Body Image In Barbie Doll, By Marge Piercy

The image of a woman’s body has always been the center of attention to society all over the world. Globally, anyone who thinks of a woman’s ideal body, immediately thinks of a thin body with no cellulite and no imperfections, a small waist and soft skin, between other descriptions that are considered “hot” and “good looking”. Females often feel pressured to attain society’s high expectations because it is easier to fail them, rather than meet them. The music and other industries, like advertisements constantly portray an ideal and beautiful body for women, in most cases thin. When women see these images and then look at their own bodies, which are most of the time different from what is portrayed as ideal in society’s eyes, they begin to think

The poem shows a scene in which a girl is cruelly judged by her classmates when she hits puberty and her body begins to change. She gains a little weight and does not meet society’s ideal body expectations which cause her to kill herself. Society’s expectations about their ideal female body negatively affect the way they look and feel about their appearance. Having a negative body image of one’s self can lead to insecurity and eating disorders or traumas that could be fatal in some cases. For example, the main character in “Barbie Doll” faces bullying by her classmates and has such a hard time meeting their expectations that she decides to end her

For instance, in magazines one will barely ever find a female’s body who has wrinkles or cellulite or a few more pounds than she is supposed to and this “perfect” image negatively affect the way women look at themselves. Not only magazines but even television and advertisements or other media tend to show the female body in the way society wants them to look. The article, “Body ideals in women after viewing images of typical and healthy weight models,” by Rebecca Owen and Rebecca Spencer explain the depression women go through when they fail to satisfy society’s ideal expectations of what a woman’s body should look like, shedding light on “Barbie Doll.” These two texts help us see the negative impact the popular culture cause on women about body image. The authors of the former work stated in their article, “Consequently, women who aspire to the thin ideal and who fail to achieve this ideal will in turn experience negative feelings about their bodies” (495). This means that women who are not capable of reaching the “ideal” will feel insecure. Women look at other thinner women and look at them as someone inspirational. They tend to compare themselves to them and find themselves dissatisfied with their own bodies. Society expects women to have a perfect body that make woman feel depressed when they have a hard time reaching this ideal goal. The negative body image has been associated with depression,