Postmodern Feminism: A Strong Argumentative Norm

The reason that I picked this quote was not only because of its strong argumentative claim, but one that I could easily identify and find common ground with. From this quote, we learn that how we display and present ourselves in the public is influenced by conventional norm. This norm derives from our culture’s idealization of what femininity and masculinity is, that is, how society defines female and male. Then, it is through this norm that all of us come to know as the criteria for our behaviour, directing our actions and our interaction with others around us. Based on what society expects and demands upon us, we act and present ourselves accordingly to these unwritten rules, with hopes of portraying our gender role accurately that the public would then approve of us as a female/male. The public acts as an audience, watching closely at our every movement and gesture. Should we misact or perform out of our pre-determined boundaries, we face the risk of losing our gender status and might potentially be confronted with our inadequacy as a person. Depending on the context and setting, …show more content…
Postmodern feminism believes in power as operating within the body, that is, we have the free will and a conscious mind to carry out decision making. For example, our tendency to diet and maintain an ideal physique is not controlled by societal standards or pressure, but stems from our inner desire and our conscious mind to please others around us and present us in a way that would reflect favourably upon us. Therefore, the modernist view of power being exercised outside of our body was heavily resisted and overthrown by postmodern feminists. Postmodern views assume a greater amount of free will that an individual has and that we have complete agency over how we want to act. Through postmodern views, we learn that power is internal that could overpower the norms and institutions of