Minnie Sez...

Final Question 4

2009-12-18T10:57:00.001-08:00

Overcoming my fear

So many years spent living in fear

Of a father’s approval

Of classroom jeers

Frightened of never being loved

Of feeling rejected

Not fitting the glove

All that time I didn’t realize

The bigger hand

Writing the rules and lies

Putting false images in front of my eyes

And now educated, and more liberated

I’m no longer in disguise

In front of the mirror I used to hesitate

Reluctant to stare down

My inherently woman

Inherently beautiful, yet somehow imperfect

Silhouette

Now braver, now stronger

I take myself in, fully wholly

Knowing now my body is holy

Undefined, but fine with me

Final Question 3

2009-12-18T10:47:00.001-08:00

i. How do body outlaws balance maintaining autonomous beauty standards while also keeping a healthy body? (p.232 – “Sizing Myself Up” by Kate Dillon in Body Outlaws, also the note to the new edition of Body Outlaws, p. V)

ii. How do women reconcile between being educated with The Beauty Myth and maintain an interest in makeup and beauty products? (The Beauty Myth – specifically the last chapter)

iii. How do body image and beauty standards become incorporated into public policy changes in the media?

iv. What steps can everyday people take to reduce popularized sexual violence? Where does out cultural rehabilitation begin? (Beauty Myth p. 131-78)

v. How far do women in the workplace have to go before they reach equality and what steps can undergraduate women take to improve policy? (Beauty Myth pp.20-58)

Final Question 2

2009-12-18T10:45:00.001-08:00

Popular culture has had an impact on beauty standards and body image throughout history. These beauty standards brought about by popular culture have influenced and constrained women in their roles in society. In the 1920s and 30s, pantyhose and binding corsets consumed women’s fashion, physically limiting the stretch of their daily activities. At this time, cosmetics also became increasingly popular. Over the years, popular culture has manifested itself in ways that are oppressive and restrictive to women. Naomi Wolf calls this the Iron Maiden, which I discussed in my first response. Wolf also believes that rather than art imitating life, the most powerful people in the beauty industry and those with political interests dictate what women should do with their bodies.

One way that popular culture has influenced beauty standards is through toys. Barbie has played a pivotal role in shaping how young girls view adulthood glamour and how they define womanly beauty. In one of my blogs, I discussed the role of Barbie and her influence on young girls throughout the years (http://minniesez.blogspot.com/2009/09/blog-5-gender-and-toys.html). In the 1950s, Barbie was advertised as a slim, glamorous, docile, bride. In the 1960s, Barbie took on her domestic role as the head of the household in Barbie’s Dream House. Girls were once again encouraged to take their place in the home, isolated from the rest of society, organizing her household. In the 1980s, another Barbie came out which emulated the workout craze of the time. This Barbie was outfitted in leg warmers and a tight fitting leotard, showing off her slim waist and large bust. One child narrator commented that Barbie looks great after working out. This is a very positive message to send young girls. However, the positive message of health and fitness is ruined when the little girl says that Barbie must be going on a date with that great body. This comment encourages young girls to believe that their value and attraction from men is directly proportional to how much they work out or if they look like Barbie. Hypocritically, toys designed for young boys are oriented toward violence, adventure, and individualism. Popular culture encourages boys and girls to be raised as polar opposites. Males get to take on the role of an autonomous warrior and instigator while females are supposed to be docile, weak, submissive beings, consumed in approval of men to define themselves. One essay in Body Outlaws entitled “Klaus Barbie and other dolls I’d like to see”, Susan Jane Gilman uses a satirical approach to critique Barbie’s marketing to young girls. Gilman, in one of her more serious statements, asserts that “looks, girls learn early, collapse into a metaphor for everything” (Gilman 16). In discussing Barbie’s easily removable head, Gilman exclaims “Hey girls, a head is simply a neck plug, easily disposed of in the name of fashion” (Gilman 19). Gilman makes a good point here. Young girls want to emulate Barbie, an impossible ideal to uphold as her outfits, shoes, and even her head are completely disposable.

In contemporary culture, beauty advertising has become out of control with the increase in technological venues for media (aka TV, radio, internet, magazines, etc.) as well as endless money to spend on it. Naomi Wolf discusses popular culture’s influence on beauty standards in her chapter called “Religion” in her book The Beauty Myth. Wolf asserts that men have created a beauty cult centered around frivolously spending on the newest beauty products in order to maintain an image of youth and “beauty.” Instead of accomplishing this, however, women end up neglecting worthwhile opportunities to waste money, time, and self-esteem on unnecessary alterations to their appearance. Ironically, despite use of all of these beauty products, even doctors admit that beauty products will not get rid of wrinkles or change a woman’s physical appearance. A Professor Albert Kligman at the University of Pennsylvania states “it is physically impossible for them to get deep enough into the skin to make any lasting difference to wrinkles” (Wolf 111). Most recently, the beauty cult has gone further, extending into the world of plastic surgery. Women can now physically alter their bodies through a surgeon’s cutting knife. Subtle and drastic cosmetic surgery procedures have been rising in popularity. Many “noninvasive” procedures such as Botox are growing in popularity but are also very damaging to women’s body image. Unlike lotions and creams, surgical procedures can change a woman’s physical appearance permanently.

Several specific advertisements are extremely negative to women’s body image. A recent Marc Jacobs commercial shows Victoria Beckham as the purchased item in a shopping bag (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/fashion/10TELLER.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin). This advertisement puts this woman literally in a shopping bag, much like a handbag or a pair of shoes. She is no longer more valued than any other purchased item or piece of property. The advertisement also has a tinge of violence in it, Beckham’s naked legs sprawled out of the bag, looking lifeless. This gives the connotation of murder or death – perhaps death for fashion? Either way, her skin is no longer warm and full of life – she is a dead piece of leather. This advertisement is damaging to the image of women because it reduces them to the level of a piece of merchandise.

Another negative advertisement was on American Apparel’s website (http://www.about-face.org/goo/newten/8/eight.shtml). This shows opposing images of the same shirt on a woman and a man. The man is pictured straight forward, powerful and assertive. The woman is bottomless, looking a little ridiculous bending over in an animal-like sexual pose. This is a direct example of how advertising is different for men and women.

Finally, a negative advertisement I found is related to the Barbie discussion earlier (http://www.about-face.org/goo/newten/8/five.shtml). This advertisement is for a reality show which follows young girls competing in beauty competitions. These girls are encouraged to dye their hair, stay thin, wear makeup and fake teeth (to look like adults), and then prance around in swimsuits and outfits that look fit for Las Vegas showgirls. The influence of Barbie, Bratz Dolls, and our oversexualized popular culture has negatively impacted these young girls, often used as profit machines for money-hungry moms. Forcing prepubescent girls to believe that sexiness is equal to value is extremely damaging to their body image.

However, some companies have had positive beauty advertisements. The Dove campaign for real beauty has made major strides in encouraging positive body image, especially with young women who are still developing their sense of self. On the other end of the age spectrum, Dove advertises for

“pro-age” products, stating that beauty doesn’t have an age cutoff (http://campaignforrealbeauty.com/).

Another positive popular culture commentary on beauty products is this video I found on about-face.org (http://about-face.org/gow/newten/5/). Sarah Haskins makes a satirical analysis of ridiculous beauty products. I wish that her program was more popular because she brings to light many of the issues that Wolf discusses in the Religion chapter of the beauty myth.

Finally, another backlash against popular culture’s beauty obsession is the documentary “America the Beautiful” (http://about-face.org/gow/newten/5/three.shtml). This documentary fights back against the insane plastic surgery and beauty practices implemented in America.

In conclusion, I believe that popular culture and the media will always influence beauty standards. However, I believe that it is important for women to truly educate themselves and make wise decisions when choosing beauty products, rather than simply yielding to the status quo.

Extra Works Cited:

http://about-face.org/gow/newten/5/

http://about-face.org/gow/newten/1/index.shtml

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/fashion/10TELLER.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

http://www.about-face.org/goo/newten/8/five.shtml

http://www.about-face.org/goo/newten/8/eight.shtml

http://campaignforrealbeauty.com/

http://about-face.org/gow/newten/5/three.shtml

Final Question 1

2009-12-17T14:55:00.001-08:00

*Note* I am posting the final questions as separate blogs as to avoid confusion about which question is which.

Body image is an individual’s perception of their physical appearance. Often this definition of body image also manifests itself in emotional assessments of self-worth as a reflection of perception of physical appearance. I believe the Body Outlaws text is a good piece to read first to get a modern grounding in the definition of body image and how real women feel about it. In the Introduction to Body Outlaws, Ophira Edut explains how body image often has a root in psychological problems, often brought on by societal constraints. Edut asserts “Our bodies have become arenas for feelings we don’t deal with” (Edut xxii). Edut understands that body image is so much more than a vain attempt to look beautiful. On a deeper level, Edut believes that body image ultimately reflects “a sense of place in the world. It should be a means of healing, rather than escaping from pain” (Edut xxiii). Edut’s short introduction lays down many of the ideals and points expressed in Wolf’s The Beauty Myth.

The Beauty Myth is a good text for understanding on a very thorough level all aspects of body image as they relate to consumerism. Wolf asserts that women’s body image issues are rooted in profit-driven businesses and that beauty standards are political rather than personal. Wolf points to events throughout history which have shaped how men in power have attempted to oppress women. The most surefire way to defeat women is to divide and conquer by encouraging poor self-esteem, competition with other women, and consequently consumerism. As early as the 1800’s women have suffered from the beauty myth and have had to fight two battles; those for their political rights and those within themselves. A suffragist, Lucy Stone, stated “it is very little to me… to have the right to vote, to own property, etcetera, if I may not keep my body, and its uses, in my absolute right” (Wolf 11). Thus, even almost two centuries ago, women suffered from body image issues brought about by men attempting to oppress their right to equality. Suffragists were often labeled as ugly, lesbians, or bad mothers. This was enough to keep many women out of the movement, achieving just what the men in power wanted.

As time went on and technology advanced, women suffered even more under body image pressures in order to destroy their identity and self-esteem. For example, after World War II when men reentered the workforce that women had been occupying, popularized dieting and women’s magazines became all the rage. Movements began to bring women back into the home and recreate the “separate sphere” for women. This is where much of beauty oppression began. Cosmetics, creams, and beauty products became incredibly popular and magazines were there to continue advertising the latest product. Women were blindly manipulated into what Wolf calls “the iron maiden” (Wolf 17). Making an analogy to the metal German torture instrument, she explains how “women [in a modern hallucination] are trapped or trap themselves in similarly rigid, cruel, and euphemistically painted [conditions]” (Wolf 17).

