Size Six Fatema Mernissi Analysis

Register to read the introduction… She starts by revealing the fact of how women are shown how they are meant to look from youth, thus forming an ideal image of beauty within one’s head. “The Western man uses images and spotlights to freeze female beauty within an idealized childhood, and forces women to perceive aging—that normal unfolding of years—as a shameful devaluation” (255). Moreover, the author supports her thesis by enlightening how an Eastern woman can elude her quandary since it is evident to society, whereas in Western culture, the violence is on a psychosomatic echelon, as men reduce women, unbeknownst to them or humanity. By appealing to one’s reasoning, Mernissi is able to defend her position on how Western women are not as well-off as they appear to be, and how in reality they are in fact attacked at a psychological level from childhood. Furthermore, Mernissi resumes in utilizing the logical appeal by declaring, “That distressing experience made me realize how the image of beauty in the West can hurt and humiliate a woman as much as the veil does when enforced by the state police in extremist nations such as Iran, Afghanistan, or Saudi Arabia” (252). By forming this rational statement, Mernissi illustrates how Western societies need of aesthetics when compared to extremist Islamic nations, is a worse evil then being forced to wear a veil. Furthermore, she declares that the “size six” disease is more perilous psychologically, than the space given in Middle Eastern countries, when concerning women. Correspondingly, this logical appeal presents concrete evidence, which furthers Mernissi’s …show more content…
From the beginning of the text, the author has an incensed, insulted tone. She especially makes the most of the word “nonsense” (253) to describe her outlook on Western size paradigms. Moreover, the author forms an atmosphere of pity around the Western women when she declares, “We Muslim women have only one month of fasting, Ramadan, but the poor Western woman who diets has to fast twelve months out of the year” (256). Mernissi forms empathy for women in Western culture, for they have to suffer to simply fit the status quo of their society. By applying pathos, Mernissi is capable of comparing and contrasting just how dissimilar public demands in Western and Eastern culture are. She shows how in Morocco there is no meaning behind “sizes,” and women do not have to change themselves or become “childlike” (255) to attain beauty. Whereas when she was in New York, she was “too big” (253) to be considered normal as “size 4 and 6 are the norm” (253). Moreover, Mernissi was labeled as “deviant” (253) because she did not fit the current trend. Throughout her essay Mernissi creates sympathy for herself due to how she was treated, and also for the average Western woman, as they are also apparently not normal. Additionally, the emotional appeal is key for one to understand Mernissi’s predicament, as it persuades the audience to realize that the “size 6” trend is insulting to