poem What We Are Supposed To Do, Barbie poem By Chicago Poet Janet Kuypers

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What We Are Supposed To Do
Janet Kuypers
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I played with Barbies for years
I made clothes for the female dolls
I never thought about the fact
that their toes were always poinged
and their breats were always hard and plastic
maybe those pointed feet said something
about how women are always
supposed to stand on their toes
to make their legs look better for men
to make it harder for them to walk
I mean, how are you supposed
to go around in your life
always walking around on your toes?
maybe those pointed feet said something
about how being short is a bad thing
and being taller
like a man
is a better thing
maybe those plastic breasts said something
about plastic surgery
and how women should be better
how men want women with bigger breasts
how they want something they can look at
and odjectify
something to make them novel
and something less than a man
maybe those plastic breasts said something
about how breasts should be perky
and never sag
like having breasts actually do, if you have them
I mean, Barbies never had bras
because they never needed them
witheternally perky plastic breasts
and plastic skin
and a plastic head that was hollow inside
and a plastic everything
I can take a Barbis doll now
and squeeze her head
and it just crunches like well,
a big piece of plastic
because well, there’s nothing in there
I mean, aren’t girls not supposed to have brains anyway?
This was how we were trained
This is what we are supposed to do
and they still teach this
and I don’t know how to fight against
all these years of a slanted view
of how men view women
and how women view women
I can look at Barbies
and think that there is nothing inside of them
there is nothing real to them
and it is not the Barbie that bothers me
it is all of the ideas that come with it

Copyright Janet Kuypers.
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