The Iron Maiden began to manifest itself when women began to seriously enter the workplace in the 1970s and 80s. Threatened by the possibility of women infiltrating, men in power again began to divide women and conquer. At this time, women often lost lawsuits that discriminated against women in the workplace for their beauty or lack of beauty. Lawsuits demonstrated that women could not escape the beauty myth, no matter which side of the continuum they leaned toward. In one lawsuit in 1986, a woman named Mechelle Vinson lost a sexual harassment lawsuit against an employer who “had sexually harassed her, subject[ed] her to fondling, exposure, and rape” (Wolf 38). The court contended that because the woman was beautiful, she welcomed rape by her employer. This case would seemingly make women believe that instead they should look ugly in the workplace. However, in the lawsuit of Hopkins v. Price-Waterhouse, the court agreed with an employer’s decision that “Ms. Hopkins was denied a partnership because she needed to learn to ‘walk more femininely, talk more femininely, dress more femininely, and wear makeup” (Wolf 39). Thus, in the workplace, women are placed in the Iron Maiden and cannot win equality in the workplace no matter what she does with her beauty. This relates to body image because women are sent conflicting messages regarding both their beauty and the value of their work.

More recently, the Iron Maiden has affected women through the marketing of beauty products. In Wolf’s “Religion” chapter, she discusses how beauty product marketing has distracted women from pursuing more important issues such as equal pay for equal work and reproductive rights. Instead, women are sucked in under false pseudo science in advertisements and are taught that life ends for women after age 30. Marketing personnel have used confusing jargon to push beauty products on women and make them feel inferior and inadequate. Buzzwords such as “’phytolyastil’, ‘phytophyline’, and ‘plurisome’” (Wolf 108). I believe that the pushing of excessive beauty products keeps many women occupied and in competition with each other. Women turn against each other, thinking that gaining happiness (a man) is the only means of coming out on top.

Rather, I believe that body image issues must be resolved via women working together and overcoming the financially-driven political war against women. Wolf also discusses this in her book in the final chapter. I think that the three most important body image issues are eating disorders, dependence on beauty products, and intragender competition. Body image is generally thought to be an individual battle, however I feel that the problem and the solution relies in female-female relationships. Eating disorders and beauty product dependence are both issues that could begin to reverse their prevalence through the mutual support and compassion of other women. Oftentimes, eating disorders are looked down upon while women are supposed to maintain the body of someone with an eating disorder. By confiding in other women and refusing to conform to public beauty standards, women can find strength in numbers and overcome societal constraints. Yes, this is easier said than done, but the fight of third wave feminism cannot be won without a strong alliance of women embracing true beauty through self-expression and health. Wolf suggests a solution to this problem by saying “Let us start with a reinterpretation of ‘beauty’ that is noncompetitive, nonhierarchical, and nonviolent” (Wolf 286). This, I believe, is the long term solution to solving body image problems amongst women and throughout the world.

Word Count: 1086

Film Review – Lovely and Amazing

2009-12-16T15:00:00.001-08:00

Lovely and Amazing Film Review

Lovely and Amazing follows the lives of a family of women suffering from various beauty and body image issues. The mother, Jane Marks, is in her 60s and coping with identity issues. With her children grown up and without a husband, Jane experiences loneliness and insecurity. Consequently, she adopts a young girl named Annie. Jane is a white, well-to-do woman and Annie is a black, poor child from a drug addicted mother. To deal with her body image issues, Jane pursues plastic surgery, specifically a tummy tuck. In the process, she desperately pursues her plastic surgeon, holding on to her last attempts at gaining male affection.

Jane’s oldest daughter, Michelle, suffers from an unhappy marriage and feeling unfulfilled in her life. She is unhappy with her husband, who doesn’t appreciate her artistic talents and constantly nags her to get a job. Michelle is a deep character because while she has confidence in herself as an individual, her husband ruins it with his criticism. In an attempt to get her husband’s approval, Michelle takes a job at a one-hour photo shop. While there, she begins an affair with a teenage employee there.

Jane’s younger biological daughter, Elizabeth, is a struggling actress with body image issues. After pursuing acting, she has a successful, albeit small, role in a film. Her agent is disinterested in her success and her boyfriend finds her body image issues annoying. Instead of supporting her and comforting her in her insecurities, her perceives her position as vane and vapid.

Perhaps the most dynamic character in the film is Annie, the young black girl that Jane adopts. Annie’s biological mother was a drug addict and unable to support her. Annie is dealing with many issues. Firstly, she is an adopted child, which is a difficult situation for anyone to go through. Additionally, her adoptive mother is a different race than she; white and black, making the relationship more strained to the public. Annie’s character evolves over the film – first feeling like an outcast in the family to eventually beginning to see herself as part of the rich, Caucasian life. When talking to her black babysitter, she even makes a joke about black people.

An interesting aspect of this film was that no men played dynamic characters. Every male character in the film was flat and didn’t show any sort of support or development for the female characters. This film tackles lots of women’s issues; body image, sexuality, race, and personal fulfillment. I enjoyed watching the characters of the film grow and evolve in their problems and liked how the relationships amongst family members interconnected all of the issues.

Film Review – Dream Worlds 3

2009-12-16T13:25:00.001-08:00

Dream Worlds 3 Film Review

Dream Worlds 3 is an expository documentary that reveals the violent, overly sexualized images of women in media. Specifically, the film addresses how women are used as profit objects in music videos. Women in the media are used as disposable sexual objects, exploited violently to make profit. This media standard is not the fault of individual artists or any particular race. Rather, profit-driven music producers and executives use women as sexual objects to sell products. Women are made money tools by several methods. Usually, the cheapest and most obvious methods are effective. Showing scantily clad women draped over a male artist gives viewers something to look at while envying the artist who has a fake entourage of lovely followers. Over recent years, this method has become used further and further in a more provocative and degrading matter. Consequently, the American public now accepts these images as standard. The film brings its thesis full circle near the end of the film, where the director exposes how people have begun to integrate these images into reality, manifesting themselves in public raping and increased assault of women.

The film directly relates to the course readings because it confirms many of the issues we have discussed throughout the semester. The documentary shows that advertisers and music producers in a very uncreative manner use women as objects to sell products. A specific motif that the film pointed out was the use of multiple women around one man in music videos. This is most prominent in rap videos but showed itself in rock and country videos as well. A young boy was even shown in a music video surrounded by adult women fawning over him. The music video industry portrays women as desperate sex-hungry beasts who will all worship one man in a harem-style crowd for the chance of getting noticed or receiving affection.

The documentary also exposes the idea of the passive, submissive women that we discussed in depth in class. Women, in the music videos of both male and female artists, are depicted as helpless, lifeless, passive, submissive sex objects. The documentary showed a montage of women in lying on beds, either fantasizing about men or agonizing over a lost love. Women, according to music videos, are in a half-robotic, half-dead state of limbo, waiting for a man to come sexually service her or love her.

Another disturbing aspect of this film was its very thorough exposure of violence in the mainstream media through music videos. Women in music videos are often bound, raped, or otherwise violently assaulted and our society is taught to accept these images as normal. The documentary featured a particularly disturbing Limp Bizkit video in which a woman was bound to a chair and the singer screamed expletives in her face.

I thought the production of the film was raw and slightly disturbing. However, I feel that it takes a message this powerful in order to get the attention of the people who normally accept these standards in popular culture. The artistry in the film is presented in just the way it should. I think it’s very important for the public to be exposed to these images and understand the effect that they have on people’s lives. The people producing the film obviously understand the body image consequences for women. Additionally, these images in the media have shaped the minds of young men in a negative way. Overall I enjoyed the film very much and believe that although it was difficult to watch, more people should be exposed to it.

Yaisa – I found this study guide for the documentary online – haven’t gotten a chance to read it yet but thought perhaps you’d like to use it for future classes.

http://www.mediaed.org/assets/products/223/studyguide_223.pdf

Blog 10 – Beauty Soundtrack

2009-12-15T12:19:00.001-08:00

http://www.playlist.com/playlist/18571799819

Playlist Soundtrack:

“Unpretty” by TLC
“Open Fire” by Silverchair
“Imperfection” by Saving Jane
“Hands” by Jewel
“More Beautiful “You” by Johnny Diaz
“I’m not my Hair” by India Arie
“Video” by India Arie
“Can’t Hold us Down” by Christina Aguilera

I chose these songs for my playlist because they highlight several issues that we have encountered in this class. The opening track, “Unpretty” by TLC, is a generalized song about beauty and self-acceptance. The song says that you can change everything about yourself through makeup or surgery, but you’re still going to feel “unpretty” unless you look inside yourself to develop a personalized identity. This song places the responsibility on women to examine and reflect on their implicit beauty.

A more specific song, “Open Fire” by Silverchair, deals with eating disorders. This song is also called “Ana’s Song” and the lead singer of the group wrote it about battling his anorexia. Some of the lyrics say “

Imagine a pageant
In my head the flesh seems thicker
Sandpaper tears corrode the filth
And I need you now somehow

And you're my obsession
I love you to the bones
And ana wrecks your life”

Thus, while this song does not promote healthy body image, it examines the devastating mental aspects of eating disorders.

The two India Arie songs promote healthy body image. India Arie is definitely a body outlaw and never apologizes for her artistic expression and individuality. I love her music because it increases my body confidence by witnessing hers.

The final song, “Can’t Hold us Down” by Christina Aguilera is controversial to some. Christina Aguilera is often viewed as a consumerized sex object that uses her naked body to sell albums. However, in this song Aguilera claims that her public promiscuity is actually a representation of power and freedom. While I disagree the excessive décolletage symbolizes empowerment, I do believe that women have the choice to do what they want, when they want, how they want with their bodies. The lyrics of this song go beyond body image as well and explore double standards in female sexuality.

The rest of the songs on the playlist are good songs that talk about issues such as body image, beauty, and individuality. My taste in music has evolved over the years as I have become more aware of how the media and profit-driven record companies market and exploit artists. Thus, I have aimed to focus my musical interests more on purely artistic interest rather than commercialized drivel.

Blog 9 – Gender and Pop Culture

2009-11-29T15:10:00.001-08:00

Popular culture has definitely influenced how I feel about the relationships between men and women. I am lucky to have family members who have always educated me on women’s issues. My grandmother, Nana, in particular has always sparked an interest in me in feminism and understanding women’s roles in contemporary society. Levy’s piece, "Female Chauvinist Pigs” points out many important issues that are shaping today’s popular culture.

