Doll Legs: The Symbol of a Barbie in Mary Gaitskill’s ‘Secretary'

 Here is a small piece I did for an English class about a month ago. I am very proud of it. 

From a gender studies perspective, it may be argued that Mary Gaitskill’s use of a Barbie as a symbol in “Secretary” is important to analyze. Barbies were made to impose the idea that young girls can play with a doll which represents their future without the push of motherhood. The virgin/whore binary is the label given to women that you can be a virgin, whore, or mother. The creation of these labels insists that motherhood is superior to having sex outside of marriage, in other words, being defined as a “whore.” It can be argued that a part of the Barbie’s role as a symbol in ‘Secretary’ is to critique the way society views women as “not pure,” or a whore, if they are not a virgin or a mother. Throughout the story, Debby experiences both sexual confusion and sexual abuse. Debby’s story of abuse presents the idea of there being an in between the “whore” and “virgin” labels in this binary and that women’s purity, as it is portrayed in society, is not as black and white as patriarchal views believe it is. This in between factor can defined with Debby’s masturbation, frustration in her lack of climaxing, and the sexual abuse in the relationship between her and the lawyer. From the virgin/whore binary’s perspective, it may be confusing to call Debby either a virgin or a whore. The in between factor Gaitskill uses invalidates the strict labels that patriarchal societies put on women as only being a virgin, whore, or mother. This ties to the initial idea around Barbies, which is to push away the mothering expectations of young girls and allow them to envision themselves as what they individually want to be when they grow older, hereby denying the patriarchy the ability to pressure girls into the label of “mother.”    

      Debby’s dissociation is implied in her recollection of a therapy appointment where she was asked, “…do you ever have the sensation of being outside yourself…”(Gaitskill 147). Debby goes onto say that, now that she feels she is outside herself, she doesn’t think it is such a bad feeling. While Debby is dissociating, she stares at a Barbie’s foot sticking out of a box and describes the foot as “helpless and painfully ridged”(147). The personification of the Barbie’s foot alongside a dissociation suggests she is projecting herself onto the Barbie. The relation of herself to a childhood toy evokes a sense of nostalgia, which was also seen earlier in the story when Debby recalls a time her sister, Donna, was affectionate to her, which was not a common occurrence. Debby tells the reader that the box of Barbies were the toys her and Donna often played with as children. It is also displayed in the story that Donna despises male bosses and has similar signs of depression as Debby does such as hiding in her room. While it is never confirmed that Donna has experienced sexual abuse, it is implied through her depression and attitude towards employers that Donna and Debby have shared, or at least similar, experiences when it comes to abuse. Barbies were used to connect both sisters as young girls. Throughout the story, both sisters are brought closer once again through shared trauma, which involves their status of purity in a patriarchal society. The physical object of Barbies being shared between two sisters who later have similar experiences with abuse is symbolic of how sisterhood develops even through the hardships life throws to women, specifically in patriarchal and androcentric societies.