In her poetry Marge Piercy takes a critical stance against society. She is interested predominantly interested in exposing the lies which society tells women. Her poetry is a rebuttal of the social dominant which equates female beauty with value. In a much more true sense, Piercy is an advocate for self-acceptance, an idea which she offers in defense against society's devaluing messages.
For the most part, Piercy writes about women suffering. Unable to see past society's messages about women's value, her protagonists, like the girl in "Barbie Doll," quickly despair when they learn, around puberty, that they are not the ideal. This leads to a long train of modifications. For this girl, that looks like a continual adaptation of her behavior, diet, routine, and eventually surrender and self-mutilation. For women throughout history, the quest for social acceptance, told in "What are Big Girls Made of?", manifests in a series of painful artifices -- from corsets to diet to foot binding.
In contrast to this awful expectation that women conform to a certain ideal of external beauty, Piercy hones in upon the motivation which makes the lie so powerful. Women, like all people, are seeking acceptance. Instead of accepting themselves, however, they look outward for approval. Although society offers acceptance, it comes with strings and apricot lipstick. In "A Work of Artifice," however, Piercy observes how the human nature is resilient and trustworthy and must be beaten down to conform to society's expectations. Let yourself free, she argues. Whatever natural state you come in, that's acceptable.
