National Collegiate Honors Council
Date of this Version
2016
Document Type
Article
Citation
UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity: http://www.nchc-ureca.com/
Abstract
Dolls have been used to reinforce gender roles way before Barbie became a household name. In 1879, Henrik Isben published A Doll’s House, a play in which a Norwegian housewife has a groundbreaking epiphany about how marriage has reduced her life to child’s play. There has been controversy about the critique of the domesticated housewife as a concern for women’s rights. Many women enjoy their role as homemakers, wives, and mothers. However this series, Doll House, was made as a very personal response to how growing up in poverty and a small, isolated community can really distort gender identity by equivalating marriage and success. Where woman lack opportunities in education and the workplace, obsession with superficial qualities ensue in pursuit of the financially independent gentleman caller. (I ain’t saying she a gold digger, but…) Mix financial desperation with social pressures, superficial media, and our culture’s obsession with porn culture and misogyny can easily distort the female identity to a life of plastic.
Comments
Copyright (c) 2016 by the author.