Levy’s thesis points out that raunch culture has changed the definition of the female gender.

“Sexiness is no longer just about being arousing or alluring, it’s about being worthwhile… Proving that you are hot, worthy of lust, and – necessarily – that you seek to provoke lust is still exclusively women’s work.”

While most people contend that today women are “empowered,” when in fact it is a new version of gender oppression. Pretending to be a stripper only pressures women even further than before. Now women must not only act sexy, they must also act like they want to be looked at, groped, and possibly even sexually assaulted; that is the definition of sexy.

Levy discusses several popular examples of how raunch culture has transformed our ideals of idols into female chauvinist pigs. The first example of the “Girls Gone Wild” phenomenon. Girls who participated in the videos admitted that what they were doing felt like a “reflex.” These young women, some studying for their PhD’s, felt that it was an impulse, a compulsory reaction, rather than the choice of empowered females. Levy shared instances of women literally surrounded by crowds of men who patronized and harassed women until they reluctantly bared all for a camera crew.

I find this issue of popular voyeurism very interesting and also dangerous. While celebrities (or unknowns such as Paris Hilton, who became a celebrity through porn) may profit from sexual exploitation, women of today do not. The everyday women have now been taught that identity is dependent not on their sense of happiness or pleasure, but rather the illusion of pleasure.

Popular culture has influenced how I think about race and class in many ways. Race is something that is still depicted unfairly in the media. Women of color are all too often still shown as ravenous jungle beasts or are even displayed as actual animals.

On the other hand, black men are still usually displayed as low-class gangsters. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2003836145_blackmen15.html

Popular culture also over-glamorizes images of richness and excess. These things are also associated with shameless exploitation of women.

When I hear the word feminist, I identify myself. I used to think that “feminist” was a bad word in middle school. I didn’t know what it meant or what it meant for women. Often I thought of ugly, fat, or bitter women. Later, I learned that these labels are exactly what “haters” of feminism want us to think. In order to prevent women from joining together to promote equal rights for women, they accuse feminists of being ugly or lesbians. This is enough to make many women back down from their ambitions. This video that we watched in class was a wonderful promotion of feminism. However, the comments that are shown below it show the exact problem with people today. I hope that people will take the time to read the comments and help to change the public image of feminism.

Media Analysis

2009-11-29T14:54:00.001-08:00

Offensive Ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB2MDYzx5OY t

This advertisement is for the Carl’s Jr. Teriyaki Burger. The advertisement is trying to sell the burger through the sex appeal of a reality TV star. As I will outline below, the advertisement implies that women are pieces of meat, just like their Teriyaki Burgers. The advertisement targets the middle and lower class populations; the people who are most likely to watch reality TV and eat at Carl’s Jr. I will also discuss how this commercial impacts society’s view of age and beauty.

I chose this commercial as the offensive advertisement because despite how short it is, it actually brings up several complex points. The commercial opens with a shot of the butt of a famous reality TV star. Carl's Jr. is a repeat offender in this field. They also used Paris Hilton as the spokesperson for one of their commercials, shown provocatively washing a car while eating a cheeseburger. Using "marketed" celebrities, i.e. reality TV stars, is the first step in making the commercial. Reality TV is most often watched by the middle and working classes. These are consequently also the people most likely to eat at Carl's Jr. Thus, it makes sense that the creators of this commercials would seek out a recognizable TV icon.

This advertisement does not offend me as much as it baffles me. Firstly, the commercial is selling a completely false image of reality. I can safely assume that the only time Audrina Partidge has eaten a Carl's Jr. Burger is during the filming of this commercial. In addition to the evidence of her super-skinny physique, on her shows "Laguna Beach" and "The Hills", she lives a lavish lifestyle, never stepping foot into a fast food establishment. This imagery of her lying on a beach eating Carls Jr. encourages the lay person to associate sexiness and elitism with fast food. Audrina opens the commercial by saying, "To look this hot in a bikini, I have to give up, like, everything." Her opening line aptly perpetuates her professional image of bikini bimbo. In order for women to be considered attractive and wanted in society, they must give up "everything." The hungriest, most passive, most society-created beautiful woman receives the most attention and love. As she delivers her line, the camera first pans over her butt, then follows the silhouette of her body up and down as she applies baby oil on the beach. She then says "But there's no way I'm giving up my Teriyaki Burger; I'm obsessed." Like a ravenous sex beast, she then writhes on her towel while taking oversized bites of the hamburger. She then playfully says "I have to be a little bad. I call it my bikini burger." This commercial in the most vapid way possible associates sex appeal with their product while at the same time limiting the accepted image of female beauty. Naomi Wolf identifies this in The Beauty Myth; “a cultural fixation on female thinness is not an obsession with female beauty but an obsession about female obedience” (Wolf 187). A male narrator then takes over; "The Carl's Jr. Teriyaki Burger with Grilled Pineapple." The phrase "More than a piece of meat" then pops up on the screen. I am surprised that this commercial is even considered acceptable programming on public television. This advertisement sends the message that women must continue to uphold impossible beauty standards. While maintaining the "perfect bikini body", women must also be "naughty" enough to eat a burger every now and then. Wolf discusses the One Stone solution in her book, noting that fifty percent of women feel that their ideal body is always about fourteen pounds away. Wolf explains that this is a programmed ideology to oppress female confidence. Wolf explains that “the proof that the One Stone Solution is political lies in what women feel when they eat “too much”: guilt. Why should guilt be the operative emotion, and female fat be a moral issue articulated with words like good or bad?” (Wolf 186). Carl’s Jr. uses this concept of guilt to sell their product. Audrina says “I have to be a little bad”, implying that women should simultaneously eat this burger, feel guilty about it, and somehow attain the ideal bikini body through it all. Anyone can understand that this is a physically impossible goal.

Nutritionally speaking, it is interesting to note that this burger has 610 calories (www.carlsjr.com). It would take a 140 pound woman 60 minutes of running at 6mph (a 10-minute mile) in order to burn off this burger. A woman would have to run 6 miles to burn off the Teriyaki Burger! Clearly, this is not what happens with most Americans. This commercial defies physical logic and encourages disordered eating. The only way a normal woman could eat a Teriyaki Burger and not gain weight without excessive exercise is throwing it up.

This commercial speaks volumes about what society wants out of women. Women are supposed to be young, very very thin, Caucasian but tan, blonde, covered in a mask of makeup, and dressed in as little as possible, preferably layered in oil. This is a very unhealthy image to send to the public; men and women alike. Women continue to be used as objects in commercials to sell virtually any product. Female sexuality should not be used as a means to sell products. Not only does it degrade women, it also teaches young people how little our society values women. After analyzing this commercial, I contacted Carl’s Jr. and shared my opinions on their advertising methods. It is my hope that the public will speak up about offensive media.

· Positive Ads

o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8Mn6g7bC4c

o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUsKIApTewQ

These advertisements are from the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. The two advertisements address young girls, who are receiving the most damaging information about body image. They are the first generation of women to really suffer the full effects of sexualized, negative, relentless beauty advertising. In earlier generations, girls could rely on their mothers who remembered a time before this was the societal norm. Now, these images are so engrained into our culture that young girls may have never experienced a positive body image in the media. These advertisements recognize the damage that beauty advertising is doing and is making a public statement that we need a cultural change.

These two videos show the public the damage that beauty advertisements have on young girls. Beauty ads often aim to sell products to teenagers and young women, but children see those advertisements too and are affected. Today, we see girls concerned with their body image at younger and younger ages. As a person who developed body image issues at as young as age 4, I have increasing concern about children today who are even more exposed than I was. Empowered Parents cites that “A U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services task force reports that 80% of girls in grades 3 - 6 have bad feelings about their bodies” (www.empoweredparents.com). Obviously something in our society is to blame for this increasing problem. Scientific studies have begun being conducted in order to examine the relationship between weight, self-esteem, and cognitive ability in young girls. A particular study by Kirsten Krahnstoever Davison, MS and Leann Lipps Birch, PhD examines “Weight Status, Parent Reaction, and Self-Concept in Five-Year-Old Girls” (Krahnstoever and Birch). The study results showed that girls in higher weight percentiles had lower self-esteem as well as lower perceived cognitive ability. That is, girls suffering from lower self-esteem also considered themselves less mentally able, associating their weight with their mental ability. Additionally, the study showed that mothers who show high concern for their children’s weight or restrict a children’s food intake was associated with lower self-esteem in those children. This study shows that while parents have concern for their children being overweight, they are going about it the wrong way and perpetuating the beauty myth. It only furthers the problem that children are exposed constantly to negative female body imagery, which in reality is often the photoshopped work of a computer programmer.

The advertisements target young women and also target adults. They target adults showing a typical young girl who could be their daughter or little sister. They encourage adults to stand up for girls before their confidence is shattered beyond repair. I believe that advertisers definitely have a responsibility to children. Thus, I cannot help but bring up another product manufactured by Unilever. While the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty makes wonderful strides to help young girls, another one of their products, Axe, constantly degrades women.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9tWZB7OUSU This advertisement portrays hundreds of women in their bikinis, running like ravenous sex beasts toward one man who is spraying himself with Axe cologne. This video displays super-skinny, heavily made-up, skimpily dressed women all chasing after one man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgfzdgWgEZ4 Here is another video from Axe, this time showing a man who uses their Dark Temptations body spray turning into a chocolate man, which predictably attracts scores of sexy women. Once again, women are depicted as desperate sex fiends who will do anything for a man, or in this case a chocolate man.

In conclusion, while I applaud Dove for encouraging a positive body image for young women. However, the Unilever organization is still acting hypocritically through its advertising for Axe Body Spray. Surely there are other ways to promote male hygiene and cologne without shamelessly using female bodies to sell their products.

Blog 8

2009-11-15T15:03:00.001-08:00

Does the end of The Beauty Myth give you closure? Compare and contrast Wolf and Valenti. What are some common themes? What has changed? From this week’s readying, which essay was most interesting from the Body Outlaws? Why?

The conclusion of Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth, “Beyond the Beauty Myth” provides closure and pushes readers to pursue an active role in the feminist third wave movement. Wolf encourages women to drop the internal battle; “’Which will I be, sexual or serious?’ We must reject that false and forced dilemma” (Wolf 273). This quote reminded me of “Legally Blonde: The Musical".” Based on the film and one of my favorite musicals, it follows the journey of Elle, who thinks she must become ugly and “serious” to win the love of her ex-boyfriend Warner. The song “Serious” shows Elle’s predicament.

