Body And Reproduction Of Feminism

Improved Essays
Having no real introduction and analysis of feminist theory prior to taking SWMS 301 class, apart from agreeing about the unfairness of unequal pay based on gender and complaints about female objectification by male population, I have not really stopped to consider how women are really perceived in this society.
One of the topics I would like to discuss is the role and portrayal of women in the media. After reading Susan Bordo’s article, The Body and Reproduction of Femininity, my attention has been constantly focused on how a woman’s body represents an entity needing modification to fit into this perfectionist image designed by men. As Bordo mentions, “…female bodies are docile bodies – bodies whose forces and energies are habituated to external
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hamburger. In it, a white woman is eating a burger on a beach in such a sexualized fashion that the commercial may as well have been for a pornographic website. It is imperative to mention that the woman appearing in the commercial id wearing a minimal amount of clothing. Ironically, the model also appears to be size 0. The introduction of feminist theory allowed me to understand that the underlying message of this commercial is very political. Apart from the outrageous sexualization of the woman consuming food on the screen, the main point that I see is that this commercial not only emphasizes the idea that women are only viable for visual and physical pleasure, but that it also carries subtle propaganda stating that women

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