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Essay / Feminism in Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll - 1169
Walking into almost any store that sells toys makes it very clear that there is a difference between toys for girls and boys. While some stores, such as Target, have attempted to at least partially address the problem by trying to remove labels such as "girl" and "boy" from their toy sections, this has been met with significant backlash from the public , showing just how far we still have to go on these issues (Luckerson). Additionally, despite these attempts to move forward, girls are still actively encouraged to maintain the housewife stereotype through toys such as It's Girl Stuff! Cleaning set containing a toy dustpan, brush, broom, and cleaning spray that was manufactured and sold as recently as 2014 (a cleaning set). Worse still, the sexualization and enforcement of beauty standards for women as a whole, and particularly for young girls, has arguably become more prevalent in recent years. Makeup, skincare, and weight loss companies are targeting girls with marketing to younger and younger ages (Cardona). Teen magazines further reinforce unrealistic beauty standards for women with articles like one that features Hollywood celebrities Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz, Salma Hayek and Heather Graham as "role models upon which readers can calibrate their own behavior." (Gibbons). Only