The musical points out that women are way too often forced to choose between beauty and being taken seriously. Wolf addresses this issue, pointing out that “the real problem is our lack of choice” (Wolf 272). Women should have “permission – to eat; to be sexual; to age… [to] masquerade, a voluntary theatricality that emerges from abundant self-love” (290).

Wolf’s conclusion helped reconcile her verbose narrative with some tangible solutions for combating the Beauty Myth. I particularly enjoyed her reinterpretation of beauty “that is noncompetitive, nonhierarchical, and nonviolent” (Wolf 286). When women stop seeing each other as adversaries and begin to unite as teammates working for the same cause, many of the beauty myth’s core ideals would crumble. The beauty myth depends on women feeling bad about themselves and competing with other women, thus discouraging open discussion amongst women about their true feelings about self-worth and body image. The isolation emphasized by the beauty myth prevents women from ever escaping the rut of self-hatred. By convening with other women and discussing their body image issues in a safe environment, the product is friendship, understanding, and therapeutic movement toward a healthy mentality.

Furthermore, as women begin to rely on each other for support and truth in this process, they should celebrate natural femininity according to Wolf. Women should celebrate the events that make them naturally female; “what about purification, confirmation, healing and renewal ceremonies for childbirth, first menstruation, loss of virginity, graduation, first job, marriage, recovery from heartbreak or divorce, the earning of a degree, menopause?” (Wolf 279). As I developed as a woman, I feel I would have immensely benefited from being praised for things such as first menstruation or loss of virginity; these events inevitably define a woman and yet society casts them as states of shame and secrecy. Most young girls are ashamed of their period and try to hide it from others. Losing virginity runs the risk of facing ridicule from peers and being labeled as a “slut” when in fact sex is a perfectly natural human act. If woman received love, respect, and honor when enduring the challenges of marriage, divorce, or menopause, the mental health status of women would majorly increase. Women, with the collective support of other women, need this validation and love.

I feel extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to read this book. I truly believe it has changed my mind for the better and has opened my eyes to the incredible significance of the beauty myth beyond myself; I now look at issues with a global political perspective in mind.

Jessica Valenti’s “Beauty Cult” drives home the issue that Wolf brings in a concise, slightly less academic manner. Nonetheless, Valenti delivers many of the messages of The Beauty Myth in just a few pages. Rather than labeling it the beauty myth, Valenti uses the word beauty cult, which perhaps more accurately describes the phenomenon. While Wolf explains that the beauty myth is driven by profit and politics, Valenti blames “a gross sexist purpose” (Valenti 199). Valenti brings up a crucial point of understanding the beauty myth/cult that Wolf explains as well; IT IS A DISTRACTION. Valenti hit the nail on the head; “it’s important to remember why some folks need us to feel ugly. It serves a specific purpose: to make us spend, to distract us, and to ultimately make us disappear” (Valenti 209). Women are subjected to the beauty myth/cult in order to distract them from important things, such as self-acceptance, equal pay for equal work, sexual protection rights, and reproductive rights. The beauty myth/cult relies on tying women up in their own inadequacies so that they forget that a happy life does not depend on meeting a profit-driven impossible standard; it depends on living, and doing it happily.

Valenti also brings up her own version of Wolf’s “PBQ” by bluntly saying “If you’re a younger woman, no matter how much work you do, someone is always going to claim that your success is due to the way you look or your general fuckability” (Valenti 202). While a bit abrasive, this statement is definitely true. I have been approached by many people who, when finding out I am pursuing a career as a doctor, suddenly have a puzzled look on their faces. They ask me why I would want to go through all of the work to become a doctor when “I don’t have to”; apparently, I am pretty enough to do the work to become a nurse and then marry a doctor. I was even told by an advisor freshman year that I did not seem like I had the “capability” to be a doctor and that I would be “less stressed and happier” as a nurse. Does that mean I would be more attractive if I had less stress and more time to spend on a beauty regimen? Family friends have found out I am going to be a doctor and have explained “Wow, and you’re so pretty!” What does that mean?!?! Valenti calls this the struggle between “the shut-up-you-ugly-bitch line of argument… or the you’re-too-pretty-to-be-smart argument” (Valenti 203). I feel like I have definitely fallen prey to this and sadly find myself doing it to others. I have to stop myself when I see a beautiful doctor, lawyer, or businesswoman and consciously remember to reject these horrible standards and stereotypes that have been set to make women fail.

Ultimately, Wolf and Valenti are pushing the same message. Sadly, this means that between the 1980s and the present, little has been done to combat the beauty myth. I believe that there is still so much work to be done and I hope to do so in my professional life as a physician and my personal life as a political feminist.

The most interesting essay from this week’s reading in Body Outlaws was the essay by Kate Dillon, “Sizing myself up: tales of a plus-size model” (Dillon 232). I was interested that in the third paragraph of her essay, she explained her initial motivation (or thinspiration as many anorexics call it) for developing an eating disorder; “completely disregarding the fat that the anorexic girl died at the end of the movie, I thought, I’ll stop eating and be anorexic, too. I’ll get cute and skinny, and everyone will like me” (Dillon 232). Sadly, she is correct. This is how many diets and eating disorders get out of control. Society encourages eating disorders by praising women for every pound lost, even if they begin to look a emaciated. We reinforce the ideal for eating disorder chic through actresses and models; “at five-eleven and 125 pounds, I was ordered to lose ten or twenty pounds” (Dillon 234). I enjoyed this essay because Dillon was able to find the strength to return to herself and learn about what makes her happy in her own skin. She also returned to the same industry which had caused her so much anguish and showed them her strength. One particular comment Dillon made touched me emotionally; “I go from being ‘pretty for a bigger girl’ to just pretty” (Dillon 238). This almost brought me to tears. I was reinforced my entire life that prettiness equals thinness. That although you may have a beautiful face, unless you are thin, it counts for nothing. Conversely, people with less than perfect faces and but the perfect body often get more praise and respect in the community than the opposite. Women must stop thinking of themselves as “fat with a pretty face” or make comments to children such as “she would be so beautiful if she was a little thinner.” I know that I endured that and I watched my older sister endure it. It is so emotionally and mentally damaging, yet society accepts it. Women are beautiful and that fact should be non-negotiable.

Blog 7 – Culture of Thinness

2009-10-25T09:14:00.001-07:00

Note: I apologize that this blog is late. I got really behind on school due to my hand injury and am still catching up on all of my classes. All future assignments will be prompt!

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an eating disorder:

Main Entry: eating disorder: any of several psychological disorders (as anorexia nervosa or bulimia) characterized by serious disturbances of eating behavior. (http://www.m-w.com).

I agree with this definition. An eating disorder is definitely a psychological disorder, not simply an attempt to lose weight. It is also a serious disturbance in eating behavior. Individuals deviate severely from healthy eating habits.

The media has influenced society’s perception of beauty immensely over time. The first glamorized view of emaciation came with the model Twiggy in the 1960s.

Twiggy was the first true super-skinny supermodel, thus making being underweight the newest fashion trend. Her photos also glamorize the child-like look in fashion. The 1960s also featured a boom in the dieting industry for the first time in popular culture. Woman began to feel pressure from the fashion industry and from advertisements in women’s magazines.

The fashion industry and dieting ads evolved over time to suit society’s beauty ideals. Sadly, over time the ideal became thinner and thinner. The media continued to portray impossible ideals of beauty.

One popular diet drug was “Phen-Fen”, a very dangerous drug combining two amphetamines. The following video shares some of the dangers of Phen-Fen including cardiovascular and brain damage.

I believe that education about the dangers of eating disorders is an essential step in solving the problem. However, I think that the first essential step in cultural change is teaching people that an eating disorder is an actual psychological disorder. It is not a vain attempt to conform to society’s ideals. While women may initially begin dieting and exercising in excess to lose weight or look like a celebrity, a certain percentage of women will undergo physiological and psychological changes in the brain that fuel an eating disorder. The media has made some attempts to combat the super skinny model, but we still need to do more. This clip from CNN questions how the fashion industry is affecting young women who are models and those who look up to them.

Addiction is certainly an appropriate word to use when describing America’s diet cult. Ironically, the majority of Americans are overweight. As one of the richest nation’s in the world, we have abundant surplus food and endless low cost, high calorie food options in drive-thru fast food restaurants. America is caught in a struggle between the pleasures of eating rich food and the shame of trying to conform to an impossible beauty ideal. Part of the reason that dieting can turn into an eating disorder is the neurological changes that occur in the brain as a result of starvation. The changes in the brain are similar to those that happen when an individual becomes addicted to a drug such as cocaine or heroine. This article (extracted from a blog which cited Scientific American) explains this phenomenon.

Addicted to Starvation

In order for society to reintegrate and embrace healthiness and moderation, the media and fashion industry must undergo a major upheaval. Instead of focusing on extremes, we need to focus on healthy and normal. Shows such as “The Biggest Loser”, “Diet Tribe”, and “Extreme Makeover” encourage people to think in all-or-nothing terms about weight and beauty. The shows dictate that people must either be shockingly thin or disgustingly obese; those who are obese are rejects of society. Rather than rewarding weight anomalies, society should promote the median BMI range, the weight range healthiest to sustain a long life. I am hopeful for society but believe the transition to health will require sacrifice of major profits from the fashion and media industries.

Blog 6

2009-10-24T22:34:00.001-07:00

Note: I apologize that this blog is late. I got really behind on school due to my hand injury and am still catching up on all of my classes. All future assignments will be prompt!

Blog 6: Beauty as Commodity, Woman as Consumer and Product

Plastic surgery was initially a corrective procedure for men who had suffered from war injuries or industrial accidents (Gimlin 106). Plastic surgery was not a popular profession and phenomenon; it was a necessary medical field to restore the original identity of individuals. Today, plastic surgery has evolved; rather than restoring individuals to their natural-born physical form, it alters appearance into something new. It is interesting how plastic surgery has shifted in its patient focus. Several factors contribute to this change. Firstly, while soldiers continue to fight in battles and sustain injuries, war technology has majorly improved to help minimize physical damage in combat.

Plastic surgery shifted to women as its recipients due to societal pressures and the realization by men that doctors can capitalize on women’s insecurities. Similar to the boom in the dieting and exercise industries, plastic surgery also skyrocketed. While dieting and exercise can improve the body, certain physical elements cannot reshape, no matter the amount of exercise. In the introduction to her piece, Gimlin interviews a woman, Jennifer, who opted to have liposuction on her lower thighs after exhausting attempts to reshape her legs through diet and exercise. This example shows how plastic surgery can draw in patients; unlike exercise, it can change your genetic “flaws,” (in Jennifer’s case, by actually removing fat cells which otherwise would only shrink in size with exercise). The prospect of actually attaining the perfected ideals of beauty is very hard to resist for people who have strived hard to look a certain way. Thusly, the plastic surgery industry has increased exponentially as the demand for ideal beauty continues to pressure women.

