Our Barbies Ourselves Summary

Great Essays
Xander Jones
4th Period
9-8-17

Comparative Analysis of “Are Women Really More Talkative Than Men?” and “Our Barbies, Ourselves”. “Our Barbies, Ourselves” by Emily Prager, and “Are Women Really More Talkative Than Men?” by Matthias R. Mehl et al., both offer their perspective on gender and stereotypes in society, while taking widely varied approaches at doing so. The main similarities between “Our Barbies, Ourselves” and “Are Women Really More Talkative Than Men?” are that they both analyze differences between men and women in society, whether myth, fact, or based on media. The main differences, however, are that Mehl’s paper focuses on a cultural stereotype, and the factuality of it based on empirical evidence, while Prager’s
…show more content…
This is stated in the introduction for the essay, “Using division or analysis, she shows here how Barbie represents a twisted ideal of women.” This in comparison to “Are Women Really More Talkative Than Men”, by Matthias R. Mehl, does not provide empirical evidence to support her claims, but does provide a detailed and thorough analysis of the issue based on her experiences and from facts everyone can agree on. She poses her essay to the women of the world as a call to action as can be drawn from the concluding paragraph which presents issues meant to draw a reaction from the audience. This is more general and more widely publicized than Mehl’s article, as it was published in a magazine to be seen by many. The message of Prager’s essay is that “Barbie represents a twisted ideal of women.”(introduction to the essay) Despite providing some evidence for her claim, unlike Mehl’s essay, “Our Barbies, Ourselves”, contains bias. The bias in Prager’s essay is in the assumption that Barbie was designed with intent to harm, despite having no knowledge of the real intentions of the designer, and misquoting the designer as Jack Ryan in the first paragraph, which was later proven incorrect. This is in contrast to Mehl’s attempt to provide unbiased empirical data to support his conclusion. The theme of “Our Barbies, Ourselves” is that young women should be offered more realistic role models than degrading figures such as Barbie, and even young men should be given better role models than Ken, though less emphasized. The mood presented in the essay is irritated and discontented as Prager expresses her unhappiness with the current state of things. The tone, however, is annoyed and antagonistic, framing Barbie and the designer as malicious as stated in paragraph five,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Stereotyping Analysis

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In this today world, Stereotypes plays an important role. Stereotyping is defined as a fixed conventional notion or conception of an individual or group of people. It may be basic or complex which people may apply to individuals or groups on the basis of their appearance, belief, behaviour. Stereotypes are found everywhere. It has been observed that our world seems to be improving in various ways that it is impossible to liberate it from stereotypes.…

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Barbie Doll In the poem “Barbie Doll” written by Marge Piercy, the author addresses the stereotypical ideas of what society believes a woman should look like and how a woman should act. The title lends itself to help reinforce these themes of appearance and femininity by implying that women are to fashion themselves around the famous 1959 Mattel doll, Barbie, whose appearance some argue provides an unrealistic expectation for women to strive to achieve. Piercy goes on to show what happens to the unnamed main character of the poem, when faced with the challenge of conforming to these social norms of beauty and femininity.…

    • 877 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    If Barbie was marketed to boys under five, boys that had not yet formed full societal stereotypes, perhaps they would treat the dolls relatively similar to how they do their other dolls. But if you gave a Barbie to an adult man and asked him to “play” with it, it would probably seem perverse to do so. However, “playing” with this plastic representation of womanhood, fixed in her identity, is symbolically…

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gender roles and stereotypes have always been an issue in society, and they still are to this day. Although feminism and woman’s rights have come so far in the past years, there is still more progress to be made and the sexist labels do not only happen to women. Having gender stereotypes, that begin when we are young, creates the platform for many of these sexist issues that women, as well as men, are still facing. The article “Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls” written by Katha Pollitt expresses the ideas of male and female stereotypes along with feminism.…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This exposes the young girls scandalous clothing and the confinement of women under a man’s power, represented by the Barbie’s stand. These descriptions of the dolls imply the idealistic perfection in Barbie, and the societal standard of how young women should carry…

