortunately they tend to internalize the problems and not admit that the abuse is happening. Some examples of the signs would include “…coming home hungry, coming home from school late, frequently losing or damaging his things…” (Woman’s Day, Papandrea). Although some of these examples seem easily explained and even justified, they can directly indicate that your child is being bullied at school. Parents must be diligent in speaking with their children and developing open lines of communication so that your children will inform you of their torment they are facing. The school also plays a large role in setting up an environment that encourages and allows children to bring instances of bullying to the forefront. One of the known potential effects of bullying is suicide.
Suicide due to bullying has been given the name of bullycide. One example of bullycide would be Jon Carmichael from Texas who was bullied so harshly that “one day they stripped him naked, tied him up, and stuck him in a trash can, and they taped it with their cell phones and put it all on You Tube” per his mother’s account (Texas Monthly, Hollandsworth). A few days later Jon was found hanging by a rafter from their barn after committing suicide. The perpetrators of this abuse were his fellow classmates and it is reported that “60% of boys who bullied others in middle school had at least one criminal conviction by the age of 24; 40% had three or more convictions” (van der Valk, 41). Bullying behavior not only negatively affects the victims that are singled out and tormented, but from a legal perspective can lead to long term criminal
involvement. Recently, news stations reported that a football coach in Utah had released his entire team for their inappropriate action regarding cyber bulling and disrespecting teachers, among other things. Although not all of the players were guilty of the original infractions they were all punished together, as a way of holding them all responsible for the action of their peers. In order for the players to regain the opportunity of playing football, they were given a list of objectives to complete and the ability to prove themselves as respectable and responsible young men. Some people may find this form of discipline extreme for the players that are working toward obtaining college scholarships and are losing precious practice and play time toward becoming a college level athlete, which could be detrimental to their future opportunities. However, if you consider the larger picture on this discipline plan, the coach is not trying to take away their future but ensure their future is brighter by being respectable young adults. The message being sent to these children isn’t one of a mild smack on the hand for horrible and life altering behavior toward another person, they are being shown that every action has a consequence and that some consequences are far more extreme and life changing than others. Schools have tried over the years to educate students, teachers and parents as to the effects of bullying, but sadly their efforts have fallen short. Schools may argue that they have done all they can and that parents are not playing a big enough role in appropriately disciplining their children, which could be whole heartily true, but more still needs to be done. Not only do schools currently have a core curriculum, but there are many electives necessary as graduation requirements. Some of the classes that are currently required include your basic Math and English, but also FACTS (or home economics), foreign language, and Art. Although it may appear to be very important to a small group of people that a child learn how to complete a basic sowing stitch or demonstrate the ability to bake muffins without burning the class down, why is there not as much importance placed on teaching children how to treat one another? Yes, this is a basic principle that should be taught at home, as is sowing and baking but we invest in these skills at a school level currently but not formally in treatment of others. As a step in the right direction, the 2014 Statute that was adopted during the Kansas 2013-2014 Legislative session defined school bullying and directed school districts to implement policies within their schools. Unfortunately, the individual school districts were tasked with creating and implementing a plan of their own that included all the defined forms of bullying determined by the legislature. The failure within the definition and directive to implement an anti-bullying policy would be that there were no clear ways identified to track improvement or suggestions as to what the model should look like. The current definition of bullying adopted by Kansas legislation says the following: “Bullying” means: (A) Any intentional gesture or any intentional written, verbal, electronic or physical act or threat either by any student, staff member or parent towards a student or by any student, staff member or parent towards a staff member that is sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive that such gesture, act or threat creates an intimidation, threatening or abusive educational environment that a reasonable person, under circumstances, knows or should know will have effect of… (Article 82, Kansas Legislative Procedural Manual) The definition goes on to list six examples of bullying behavior. Given that a legal description of bullying has been adopted, the task of creating and implementing a viable plan within school districts would seem attainable. Although schools have tried, the steps that have been taken have fallen short of alleviating the problems. Some cites report a drop in the number of reports of bullying from previous years, but there is no documentation to support that bullying behavior is actually decreasing, only that the number of reports has decreased. In the 1970’s there was a game show that shielded the contestants from seeing each other and they were tasked with forming an opinion on which individual they wanted to date only by the answers or characteristics they displayed in their response to questions. In basic form, this concept could be implementing into a classroom. Students would be tasked with forming questions, such as who is your favorite sports team, what sports do you play, what are your academic aspirations, what are your hobbies or any question they feel are important in deciding who they accept in their inner circle, but excluded questions regarding looks, status and possibly religion. Developing a classroom with a partition or wall separating the room in the middle that would create concealment of individual identities, where a specified group of students enter through opposing doors and letters or numbers being the only identifying factor allowed for determining who they are most compatible with. Throughout a specified time frame of the school year, students could ask their questions and record their first, second and third most compatible classmates based on the answers that have been asked and answered. Once the compatibility has been determined, the identities of the choices would be revealed. These students should then be encouraged or tasked with spending time with the students they were determined to be most compatible with. This could be through the sharing of class schedules, helping each other with homework, eating lunch together and including each other in social settings. Taking away the visual impression of acne, weight, clothing, hair style and all the factors children use to judge a person may decrease the amount of bullying in our schools by proving that all students are more than just their physical appearance. If children are taught at a level other than college about interpersonal skills the epidemic of bullying may decrease significantly. This approach would give students a different perspective on their peers and it would be plausible to decrease the amount of bullying in our schools, or at the very least help to develop the interpersonal skills necessary to create a different social environment. Given that the epidemic of bullying has been around for hundreds of years with no tangible evidence of a solution having been found and the increased attention that bullying has received in the media, serious consideration to a change in school curriculum should be considered. School and society have handled bullying a certain way for long enough, the suggested classroom structure in this essay could bring about significant change in the culture of bullying behavior.