I have mixed feelings on plastic surgery. I was exposed to plastic surgery in early adolescence, around the time of the boom in plastic surgery reality shows such as “Extreme Makeover” and “The Swan.” I watched “Extreme Makeover” every week, in which a “lucky” woman was chosen to have a complete body makeover, including body and facial plastic surgery, dieting, makeup, wardrobe and haircolor. The woman was then “revealed” to her spouse, family, and friends in an unveiling ceremony. In retrospect, the premise of this show seems very disturbing to me. At the time, I thought the show was great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzS2RcVh040

This clip of the show exemplifies exactly how much these people underwent when having an “extreme makeover.” Although this particular clip incorporates some psychology by means of Dr. Phil, I believe that this show majorly skewed the meaning and purpose of plastic surgery to the typical American. It also portrayed having plastic surgery as something that women need to be beautiful. Additionally, the show had a condescending narration throughout, saying things like “she has earned” and then going on to list over ten surgical procedures to be done. While an individual with one specific body concern may desire a procedure, this show implicated that women should undergo many procedures to the extent of looking like a completely different person. The show also pans across the individual before surgery, highlighting flaws and how they will be fixed. Robotic sound effects and zooming in and out on specific parts of the body makes the patient seem like a “commodity, not unlike a ‘car, refrigerator, a house, which can be continuously upgraded and modified in accordance with new interests and greater resources’” (Gimlin 106). While the show had a handful of male participants, for the most part it majorly objectified women and encouraged the use of an excessive and dangerous amount of surgeries to achieve beauty ideals.

I believe that shows like this do influence people to take plastic surgery too lightly. Another show, “Dr. 90210” focuses on a California plastic surgeon and his patients. By infusing the media with plastic surgery as an acceptable and casual activity like dieting and exercising have become in our society. As I said earlier, I have mixed feelings about plastic surgery. Certainly some people may have shallow motives for changing their looks. However, I think that the majority of people who elect to get plastic surgery have underlying psychological motivations for doing so or simply want to amend a particular feature that bothers them. For the latter, I believe that plastic surgery can be healthy and safe. For a woman who has lost a considerable amount of weight and suffers from excess skin, having the skin removed would allow her to enjoy her new healthy weight. For a mother who has stretched her skin out considerably due to childbearing, I believe it can be a positive step to have the extra skin removed. In both of these instances, the patients are electing to have surgery to remove an unnatural part of their otherwise healthy bodies. On the other hand, some people have psychological reasons that can have devastating outcomes. Women with a negative body image may look to plastic surgery after all other attempts to change their appearance have failed. Some women have suffered from abuse and like many who develop eating disorders after traumatic events may seek plastic surgery as a means of restoring control over one’s body and looks. As described by Dr. Norris, some women may want plastic surgery to please someone else. This type of motivation for plastic surgery is unhealthy and dangerous.

The decision to have plastic surgery certainly depends on the context and varies among patients. I think that criticizing plastic surgery itself is wrong. However, I do believe there is plenty of room in society to examine and question current views on plastic surgery and why it is being performed more and more. As part of the third wave, I think it is critical to conduct more research on why women choose to have plastic surgery and how plastic surgery patients correlate with eating disordered women or those with negative body image. I also think it would be interesting to see research conducted to find a correlation between women who have suffered abuse and those who undergo plastic surgery. Like all body image phenomena, plastic surgery is a very complicated issue. As a future healthcare provider, I find the issue fascinating on both cultural and medical levels. I think that seeking to understand why women get plastic surgery, and then educating young women on body image could help to curb the problem in the future to some extent. However, society needs a cultural wakeup in order to change minds about plastic surgery and further understand the many factors that go into making this type of decision.

Paper 1

2009-10-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

Note: Formatting changes, such as italics for names of books or magazines, may not have transferred over to the blog format. Such changes are evident in the dropbox submission of the paper.

Prompt 4: Stereotypes

Stereotypes affect people in a variety of ways, especially women. Within the scope of the American beauty myth, women suffer the most from stereotypes. Dictionaries define the word stereotype in a number of ways. One definition of stereotype is a verb; “to repeat without variation” (Merriam-Webster Online). Another definition goes into more detail, stating that a stereotype is a “simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group” (Dictionary.com). The most accurate and relevant definition as pertains to the beauty myth though, is “to give a fixed form to; a conventional formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image” (Dictionary.com). This definition pinpoints the most significant thing to remember about stereotypes regarding the beauty myth; they are formulaic. Stereotypes of female beauty are the products of a male-driven industry. Enforcers of the beauty myth implemented the stereotypes in the first place for two reasons; profit and more importantly the oppression of women via the destruction of positive self image.

The media and society stereotype people into categories primarily based on appearance. Women are the primary targets of cultural stereotyping. In The Beauty Myth¸ Naomi Wolf asserts that “as women demanded access to power, the power structure used the beauty myth materially to undermine women’s advancement” (Wolf 20). This statement is powerful and disturbingly true. As women ventured out of their homes and into the workforce, society attempted to find an alternative way to control them. Men feared the power (and possible intellectual capability and superiority) of women and thusly reinforced the beauty myth in the workplace. Sadly, women then became entangled in a constant battle of choosing to adhere to the stereotypes of either beauty or industriousness, neither of which would gain them any respect in the workforce. Wolf poignantly describes the plight of women:
The most emblematic working women in the West could be visible if they were “beautiful,” even if they were bad at their work; they could be good at their work and “beautiful” and therefore visible, but get no credit for merit; or they could be good and “unbeautiful” and therefore invisible, so their merit did them no good (Wolf 36). According to these culturally accepted stereotypes, women had to lose either way.

These stereotypes of women certainly hold true in today’s society. Personally, I have felt pressure to conform to stereotypes while growing up and now in my adult life. Specifically in my childhood, I misunderstood the false connections between intelligence, beauty, and body image. I consequently struggled with eating disorders and low self-esteem throughout my childhood and adolescence in an attempt to fill the void of self-acceptance of my own beauty and brains. The enforcement of the beauty myth and establishment of weight standards by society and the media are as Wolf describes “not an obsession about female beauty but an obsession about female obedience” (Wolf 187). While most of my experiences with criticism occurred in childhood, they carry through to adulthood. I wholeheartedly agree with this assumption and will explain how it fits into my story.

My training in the beauty myth began very early in life. The household I grew up in was very tense to say the least. My father, an overly stressed and domineering businessman, taught his daughters (there are now three of us, but only my older sister and myself at the time), that there is an inversely proportional relationship between value and weight. In retrospect, he is clearly the product of a man threatened by the power of women. While I was in no way a fat child, I grew up believing that I was the largest kid to ever walk the earth. Looking back on family photos, I now realize the extent of my inaccurate body image. My mother, my sisters, and I were the constant targets of ridicule and criticism based on food we ate or how we looked. I remember hiding under the staircase to eat, guilty and ashamed to be seen consuming anything in front of my father. Before I ever celebrated my tenth birthday, I learned several lessons from my father; fatness is equal to worthlessness, fat people are unwanted in the world (especially by the opposite sex), and I was a fat person. I soon developed physical nausea when placed in a situation where I had to eat in front of him. Prior to puberty, I had already learned that I must adhere to the stereotypes enforced by men in order to have a place in the world and ultimately a partner in life; certainly I could not hope to accomplish success or happiness independently.

In adolescence, I was taught that my body weight literally determined my value. The stereotype that thinness equals success guided my life during this time. My dad often spoke to my sister and me condescendingly, offering actual monetary compensation for every pound loss or the promise of a fancy car upon achieving ideal thinness. He once shouted that my sister and I should learn to throw up by sticking toothbrushes or bananas down our throats or we would never find boyfriends. Consequently I developed an eating disorder in high school. I would ritualistically eat the few calories I allowed in a day while overcompensating with exercise after school. I often subjected myself to ridiculous fasts in which I was rewarded with one day of binging with my boyfriend at the time, Andrew, who had little idea that the problem existed. Ironically, while I was starving and exercising, binging and purging, to fulfill a stereotype that I believed was necessary in order to be considered attractive, Andrew, my best friend to this day stood by, confused by my changing appearance. When I encountered the positive lifestyle of independent living in college, I grew to know myself and slowly healed my body and mind.

The pressure to conform to the stereotype of a valued, thin, beauty permanently damaged my self-esteem and body image. There is no reward to a child being subjected to damaging criticism from a young age. I feel that the consequences to my identity as an individual and in the public eye have affected me severely. Upon reflection, the only reward I have discovered is anger. I do not mean anger in a negative, violent, or counterproductive sense. I define the anger to this life experience as a motivation to reclaim my life. I use the anger inspired by the years of mental abuse to refuse to let others define my beauty or my intelligence; I know that I am beautiful in my own right. In reading about the origin of the beauty myth and the efforts to keep women out of positions of power, everything began to make sense. Finally, I fuel my anger in order to advocate self-esteem and awareness for other women. Part of my motivation in becoming a doctor (most likely an obstetrician and gynecologist) involves reaching out to women who have suffered in a similar way that I have and impacting their lives in a positive way. I feel that part of my purpose in life is to share my story with others and hopefully help women overcome the beauty and weight stereotypes.

Works Cited

"Stereotype." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009. Merriam-Webster Online. 30 September 2009.

“Stereotype.” Dictionary.com. 30 September 2009.

Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. 2002. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Prompt 7: Magazines

Contemporary magazines send women many messages, varied in validity and content. In analyzing several magazines, two major themes predominated; beauty and sex. Most of the magazines had headlines concerned with beautification or thinness, and the others advertised ways for women to please men. In Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth, she discusses the origins of misdirected magazine content as a means to reinforce the beauty myth. Wolf explains that the reincarnation of the feminist movement in the 1960s motivated magazines to begin profiting from making women insecure. They took advantage of women by picking apart their bodies and maliciously knew “[women] will buy more things if they are kept in a self-hating, ever-failing, hungry, and sexually insecure state of being aspiring ‘beauties’” (Wolf 66). While analyzing Cosmopolitan, Self, In Style, Better Homes and Gardens, and Women’s Health, I discovered that the points Wolf argues are disturbingly true. Indeed, “[they] tell women what men truly want, what faces and bodies provoke men’s fickle attentions… [women] are misinformed through advertising” (Wolf 73). Women today can learn the potentially damaging effects of the magazines they read by looking more deeply into the way in which they approach beauty and sex.

