Social Construction Of A Woman's Identity

When the term “the perfect women” is used, a general image comes to mind. This women is tall, thin, and conventionally pretty. She has a symmetrical face, straight hair, and is white. This women is meek, attentive, virginal, and easily controlled by man. This women does not exist, and has been created by society in order to keep women docile. Expectations for women’s identities, – their looks, their actions, and their thoughts – have all been constructed by society for societal gain, and are frighteningly harmful for the women who must strive to reach impractical ideals. Unreachable ideals are constantly forced upon women, such as the beauty myth, or the purity myth, all things that are socially constructed, and all things that society directly relates to a woman’s worth. From our bodies and appearance, all the way to our thoughts and actions, everything that is said to make up a woman’s identity hinges on society, and more specifically, a male-dominate society. All of this is extremely harmful to women, and not only affects the way they look and act, but ultimately that way they view themselves, and how good they feel about what they see in the mirror. …show more content…
A gender is assigned at birth and given a binary that is expected to be followed all throughout life. Judith Lorbor describes how the different stereotypes associated with the two binary genders “shape women’s and men’s life experiences, and these produce different feelings, consciousness, relationships, skills – ways of being that we call feminine or masculine,” (14). Gender is something that is created by society, and yet interpreted differently by different people, which can cause discourse. A women’s body is shaped by social norms of gender, she must look and act traditionally feminine or else she is not truly a