In Marge Piercy’s, “Barbie Doll,” we see the effect that society has on the expectations of women. A woman, like the girl described in ‘Barbie Doll’, should be perfect. She should know how to cook and clean, but most importantly be attractive according to the impossible stereotypes of womanly beauty. Many women in today’s society are compared to the unrealistic life and form of the doll. The doll, throughout many years, has transformed itself from a popular toy to a role model for actual women. The extremes to which women take this role model are implicated in this short, yet truthful poem.
In such a cruel society young woman tend to feel pressured with keeping up a perfect image or appeal just to please everyone around them. The speaker in this poem is third person, the audience is very clear focusing on society and parents raising young girls. The overall theme is how society has a standard of how pretty someone is. It causes woman to feel pressured into looking and acting a certain way. A “girl child” is born and once she hits puberty, she is humiliated for what other people point out and see as her flaws. Soon she tired of trying so hard to be what she was not. She eventually got what she wanted which was to look pretty, though it cost her own life. In this eye opening poem “Barbie Doll”, Marge Piercy gives a great representation of how society’s view affects a young woman’s self-image using similes, gruesome symbols, and strong irony.
Every woman grows up knowing that they one day want to be beautiful. In Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” she gives an in depth look at what negative effects the concept of beauty can have on an individual. From infancy to a full grown adult woman, beauty has been a way of thinking and lifestyle. As a little girl you are given petite shaped, blonde, blue eyed dolls. While boys are given brawny soldiers and mechanical toys.
My friend, Kevin, was just two short months away from graduating high school, but he never got to see that day because of bullies. No one had a clue; he had a remarkable family and a great group of friends. He did everything he could to leave a smile on everyone’s face, and he earned the nickname, “Cheeks,” because of his huge, friendly smile. No one understood why such a cheerful person would want to take his own life, but it was because bullies harassed him for months, and no one knew. According to the Center for Disease Control, “Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year” (Bullying and Suicide). Bullying is an ongoing issue that seems to evolve rapidly, and the world of
In a world where many are led to believe that they fall short of what society depicts as “perfect”, it is still true that everyone is beautiful in their own way. There are even more demands on girls now a days than there has ever been before. Some may think they need to fit in, so they become someone they are not or they begin to act like a totally different person. “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy, illustrates society’s high and unrealistic expectations on the physical appearance of women, while failing to see that a woman’s self-esteem is at risk of being diminished.
Even though I work in a school district where we are expected to watch videos on bullying annually, this series was eye opening to the real problem of bullying. According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development three out of ten children are a bully, victim, or both. Another statistic from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development reveals that 3.2 million youth are bullied and 3.7 million youth are the bullies. These statistics are staggering. The characteristics of bullying is repeated aggressive behavior that is carried out over time with the intent of inflicting verbal, nonverbal, or physical harm to another individual. Normal peer conflict happens infrequently between two equal
Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” is a contemporary poem based on the idea of feminism. The characters include the “girlchild” (Piercy 1), a classmate (5), and everyone (11), else who can’t accept her for more than just her looks. In the first stanza, the child is born and is given all the toys that go along with her specific gender role. The child is encouraged to do the things that women are known to do. Once she reaches puberty, she is teased for having a different body type than others (6). This is the time that she becomes self conscious of her body, even though she seems to have many positive qualities. After begging and pleading for approval, she is never accepted for who she really is, and decides that she has had enough. The last stanza
Bullying is the leading cause of suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of deaths among young people. Bullying results in about 4,400 deaths per year (“Bullying and Suicide”). Bullying someone doesn’t just have to be making fun of the person. There is all different kind of bullying, there is cyber bullying, physical bullying, emotional bullying, etc. 43% of kids have been bullied online that has led to suicide (“11 Facts about Suicide”). So many people are being bullied, but do not want to say anything thing or tell anyone, but they need to get help. Some people do not think what they say to others is hurting or damaging, but to others it can be destroying them and making them feel like suicide will end the hurt that being bullied constantly is causing. A few words can either make or break a person, even if they say they are okay. “In 70% of all teen suicides, another teen knew about it and did nothing” (Portner). Emotinal...