Beauty and how to try to achieve it were hot topics in all of the magazines I encountered. In Style magazine promotes fashion trends and offers fashion advice to women. In one advertisement, Gap jeans promoted the various styles for women and men. The men’s jeans had typical names; standard, loose, boot, authentic, and skinny (although they were still quite baggy). The women’s jeans had different names; always skinny, curvy, boyfriend, long and lean, real straight, sexy boot, and perfect boot (In Style). The women’s jeans all had names with adjectives, somehow labeling women based on the jeans they wear. They also used extreme words such as always, perfect, and sexy, alluding to the effects the pants may have on women’s identity. The men’s jeans, on the other hand, seemed a minimal part of the male identity. Women must be perfect, skinny, or sexy in order to fit into societal ideals of fashionable beauty.

Self magazine also had several beauty promises. Its headlines included “Skin so Gorgeous you can skip makeup” while adorning almost every page of the magazine with advertisements for makeup and beauty products. This particular issue featured Kelly Clarkson, winner of American Idol and popular singer, on the cover with the headline “Kelly Clarkson – Stay true to you and everyone else will love you, too!” (Self) This seemed like an excellent headline to promote natural beauty and self-acceptance until I learned that her body had been drastically whittled down through photo retouching (Jezebel.com). Ironically, while the magazine included an interview with Clarkson about positive body image and acceptance, they also sent out the message that she can only say these things if she has been electronically “thinned.”
Cosmopolitan had several beauty advertisements as well that correlated with similar headlines in Women’s Health. Cosmopolitan boasted they had found the “26 best beauty products” while Women’s Health packaged the same idea slightly differently; “24 skincare products that derms [dermatologists] use at home” (Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health). This magazine attempted to validate the effectiveness of the beauty products that companies pay them to advertise by putting a vague promise of doctors using the products at home. Better Homes and Gardens, targeted at middle-aged women, had several false beauty promises. One headline read “Erase your flaws, flaunt your style” (Better Homes and Gardens 143). An advertisement bluntly touted “Got Turkey Neck? Get SriVectin.” Wolf explains that while thousands of beauty products exist, none of them can ever actually permanently repair wrinkles or make the skin permanently more radiant. She cites Professor Albert Klingman, who asserts “’it’s pure bunkum… beyond the bounds of reason and truth… it is physically impossible for [beauty products] to get deep enough into skin to make any lasting difference to wrinkles’” (Wolf 111). Throughout health, fitness, and magazines targeted toward aging women, the beauty was constantly reinforced to what seemed a criminal degree.

Magazines’ instructions on the ideal woman’s sexual behavior were also disturbing. Women’s Health advertised on its cover “17 Super Hot Sex Secrets” (Women’s Health). The article outlined ways that a woman can include her breasts in sexual activity. On the positive side, the piece encouraged women to accept their breasts as they are naturally and feel confident enjoying them during sex. However, in a part of the piece that asked for a male’s opinion, a man asserted “smaller breasts are associated with positive traits such as competence and intelligent” (Women's Health 104). Do women with large breasts fail to exhibit competence or intelligence? This magazine allowed that message to reach readers. In Cosmopolitan, writers perpetuated the growing cultural phenomena of sexual violence in their article “12 moves to show him your naughty side” (Cosmopolitan). Beauty sadomasochism is growing in popularity via the pornography industry and “our culture is depicting sex as rape so that men and women will become interested in it” (Wolf 138). Cosmopolitan instructs women to “Lie on the bed with your hands tied together and let him devour you… have him tie your hands with a scarf and hang them on a hook on his door… you’ll feel totally like his sex toy” (Cosmopolitan 127). Another article tells women to “handle his package… whisper that you’re doing all the work… tell him to sit back and enjoy the show…” (Cosmopolitan 129). These are extremely disturbing instructions for women seeking to please their sexual partner. Between the blatant instructions to act completely submissive in the bedroom and the complicated sex positions outlined, it is no wonder that women are often confused about how to have healthy sexual relationships with their partners. This magazine, which supposedly goes by the credo “fun, fearless, female” advocates sadomasochism and sex that is centered not on the woman’s pleasure, but on an undying effort to please the man.

In conclusion, magazines today still have an awfully long way to go before truly advocating the best interests of women. Magazines today certainly reflect Naomi Wolf’s research from The Beauty Myth. Headlines still instruct women to lose weight, buy beauty products, and engage in submissive sexual relationships. The achievement of true happiness for women cannot occur until profits do not drive female identity. The beauty and pornography industries continue to serve as multibillion dollar industries and magazines adhere to their ideals. Magazines require a major ideological upheaval in order to truly champion natural female beauty.

Works Cited

Better Homes and Gardens. 2009. Volume 87, Number 10. Des Moines, Iowa: Merideth Publishing.

Cosmopolitan. 2009. Volume 247, Number 4. New York, New York: Hearst Communications, Inc.

In Style. 2009. Volume 16, Number 10. New York, New York: Time, Inc.

Jezebel.com – Celebrity, Sex, Fashion for Women. “Kelly Clarkson slimmed down on Self via photoshop.” 2009.< http://jezebel.com/5332409/kelly-clarkson-slimmed-down-on-self-via-photoshop>.

Self. 2009. Volume 31, Number 9. New York, New York: Condé Nast Publications.

Women’s Health. 2009. Volume 6, Issue 7. Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale, Inc.

Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. 1991. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 66-178.

Blog 5 – Gender and Toys

2009-09-28T22:32:00.001-07:00

What are your thoughts on gender and toys? Conduct some research about toys. How are boys/girls toys marketed? Do toys influence the way children play? Do they influence what children will become? Explain. Give examples. What are some of your favorite childhood toys and why?

Susan Jane Gilman writes about how toys influence little girls and what they turn into as young women.

The first website I came across called “Toys for Little Boys” had a lot of examples of hyper-masculine toys.

http://www.toysforlittleboys.com/index.html

Most of the toys on this site were aimed at active play. Boys seem to be encouraged to engage in adventurous or physically active playtime. The videos below depict typical “male” toys. The first commercial set, for GI Joe, from the 1980s, uses an overly masculine narrator saying that boys should be “pumped up for the action.” Tanks, explosions, and huge guns control the scene. While the material is not gruesome, it does encourage for boys to validate their identity through violence. The solution to solving problems according to this commercial is action, not discussion. The toys are targeted for boys to engage in “tactical battle” - manning the missiles and hovercrafts.

This commercial, from 1993, uses the phrase “It’s Nerf or Nothing,” implying that young boys MUST buy a gun product to fit in. This commercial opens with the phrase “You’re either on one end of a Nerf gun or the other.” This clearly already makes a dividing line between winners and losers in the male hierarchy.

This commercial, slightly more recent, also sets a precedent for male “action” in play. In fact, the commercial says the word “action” three times in a 30-second commercial. The narrator of the commercial also almost taunts the viewer, asking if he has the skills to face the challenge. I believe this puts a lot of pressure on young boys to be the best at whatever is popular at the time, which in this case was shooting dart guns.

These male-oriented commercials (they in fact have no females in them) demonstrate what society thinks that men should become. These commercials encourage men to stare down the barrel of a gun (even if it’s a nerf gun) rather than talking about problems. The commercials polarize social groups so that boys must decide they are either on the “winning” side (violent, impulsive, in the action) or on the loser side (running away when faced with violence). This gives boys a very skewed view of reality and what they should strive to become as men.

Girls, on the other hand, are already fed the beauty myth from an early age. This first Barbie commercial (the first EVER Barbie commercial) shows an almost grotesque image of Barbie in the eyes of the modern woman.

“Barbie, you’re beautiful. You make me feel my Barbie Doll is real. Barbie’s small and so petite. Her clothes and figure look so neat. Her dancing outfit rings a bell, at parties she will cast a spell. Purses, hats, and gloves galore – all the gadgets gals adore. Someday I’m gonna be lovely like you. ‘Till then I know just what I’ll do (camera pans in on bridal Barbie). Barbie, beautiful Barbie, I’ll make believe that I am you.”

This advertisement clearly encourages young, prepubescent girls to strive to be just like Barbie – a plastic, expressionless waif whose only goal in life is to become a beautiful bride. This encourages individuals to be small, petite, “beautiful” brides. Obviously this commercial is outdated, but I was surprised to see how much advertisements really did not change to correct the beauty myth.

In this ‘60s commercial, Barbie got to graduate from being a bride to being a housewife. The commercial exclaims, “She has her OWN dressing table!” “You can arrange the furniture, and of course rearrange it, a lady’s privilege!” This commercial mockingly gives women the right to rearrange the furniture in their Barbie dream house, and no more. While this is a toy commercial, it did reflect society’s opinion at the time. This advertisement encouraged young girls to strive to perpetuate this image in adulthood. Portraying Barbie in this light encourages young girls to be housewives. This is a polar opposite of the Nerf Gun commercial, which encouraged the boys to be outdoors in the action. Barbie’s Dream house literally encourages little girls to stay confined to their home, with their only privilege being to rearrange furniture.

I found this commercial from 1983 especially disturbing. The girls in the commercial playing with Barbie encouraged her exercise while playing - “Kick, kick – keep it going Barbie!” This seemed okay at first. I would love to advocate any product which encouraged young girls to lead active, healthy lifestyles. The heartbreak of this commercial came at the end - “Great workout Barbie – where are you off to? Looking that great – it’s gotta be a date!” Once again, the pinnacle of Barbie’s existence has to do with a man. Once again, Barbie’s only goal in life is to please the male gender. And even in 1983, this is what toy manufacturers were promoting.

This 2009 commercial is finally a step in the right direction. While it encourages girls to be who they want to be, it still casts Barbie in only traditionally “nuturing” professions such as caring for animals or coaching children in gymnastics. I applaud Mattel’s effort to make Barbie more diverse, however, I think she still has room to grow. I would love to see Barbies with a more eclectic look and different interests to reflect more images for little girls. However, I wonder if there is a problem with the institution of Barbie herself. Should young girls need a role model in the form of a plastic doll? Should girls even play with dolls?

When I was a child, I admittedly owned some Barbies. I do remember wondering how Barbie could look the way she did when it seemed I had never seen anyone in real life looking that way. My favorite toys, however, were my Breyer horses. These plastic horses were great tools for the imagination. They weren’t people, so all of their stories required imagination. Other than that, I mostly played with my sisters and my pets as a child. We had three dogs when I was growing up, so I spent a lot of time outside playing. I enjoyed creative playtime activities, especially music and art. I loved to sing from an early age and continue the hobby presently. I am grateful that my mother encouraged creative development rather than basing my life on someone else’s ideal of the perfect life. She taught me to think creatively and express myself as an individual. Those lessons helped me to move past Barbie as a child and look within myself and my family for real role models.

