As children we hardly notice that our bodies are a sign--something to help us read culture. As we grow and our bodies change, we start realizing we have an ‘ideal’ body type we should be trying to reach. Boys want to be buff and macho, with big muscles and a six pack; while girls want to be skinny and beautiful and have all the best clothes. If you look up skinny in the dictionary, it is defined as “very thin”. Why do girls feel that even thin isn’t good enough? According to Susan Bordo, in today’s culture it is becoming a popular body practice to put one’s body through unnecessary surgery to achieve an ideal body. Bordo also states that female bodies become docile bodies, “bodies whose forces and energies are habituated to external regulation, subjection, transformation, and ‘improvement.’” Another result of this pressure is the culture of bulimia and anorexia. These days, women’s obsession with being skinny, slender, and thin has become a significant problem many women face daily, if not constantly. Society pressures women to fit this idea of perfect. The social construction around women and food and weight and beauty these days is very different when compared to 200 years ago, when a “curvier” women was more appealing. One example of the social construction or social constraint is that women are “suppose” to order a salad when they go out on a date, and should never order a manly meal, such as a steak. The culture of women and their bodies and how they obtain the object or prize of being thin. Women today are made to take the position that a little extra meat on their bones is ugly and that perfection must be reached to fit social norms. These women are subjects of the culture of women and their ideal weight, and as they become skinnier, they help maintain that culture as a social norm.
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ReplyDeleteIt seems that in this modern day era, women are not satisfied with their looks. Society has implemented that more is better, and as a result this has caused women to reach desperate measures in order to feel beautiful. I agree with what Susan Bordo said regarding how female bodies have become docile bodies. This emphasizes that women are trying to improve themselves in order to be more appealing. It’s interesting to note how the definition of beauty has changed over time. This causes me to wonder, how our society will influence the next definition of beauty?
ReplyDeleteit's interesting to note that these ideals change over time, but have seemingly become more constricting during the modern era, perhaps in response to our more liesure centered culture.
ReplyDeleteBeing as thin as women are expected today would have been seen as unhealthy in the past, when voluptuous women were seen as healthy because it was a sign of being able to afford food.