Synthesis/Response #6

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Synthesis: Heavily rooted in patriarchal values that emphasize women as inconsequential, and objectification of women's bodies, and womanhood as a negative thing, increasing numbers of women are becoming obsessed with their bodies and appearance. Especially problematic is the rise of eating disorders among women. 

Response: 

I think this image is very revealing of how seemingly harmless pictures in magazines, movie characters, etc. can be dangerously warping and result in very serious results when it comes to the developing minds and bodies of young women in particular. By inundating women with images of an unattainable beauty standard, society is setting girls and women up for persistent feelings of inadequacy, no matter what their bodies look like (as illustrated by the above image!) 

In many of the poems and articles we read, women expressed how they did not want to associated with womanhood, whether that be in developing mature bodies, getting their period, etc. which often lead to eating disorders. This can be traced to the idealization of women as girlish; 'innocent', 'naive', 'powerless', and 'weak' as portrayed in beauty standards today valuing waifish, frail bodies. This results in women starving themselves to try and fit back into that girlish picture, wanting to use a "vegetable peeler" to pare down their ripening hips like Leslea Neuman wrote. This child-like image has become more widespread and idolized as the movement for women's rights has become more prominent, leading to the conclusion that this expectation for women to be small and inconsequential in body mass is intended to try and bind their ability and desire to big and consequential in other ways. Chernin describes this in her article, saying "In this age of feminist assertion men are drawn to women of childish body and mind because there is something less disturbing about vulnerability and helplessness of a small child- and something truly disturbing about the body and mind of a mature women." 

This devaluing of womanhood can even be traced to physiological complaints associated with menstruation as we discussed in class; if we had a more positive view of womanhood and things that go along with it, women might not even experience menstrual cramps! 

Another destructive result of this idealized image of girlhood is the rise in sexual assaults on girls, as girls are being sexualized in the media. Chernin quotes Grace Paley about this issue saying "Certainly, any culture that prefers women to be childlike and dependent will, with a certain terrible logic, use its children as though they were grown women."