Blog 4

2009-09-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

The pictures above are from the www.menshealth.com.

Boys are taught at an early age that they need to be “tough” to survive the social world. In kindergarten, young boys are encouraged by their teachers to play with trucks or other “masculine” toys. Parents dress their boys in blue from birth and frequently decorate their rooms with images of rustic cowboys, brave firemen, police officers, etc. Because of this enforcement of an archetypal “male” image, boys enter school with the idea that they must give the most accurate portrayal to fit in. Boys seen playing with dolls, domestic toys (mini-kitchens!), or drawing are immediately poked fun at by their peers. The consequences of breaking the mold are dire and can mean turning into an isolated “freak.” Jumping ahead to high school and college, men still project this pressure on one another, believing that they will not attain popularity or women without upholding the tough guise.

This tough guise is an effective response in social situations because it serves as a common ground for the males in the group. As discussed in class, college men here in Norman often discuss OU Football in class on Monday as a social icebreaker to bond with other men. Those who are not interested or not aware of the events of the past weekend’s game risk being seen as less masculine. The tough guise can be more destructive as well. For example, in fraternities, pledges often undergo humiliating tasks or rituals in order to win the approval of their fraternity brothers. Many men who join fraternities do so because they believe belonging to this type of organization fortifies their manhood and will therefore give them acceptance from men and interest from women.

The tough guise is a less examined area of gender studies. It makes sense; 90% of eating disorder victims are women. However, the 10% of men with eating disorders is growing. As explained by Chris Godsey, men today are confused on how to define themselves as men. Women have asserted themselves in higher education and the workforce, crashing through traditional gender roles of the housewife and the bread-winning husband. With an increasing number of independent women supporting themselves financially, men have a less clear definition of how they can prove their manliness. A growing number of men have therefore sought to show their masculinity through emulating celebrity and media images of the ideal man – i.e. a youthful, muscular, hairless “god.” Presently, body image disorders are no longer restricted to women. Men now have to find ways to maintain self-esteem without the old routine of financial support of a woman.

The effects of struggling to uphold the tough guise can range in severity. For some it could mean giving up time with friends and family to spend extra time in the gym or eliminating certain foods from one’s diet. For others, it could be as serious as devoting many hours a day to the gym, cutting out all of certain food groups, and developing an eating disorder. It can also lead to increased steroid use. The use of anabolic steroids is especially harmful to adolescent men, who are still growing and developing. Use of steroids has cardiovascular and muscular effects. Trying to live up to the airbrushed (yes, men are airbrushed too!) standards of men displayed in Men’s Health is unhealthy physically and emotionally. Like women, men also have a variety of body types. In trying to achieve their ideal of the perfect size, men suffer emotional issues of inadequacy and poor self-esteem. This negative body image can even spill over into their relationships with women, as Godsey shamefully confessed in his essay:

“What I’ve been saying (and believing, without realizing it) is that male value ultimately depends on reducing women to physical symbols of masculine superiority – that masculinity is gauged by a man’s ability to conquer and control women” (Godsey 297).

Thus, male body image issues affect everyone and should be taken into serious consideration and study. I believe that the media both reflects change and inspires it. As I discussed earlier, women’s exit from the home and entrance into the workplace challenged masculinity in a new way. Thus, men began to seek new ways to define their masculinity – as in through physical muscle building. I believe that the media took notice to this change and reinforced the Cro-Magnon masculine ideal. The media has accelerated these insecurities in men to the point that now many men are suffering from negative body image and eating disorders. Because men can typically no longer look to their spouses for reinforcement of their manhood, they look to the media to define their masculinity for them.

Film Review - Mona Lisa Smile

2009-09-15T19:07:00.001-07:00

The film “Mona Lisa Smile” explores many facets of gender roles for women in the 1950s including body image, education, romantic roles, professional roles, and sexuality. The central thesis of the film focuses on challenging the audience to define what the woman’s role in this time period was. While Julia Roberts’ character initially believed that women who strived only to be housewives were missing out on life, her students taught her that true happiness for women depends on following their dreams, whatever they may be.

Body image comes up in the film in several forms. Connie, a supporting character, struggles throughout the film with her own body image. Due to her lack of self-esteem, she has trouble defending her self-respect to her peers and in relationships with men.

The purpose of education for women is a central theme of the film and reflects many of the views upheld in The Feminine Mystique as well as in The Beauty Myth. At Wellesley College, the majority of students get an education because of tradition. As Friedan stated, most of the women attended for a “PHT – Putting Husband Through” (Friedan). In fact, the women of the school defended this tradition. One student, Joan, exhibited ambition to go to law school. When Ms. Watson (Julia Roberts) asked her which law school she would like to attend, she deflected her response by saying “I’m getting married.” In this society, women were not expected to attend graduate school. Consequently, when Ms. Watson encouraged Joan to attend law school, she ended up ultimately disappointed by Joan’s insistence on marriage. While Joan had an interest in furthering her education, she could not overcome the societal pressures impressed upon her to choose marriage. Furthermore, Betty Warren, a recently married student, chastises Joan for even applying. Over hushed tones in the laundry room, Betty hissed “You’re this close to having everything you’ve ever wanted, and this close to losing it,” implying that women cannot handle marriage and a career. Even her boyfriend Tommy doesn’t support her ambition. When talking with Ms. Watson, he emphasizes that she’ll always have the memory of being accepted as a housewife. It is tempting to dismiss Joan’s argument here, but that would oversimplify the complexity of the issue faced by women. While Joan did give up attending graduate school, she possessed genuine happiness in her choice to get married.

Betty, on the other hand, was motivated by pressure to conform to the gender role of housewife. Betty’s story shows the negative consequences for women who often felt that they had no other choice for the direction of their lives. Ironically, as a staunch defender of the sanctity of marriage, Betty suffered the most relationship problems. She desperately tries to succeed in the “role she was born to fill” at the cost of her personal happiness, dignity, and self-respect. Despite her husband’s infidelity, Betty suffered and attempted to maintain the guise of the perfect housewife. Eventually, the strain of the relationship and unhappiness caused Betty to crumble emotionally and pick herself back up to courageously file for divorce against the wishes of her mother. Betty shows the incredibly hard choices unemployed housewives had to make at this time.

Another controversial issue to arise in the film had to do with the importance of the image of propriety for women. The school nurse, a lesbian, distributes contraceptives to students and is fired for being “too liberal.” Betty Warren, a supporting character in the film, writes in the school paper that Wellesley students stand for propriety. This was a surprising scene because the school and Betty fundamentally opposed to reproductive health for women. In the 1950s, society dictated that women must simultaneously uphold a chaste image while meeting the sexual demands of their boyfriend or husband. This double standard is an accurate representative of the impossible roles women were required to fill.

Ms. Watson directly addresses the role of what women are “trained” to do. She presents the class with media propaganda popular in the 1950s. Naomi Wolf points this out in The Beauty Myth, Wolf explains that women were encouraged to re-enter the home after World War II to restore a job market for men. Included in the slides were ads featuring women vacuuming while reading a book, measuring for an ironing board, and a girdle; “A girdle to set you free – what does that mean?!” Ms. Watson exclaimed. Ms. Watson directly confronted the direct oppression placed by the media on women. Her quote was right on in pinpointing the problem with society.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It encompassed many issues that women faced in the 1950s and furthermore that women still face today. I think that women today, especially in Oklahoma and conservative states, still feel pressure to get married and become housewives and mothers rather than pursuing careers. The producers of this film did an excellent job of depicting the many issues women face while inserting characters who defied the social norms of the time. They knew the issue of the ideal woman’s role was the biggest controversy to modern women looking back on this time period. The producers also successfully depicted the look of the rich, educated, white woman in the ‘50s. Every woman in the film was thin, except for Connie, who at a slightly larger than average weight was practically depicted as an ostracized whale in the film. Betty and her mother were excellent sources of depicting the ideal woman. Betty’s mother maintained the feminine mystique throughout her life and remained faithful to her unsuccessful marriage and to her physical appearance. In every scene she appeared in, she appeared stiff, made up, and unhappy. Overall, this film acted as a wonderful message to women today about the conditions of the past and how they in many senses continue to persist today.

Blog 3

2009-09-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

In Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth, the oppression of women through the manipulation of their body image is a recurring theme. Wolf explains that this manipulation by men, business, and politics can control women to such an extent that it impedes progress for women in all spheres of life.

Wolf explained in many ways why professional beauty demands exist and why they are allowed to continue today. The main reason for trying to oppress women through a beauty beat-down is because of intimidation. Educated men are aware of the imminent threat that intellectual women pose to their successful careers. The pinnacle of the typical business man’s lifestyle depends on a male-driven business in which he is the king of his cave and can return home from a long day’s work to a non-working wife who has taken care of all of the domestic responsibilities. If women began to infiltrate the workforce fully, the lives of men would have to change – and for the better! And while America has made marginal progress in the field of women’s rights in the workplace, oppression still exists. Today, in 2009, women still make only 78 cents to the man’s dollar. Women are still idealized in the media and demanded my professions to dress in ridiculous skin-tight business suits with unbearably painful stiletto heels. Girdles or today called “Spanx”, are a cultural norm and even celebrated! Why do women still, in 2009, feel that they must physically constrain their bodies, manipulate themselves into uncomfortable clothing, and spend thousands of dollars on their hair and makeup, just to come out behind men at 78 cents? I believe that The Beauty Myth has definite significance today and needs a place in the hands of more women. Yes, some of the stories may seem extreme, but what is most shocking is that they are true.

Wolf asserts that American businesses (men) have constructed an unwinnable standard for women’s appearance in the workplace. Despite the intelligence and education of women, oppression is still the social norm because “’beauty’ lives so deep in the psyche, where sexuality mingles with self-esteem… usefully defined as something that is continually bestowed from the outside and can always be taken away” (Wolf 36). This quote is extremely powerful because it conveys accurately how self-esteem depends on entirely upon others. For men, self-esteem is generally brought from within and reinforced from birth to briefcase; men are built up in society, praised for athleticism, education, and business endeavors. Their uniform work attire also fortifies their self-esteem by equalizing them with other male coworkers. However, for females, acceptable appearance is a construction of a paternalistic society. Women who choose to give in to societal pressures and constantly struggle for the ideal balance of sex appeal and professionalism are ultimately doomed to fail through the losses to their self-esteem and the callousness of the men around her. However, if a woman chooses to defy the PBQ (professional beauty qualification) and dress as she pleases, she is susceptible to being labeled as unfeminine, a lesbian, or ugly. All of these derogatory phrases are enough to pressure women into conforming to male-driven standards. Another frustrating aspect of this is the degree to which these demands still apply today. While Wolf did her research in the 1980s, I found that many of her anecdotes still held true. In the example of TV anchors, the most successful shows have a young beautiful woman accompanied by a seasoned, salt-and-pepper (no pun intended) co-host with whom she often “banters” (i.e. flirts and demeans herself) as a means of entertainment. I think that broadcast media is still an area which needs significant overhaul and correction.

