Throughout history there have been many ideals about a woman’s body – what an “attractive” woman should look like, act like, smell like, be like. A woman’s body has been appreciated for its beauty as well as objectified based on what that body can do for society --whether or not it is truly fruitful and multiplying; whether or not it is visually pleasing; whether or not it makes money. Women’s health has been at the mercy of male physicians and women’s minds kept as unexercised and out of shape as possible. The “why” behind this phenomenon of oppression has been hotly debated. The reality, however, is that, from the act of childbirth to eating disorders, a woman’s body is a social celebrity.…
In Joan Brumberg’s book The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls, she examines the familial, cultural, and institutional forces that played a significant role in shaping women’s bodies and attitudes and uses historical evidence to illustrate them. In the nineteenth-century, one’s morality was the hub of adolescence. (Brumberg xx). Mothers took initiative into instructing their daughters on how to properly groom and dress themselves. Society also discouraged women from discussing bodily concerns with anybody, since that kind of behavior was considered indecent (Brumberg xix).…
In the article, “On the Gender of the Middlebrow Consumer and the Threat of the Culturally Fraudulent Female”, Radway scrutinizes and manipulates magazine articles from primary sources in the nineteen thirties era. Although, she analyzes feminist readings that are predominately written by males; who also express a general concern for the rapid changes that were happening within the time period. Radway specifically uses primary text written within the time period to scrutinize the authors themselves. In addition, Radway establishes that the primary texts were written by experts, mainly those who positioned themselves as becoming known as an expert, as she would call them the; highbrow, high class experts. She introduces the idea that there is…
Lianne George wrote an article “Why Are We Dressing Our Daughters Like This?” it’s about how todays trends are including sexualization in 5 and up little girls clothing. The article addresses sex in American culture and how it effects the youth. How parents, television, music, and fashion are leading the way how kids are dressing. It tells how adults are dressing like little kids and kids are dressing like adults in order to meet today’s social norm.…
The media uses diction and juxtaposition to characterize society as primitive and sexist in its treatment of menstruation. In his article “Free the Tampons,” reporter Rony Caryn of The New York Times notes that “even in the age of oversharing, periods are treated like a dirty little secret” (Caryn). While “dirty little secret” refers to a truth that people conceal from others because they perceive it as too embarrassing to share, Caryn’s use of the word “even” indicates that he sees this view of menstruation as anachronistic, implying that society should be evolved past this sexist view of menstruation but is not. His article title also criticizes how society treats menstruation. The word “free” in “Free the Tampons” implies that society is…
Women can be strong and beautiful without having to be sexualized by the media. Should women show a little skin to promote a brand or themselves and their sport? Although this paper is about women and the things they go through to remain thin, I have to say that men have been sexualized as well. Sports players such as Derek Jeter, David Beckam, and Rafael Nadal have all been part of the pretty boys in sports image. With respect to Wimbleton female tennis players have been playing in small colorful outfits that make them stand out in the courts.…
In the article Yes, I’ve Folded Up My Masculine Mystique, Honey, author Stephanie Coontz speaks about the issue of masculine mystique in the present-day. Coontz backs her analysis and statements with several sources from sociologists to authors of several books. By using these sources, Coontz finds the history of extreme traditional gender roles and how they affect society in the present. By showing how these gender roles have affected society and how they continue to affect individuals, readers of this article are able to understand the effects of extreme pressure. By connecting past issues to present-day issues, Coontz demonstrates how traditional gender roles affected many individuals in the past and still affect individuals today.…
The class discussion on October 15th, 2015 about the history of women’s bodies was one of the most intense, eye-opening, and heart-breaking discussions I have ever been apart of. Many feelings whirled around inside of me; I felt disturbed and angered, yet determined and challenged. I was reading “A History of Women’s Bodies” by Rose Weitz, essay 28 in The Matrix Reader, while my boyfriend was watching television. My very audible comments, such as “Holy cow!” and “Unbelievable!” made him pause the show and ask what I was reading.…
“Wild Embers” is a concise, first-person poem written by Nikita Gill. Throughout the poem, she speaks siding with the feminist movement. Society has put women down for generations nevertheless feminism has brought gender inequality to the smallest it has ever been in history. The author calls out the people who supported and worked to keep men superior.…
In recent discussions of Susan Bordos reading about woman’s pressures in society, one controversial issue has been on how women have these expectation in society that they think they have to follow, like being able to cook, be in the kitchen, look pretty, and dress a certain way to get attention. By contrast, other arguments are that men don’t have to worry about their weight, how they are supposed to be stronger, and not having to be in the kitchen or cooking. Proponents of this position emphasize that women in this world have to go off of what society thinks of them, so they have to follow this or they will not get the same attention as they would if they went on and did their own thing. In sum, the issue is whether women follow what society…
In today’s society we commonly refer to women as a “sex symbol”. Even if we do not literally say it, we see examples of it every day in the media. As we drive on the highway, we pass large billboards of headless women in little lingerie outfits. Generally, they are skinny, large-breasted women. When we watch a Dallas Cowboy’s game on the TV, we see shots of the Cowboy’s cheerleaders in their tight, skimpy, outfits jumping around and shaking their pomp oms.…
Controversies on body image have been a prevalent issue throughout the world dating for centuries that predominantly target women. This contention branches out into the matters regarding body dysmorphic disorders which became the foundation for eating disorders. The motives for eating disorders are attributed to individualistic influences, as well as sociocultural and political-economic influences. Individualistic influences “reflect the differences in women’s psychosexual development” (Hesse-Biber, 1991, p.173). Sociocultural and political-economic influences highlight the opposed view, while focusing on causations for eating disorders that are not credited to the individual, but rather concentrated in society (Hesse-Biber, 1991, p.174).…
Never After: A Fantasy Gone Wrong For a company whose motto claimed it as the happiest place on earth, it sure doesn’t resonate that way for most people. Published in 2011 in the Christian Science Monitor, the article, “Little Women or Little Girls” by journalist Stephanie Hanes discusses the effects of media platforms such as the Disney princess’ franchise and argues that their means of sexualization and objectification tremendously impacts the way the population of young female develops. By formulating her argument through the uses of credible data to support her claims, Hanes’ is able to build a platform to educate and aware the audience, mostly parental figures, on the causes and how to combat the growing issue of sexualization on young…
The contrast in the two frames reflects the transformation of the social construction of femininity throughout the years, from the early double standards placed on women — that women were expected to keep up a beautiful appearance and be sexual beings (as in the right frame) while men weren’t expected to work as hard for their physical appearance — to the more modern, progressive feminist views of women asserting their power and independence and defying the stereotypical gender roles of society (as portrayed in the left…
Buck Angel’s “The Power Of My Vagina” illustrates the difficulty humans encounter living in a society where our bodies are owned, policed and subjected to follow the norms due to the social construct attached to a single word. To better understand the way in which a society “owns” our bodies from a simple construct of a word, we examine multiple perspectives from people of different races, genders, geography, and backgrounds. From literally being owned due to the social construct of race, to having to change the way we dress because it is not what is expected and finally to being owned by who society classifies as superiors, one can better comprehend the destructive consequences as a result of a societies fatal grip on our bodies. Society and its norms tell, force and expect our bodies to follow the set path we are given when we are born, it is inescapable. Angel, Abu-Lughod, DeMello and Pascoe all offer differing perspectives on the matter and enlighten us to the challenges faced by individuals in a world of having to conform and fit the constructed words of society.…