The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy is an embodiment of insecurity. She points out that society wants young women to look and act a certain way and the poem is basically using sarcasm to point out just how superficial and unachievable perfection really is. “Barbie Doll” has a dark tone, but real. The perfect ideals of society force the girlchild to change and hate herself to the point of death being the only way achieve beauty and perfection. In this passage, Piercy uses sarcasm, similes, and descriptions of the physical attributes of womanhood and femininity to emphasize the larger theme of society’s view of perfection, which lines in the superficial appearance of women.
The poem "Barbie Doll," by Marge Piercy is a moving and interesting poem written in 1973 that focuses on a little girl's entrance into womanhood and the struggles that comes with it.
The first reason anti-bullying laws in school are necessary is they help prevent suicide. Studies show that in America today, “suicide is the third leading cause of death among youth ages twelve to nine-teen”(Leavasseur 3). These are the ages that school aged children are most easily influenced. “Suicide rates have quadrupled the rate at which they were in 1950” (Stacy Teicher Khadaroo 1) as education has become more necessary. “For every death recorded, research suggests that many more teens think about or attempt suicide” (Stacy Teicher Khadaroo 1). Because it is a place students are forced to spend the majority of their young lives, the responsibility to prevent their students from becoming another statistic has fallen upon the shoulders of the schools today. When schools fail to accept these responsibilities to enforce rules against bullying things such as what happened to Rebecca Ann Sedwick take place.
Bullying is a growing concern in a society where status and exercising power over another human being are increasingly important in developing one’s social circles. Dan Olweus (Norwegian researcher and founder of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program) defines it as an “aggressive behaviour that is intentional and that involves an imbalance of power. Most often, it is repeated over time” (Violencepreventionworks.org). School victimization is an especially delicate matter that has only really been in the public eye for the past half century, as more and more researchers and psychologists pointed out its short- and long-term negative effects on targeted individuals. It has since been widely investigated and numerous programs have been developed in an effort to address and prevent the many forms of bullying that exist today. The negative effects of such an abusive behaviour are various and can greatly differ from individual to individual. However, there are three main consequences that can be associated with school bullying, which are: school avoidance, depression/anxiety and even suicidal attempts.
Bullying has become a major deal worldwide, with numerous cases of bullying leading to suicide. It is a tragic event when someone takes their own life from the torment of a bully, but a bully should not be charged with manslaughter, because it is not the bullies’ fault that the individual decided to commit suicide. However the bully should be charged with harassment and have to spend a jail sentence, also including a bullying fine. The concern is if bullies should be charged with manslaughter, but there are multiple cases of bullies happening every day. Bullying in current society can be anything, kids now a days cannot do anything without it being considered bullying, because it hurts another person feeling or they have an over protective parent.
In the past few years, bullying has gotten so bad that people decided to take their own lives to escape the pain. Bullies use violent behaviors to harm their victims verbally and physically. Usually, the victim is too frightened to fight back and too embarrassed to inform adults. People choose to bully others for a broad range of reasons (media or the want for power), but not getting love and attention from dysfunctional families is the main reason ("Why do people bully?" n.d.). In the end, however, everyone experiences consequences. The bullies become lonely and violent while the victims suffer from depression. Family and societal issues have led many people to become aggressive and think that it is permissible to deliberately humiliate others; they will then gain an overwhelming power and a sense of autonomy from watching their victims' pain, which causes them to not realize the negative outcomes that they might encounter like loneliness, depression, and possibly even death.
Bullying is something that is not something new and is actually something that society continues to face. Over the years, bullying has been looked at as being so ordinary in schools that it is continuously overlooked as an emanate threat to students and has been lowered to a belief that bullying is a part of the developmental stage that most young children will experience then overcome (Allebeck, 2005, p. 129). Not everyone gets over the extreme hurt that can come as an effect from bullying, for both the bully and the victim. Because of this, we now see bullying affecting places such as the workplace, social events and even the home. The issue of bullying is not only experienced in schools, but the school environment is one of the best places