The most shocking detail I encountered in the reading was the case of Mechelle Vinson. Her case was filed in court in 1986, the year my older sister was born and my mother was still in the workplace. This could have easily happened to her. Mechelle, an employee at Meritor Savings Bank, filed a lawsuit because her employer sexually harassed her, molested her, exposed himself to her, and raped her. This case almost brought me to tears. Mechelle worked at a bank – a very conservative and professional workplace. And yet going to work for her meant that she had to endure physical violation through rape. My nausea furthered when I continued to read and saw that the court had ruled against Mechelle in this case. The court claimed that “provocative” dress warranted welcome harassment and physical rape by her employer. This case shows the ultimate hypocrisy of the professional beauty qualification. A woman is expected and even required to maintain a beautiful figure, face, and clothing every day. However, a consequence of being “beautiful” or “provocative” on other people’s terms gives men the legal right to molest her body. I found this case disgusting as well as disturbing because this could happen to my mother, my sister, or my friends. Although courts have become more receptive to women’s rights, I believe there is still a definite and necessary place for harsher sexual harassment sentences. On a more personal level, I believe there needs to be a grassroots cultural change movement to educate girls and women about sexual harassment. Girls and women should know that any amount of sexual inappropriateness does not have to be tolerated. Women should have the right to work peacefully and cooperatively without the fear of sexual harassment.

The ideals of female beauty function as a form of social control in order to keep women out of the workplace. They function to crush women’s self-esteem and therefore keep her confined to her domestic prison in the household. In Wolf’s example about World War II, she explains that women were soon encouraged and socially pressured to return to the household when men began to return from war. Media propaganda dictated that women had served their purpose and now needed to go back to playing house. This form of social control was “necessary” for men to regain their professional positions because women were doing the same amount of work as them for less income – a competitive edge. With women in the workplace, men could be subjected to lower pay standards – they certainly were not planning to raise the standards for women.

The ideals of female beauty majorly inhibit a woman’s ability to flourish and thrive in the professional world. These standards impressed upon women distract them from what should be our ultimate goals; equal pay for equal work, freedom to dress as we please, and partnership with men in a healthy working environment.

*Note on the pictures - the two color photos of women are what was found in Victoria's Secret's "Wear to Work" Section. The black-and-white photo shows some retro work attire from the '60s. The photo of the man in the business suit illustrates the conservative cut of men's business attire as compared to women.*

WS3413 - Blog 2 - What is body image?

2009-08-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

I believe that body image has several important facets. Body image has to do with how an individual views himself/herself as well as how that individual perceives other people's views of the individual's appearance. The manifestation of body image has two facets; explicitly, an individual’s perception of their physical body, and implicitly, the individual’s assessment of his or her self-worth partially as a result of the physical opinion. The implicit, self-worth judgment affects all areas of a person’s mental health; self-esteem, confidence, relationships, and other social behaviors.

As a Pre-Medical student, I believe it is vital for physicians today to have extensive training in the field of body image, something which is typically not taught in detail in medical school. For any individual seeking a career in pediatrics, family medicine, gynecology, sports medicine, psychiatry, or plastic surgery, body image issues will likely play a role in a significant number of their patients’ lives. In pediatrics, I believe that physicians need the training to be proactive about encouraging a positive self image from a young age in children. They also need the tools and expertise to help young patients who do suffer from eating disorders or other forms such as body dysmorphic disorder. Family medicine plays a similar role. Obstetrician/gynecologists will undoubtedly face women patients suffering from eating disorders as well as negative self body image due to pregnancy or aging. Sports medicine physicians often operate on patients who have suffered from bulimia which has manifested itself in the form of excessive exercise. They also may repair tears or other injuries in men suffering from body dysmorphic disorder and have lifted too much weight. Psychiatrists and plastic surgeons play a key role in the mental aspect of body image. Psychiatrists will treat countless patients suffering from poor self image, depression, and other mental health issues related to body image. Plastic surgeons perhaps have the most difficult job to do in balancing a successful business and the wellbeing of their patients. Many unhappy patients will request surgeries or cosmetic procedures in an attempt to improve their negative body image. I am unsure what the role is of the plastic surgeon in trying to convince or talk patients out of procedures. Certainly, I believe that plastic surgeons need extensive preparation in the psychological motivations for cosmetic enhancements. As a future doctor, I believe this class will help me learn how to integrate body image issues into the hard sciences taught in medical school to develop a thorough understanding of overall health.

The waves of feminism throughout the late 19^th and 20^th centuries have accomplished major improvements but still leave room for advancement. The first wave of feminism focused on the suffragist movement, gaining women the right to vote. This movement focused on concrete, legislation-based change. The second wave of feminism focused on changing the environment for women in the workplace. Beginning in the 1960s, Betty Friedan is the archetypal hero for this wave of feminism, launching the National Organization for Women which goaled to achieve equal pay for equal work, reproductive rights, and equality for women in “full partnership with men”. Friedan was not a “man-hating” feminist like the stereotypes that most feminists received in this time. Rather, she was a pragmatist, understanding that women and men will always exist together in the world, and therefore focused her movement on promoting a cultural change toward equality and unity. The third wave of feminism is much more ambiguous, beginning in the 1980s and extending to today. This wave of feminism is much more individualized, focusing on issues that affect women as individuals including body image. Yes, the National Organization for Women and other organizations still lobby for reproductive rights, equal pay for equal work (women still only receive 78 cents to the man’s dollar), protection from sexual crimes, and more recently sexual education. However, the movement as a whole is much less organized and therefore has not had as much legislative success as past movements. Lacking a specific goal, this movement has not accomplished very much public success. However, it is significant to bring up that many smaller movements have occurred to help improve women’s self-perception. For example, the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty champions natural beauty and encouraging self-esteem in young women. I believe that in order for women to gain full equality with men, there should be a more organized movement to educate and promote positive body image, sexual education, reproductive rights, and equal pay for equal work.

In Edut’s Body Outlaws, she defined a body outlaw as an individual who breaks conventional beauty standards to celebrate one’s natural appearance. Edut asserts that bodies should be allies, not enemies. I agree with her on this point. I believe that a fundamental downfall that many women make begins with their negative body image. If a woman has a negative perception of herself, she will never require that a man or partner have a better view. At the core of body image is self-love, self-acceptance, and most importantly, self-respect. At the root of poor relationships, abuse, and “captive-wife” situations for women, often a negative body image is hiding. I believe that a massive cultural change must occur in America as well as worldwide. Without an enormous educational and advocacy movement, I don’t think that the overall cultural body image standards can be changed.

Body outlaws in pop culture include Raven Symone, Queen Latifah, and Nikki Blonsky. Nikki Blonsky as an an individual and as her character Tracy in "Hairspray" both promote a body outlaw. In "Hairspray", Tracy plays the ultimate body outlaw as an overweight teenager who auditions for a popular dance show and makes no apologies! I saw the musical production in London as well as the movie and love both (This could be a good movie for class if you can stand musicals). I struggle somewhat with the body outlaws above listed because of my educational training in pre-medicine. While I do support championing natural bodies and self-acceptance, I feel that I cannot accept celebrating obesity or unhealthiness. I believe that being a body outlaw must include respecting one’s body and promoting its general healthiness and wellbeing. A body outlaw would neither starve himself/herself nor would s/he engage in unhealthy overeating habits. I believe that a body outlaw should be a person who accepts their natural body and nourishes it by following a healthy, moderate diet and exercising to strengthen the body and mind. I believe that this class is helping me to understand my own definitions of body image, self-perception, and body outlaws.

WS3413 - Blog 1 - Motivation

2009-08-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

I am a pre-med senior. I believe myself to be a traditional feminist. I wrote a twenty page thesis on Betty Friedan's leadership in starting the National Organization for Women. I feel that I have learned a lot about 1st and 2nd wave feminism, but haven't truly explored issues more intimately related to myself - the issue of body image.

I believe there are several important pressing issues of body image. OF course, eating disorders remain a vital issue to work through. The first perception of body image that I had began when I was a very young age - probably 5 or 6. I grew up in a family where thinness, dieting, and body criticism from my father were normal occurrences. I recall at age 8 being chastised for putting cheese on top of my food. Heartbroken, I departed to my nook under the stairs that I often went into when eating or feeling ashamed. My mother and older sister suffered a similar fate, further fueling my obsession with food. To summarize, I did suffer with these issues severely during high school and have improved significantly since. However, as I have matured into adult life, I have began to explore how my own body image perception has affected other areas of my life such as sexuality. I believe that body image issues for adult and young adult women are particularly pressing because of the way it influences intimate relationships. A poor self-image or a poor perception of a partner's perception can severely affect a woman's relationship with a man and can potentially paralyze her in an abusive or unhealthy relationship. I think that this is one of the most heartbreaking consequences of a negative body image.

My expectations of this course are to learn more about body image, learning from the experiences of others, and eventually resolve some of the body image issues in my own life. I have often felt like a hypocritical feminist for believing so adamantly in women's rights issues while simultaneously suffering from a negative body image. I have tended in the past to blame myself for the negative perception, but I hope through this class to learn and understand more of the origins of my problems. I would also like to gain perspective from my classmates in order to connect and reach out to them, learning through cooperation and discussion.

I'd like to answer the following questions for myself:
1. How can negative childhood experiences influencing body image be overcome?
2. How many women suffer from negative body image due to the influence of family members, especially in childhood?
3. How does a negative self-perception correlate with unhealthy relationships?
4. What can women do today to help unite the third wave and achieve improvement in self-esteem for women as well as equal rights?
5. What is the responsibility of women doctors in representing women? Do doctors have more pressure to portray the ideal woman than other non-celebrity professions?

I look forward to learning and healing in this class. I have already thoroughly enjoyed the discussions so far and cannot wait to find out more. I believe this course will be a true awakening of my soul.