    • 2052 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Our Existential Crisis, Our Headache In Our Barbies, Ourselves, Emily Prager uses her own personal experiences to attempt at forging a connection between her and the portion of the audience who also believe Barbie’s design to be a damaging piece of work. Instead of acknowledging her audiences’ feelings Prager only takes hers into account and seems to forge ahead as though all her readers understand where she is coming from. Even as Prager forges ahead, flanked by the influence of pathos she fails to fully pull her audience into understanding just how badly Barbie’s design has damaged the developing psyches of children everywhere.…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Doll Girls promote unattainable beauty standards as much as they demand the male gaze. As John Berger points out in “Ways of Being,” women have often been considered an object of the male; men are the surveyor and women are the surveyed. In other words, men look at women and women watch men looking at them. In fact, a woman is forced to be self-conscious in the presence of men, simply because men have always been in a position of hierarchical power. In this way, Doll Girls are only further enforcing this boundary between the surveyor and the surveyed.…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Comparative Essay Feministic ideas, now and over the years, are rooted in the various attitudes of our social and cultural behaviors. To lack the acceptable image created by society is to be labeled less than ideal. Whether by bluntly stating it or carefully hinting the idea, many American poets, novelist, and social activist have, in one way or another, embarked on the idea. In “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin both authors portray the life of a woman judged by the world around her. Analyzing the way each author presents their argument, it becomes evident that the iconic image instilled in women causes their destruction.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After reading Marge Piercy’s Barbie Doll, the girl in the story had killed herself because she felt that others saw her as ugly. Upon further reading, the poem shows that there is more meaning behind it. The poem is not just about a young woman who takes her life for not being perfect. Piercy uses literary techniques and figurative language that describes a society for women.…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    All I saw were the toys, bright colors, and smiles. It was a wonderful place filled with everything I ever wanted, Barbie dolls, toy trucks, Legos and so on. As I continued to walk through, I was so excited that I was playing over in my head what toys I would play with first. The Barbie dolls first, then the playhouse, and build a house with Legos. And there were so many other kids to play along with too.…

    • 2204 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Female Body Image Essay

    • 1303 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Downfall of Female Body Image: Media’s Influence In our generation today, obsessing over our looks and bodies has become a day-to-day activity. Over the past decade the media industry has vastly evolved, influencing people all around the world. Media has provoked negative self-perception among the society. It has influenced our definition of beauty.…

    • 1303 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I decided to research gender stereotypes after studying “Pretty Hurts” by Beyonce. The writer raises the issue of how the media tells young women how to act and look if they want to be seen as “perfect”. This made me think about how girls all over the world are constantly trying to be seen as “perfect” and the lengths they go to better themselves. To find out more about how this applies to the real world, I decided to do my research report on this. My hypothesis is: “In today 's society woman are only judged by appearance, not by brains or personality”.…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Stereotypes do exist, but we have to walk through them.” This quote once said by an American actor, Forest Whitaker, supports the idea that stereotypes which define a person’s gender are incorrect in reality. In these gender roles men are confident and calm during difficult situations, but in reality this is untrue and men are not always confident in tragic situations and sometimes act irrationally. In society the perfect man should not be able to sew because a woman’s job to do housework, like sewing. should be the ones to sew things.…

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many feminists commented on the book saying that it sends a bad message to young girls. They said the message that this book sends is that in order for girls to achieve anything they should not try to do it themselves, but always rely on others, especially men to get the job done. In addition, this book teaches girls to not peruse their dreams because they can’t do the job correctly without a man. The portrayal of Barbie in both the book and media…

    • 1020 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    While boys have toys such as superman and trucks that portray masculinity, and electronic advancement, girls have Barbie dolls that shape their personalities, deteriorate their self-esteem, and defined their intelligence. Margie Piercy’s poem “Barbie Doll” provides insight on the script that woman are expected to play. The third stanza of the poem states, “She was advised to play coy, exhorted to come on hearty, exercise diet, smile, and wheedle. Her good nature wore out, like a fan belt. So she cut off her nose and legs and offered them up.…

    • 1226 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays