week 5 – body image: inscribing gender on the body

Many of you have touched on body image issues in your reading reactions. In fact, in previous classes, students chose the topic of body image in projects at least 75% of the time. This issue resounds with us because of how deeply we are all affected by it.

Women’s bodies are constantly scrutinized and women are not immune to the effects of this. There is certainly a body ideal prescribed by our culture. “The Body Shop ran an ad campaign in 1997, saying: “There are three billion women in the world who don’t look like supermodels and only eight who do.” (Colvin). I remember complimenting the Body Shop staff on this positive image and was astounded that Glenbrook management was not pleased with their posters. The window ads featured the previous statement and a full-figured Barbie doll. Were they receiving complaints because the doll was unclothed (it’s a doll!), or because this more accurately reflects what women’s bodies look like (curvy, round tummy)?

The text emphasizes that often women are judged more on their looks than any other characteristic. We will read examples of this, and I’m sure you all have plenty more. The beauty ideal elevates White, thin beauty above all else. We will learn more about the ways popular culture affects our perceptions and ideals in Chapter 9.

Images of what women are “supposed” to look like surround us. Celebrities’ bodies, smaller than most women’s, are analyzed and criticized. “Baby bump watch” has become a tabloid sport.

With the explosion of – and government support of – abstinence-only sex education curricula, the focus is on religious ideals and less on actual information about bodies and sexuality. Images of women’s bodies are displayed everywhere you look. The prevalence of and easy access to pornographic images on the Internet feature women with “perfect” bodies. I hope you enjoy the review of the book Femalia. Unfortunately, because it features photographs of genitals, it is often seen as “dirty” or even obscene. But it is more a celebration of the diversity of ourselves and our bodies.

I really like the review of the photography book “Femalia” because it offers a look, literally, at what women’s genitals really do look like – without being involved in sex, childbirth, or any of the times we see women’s private parts.

“Through thirty-two photos, we explore the variation among women-variation, which would perhaps make even the most discontent rethink their assumptions about their genitals (i.e. as disgusting, ugly etc.) …

Femalia satisfies a curiosity that most of us have about each other, but are loath to admit-to ourselves or anyone else. Then again it opens doors and informs us in ways that we never dreamed. It does away with the naïve assumption that all women look like we do and cements our individuality in concrete, photographic terms.”

~Stocker

The textbook suggests doing Web searches on labiaplasty or vaginoplasty. Many of the results are medical practices offering to “fix” women so they look “normal”. The basic premise of these surgeries is that the way a particular woman looks is not natural; something to be corrected – so it looks like it came off an assembly line. The “I Was a Cosmo Sex Deviant” article stirred a lot of reaction from the class because of the exposure of the mythical norm judged by magazine quizzes. Is there anything wrong with reading Cosmo or taking the quizzes? Certainly not. But hopefully you will be able to read them with a more critical eye. Similarly, examine  labiaplasty and vaginoplasty from a feminist standpoint. How do this chapter’s readings affect your perception of these plastic surgery sites?

Chapter 5 readings

Textbooks readings:

• Reading 36/35 “Breast Buds and the “Training” Bra”, Jacobs Brumberg, 3rd ed.: p.253-258; 4th ed.: p.249-254
• Reading 37/36 “If Men Could Menstruate”, Steinem, 3rd ed.: p.258-259; 4th ed.: p.254-255
• Reading 38/37 “Body Ethics and Aesthetics Among African American and Latina Women”, Rubin, Fitts, and Becker, 3rd ed.: p.259-270; 4th ed.: p.255-266
• Reading 39/38 “What We Do for Love”, Weitz, 3rd ed.: p.270-282; 4th ed.: p.266-278
• Reading 40/39 “Hold That Nose”, Miya-Jervis, 3rd ed.: p.282-284; 4th ed.: p.278-280
• Reading 41 “Dancing Toward Redemption”, McGhan, 3rd ed.: p.284-289; 4th ed.: not available
• Reading 40 “Love Your Fat Self”, Martin, 3rd ed.: not available; 4th ed.: p.280-284
• Reading 42/41 “Phenomenal Woman”, Angelou, 3rd ed.: p.289-290; 4th ed.: p.284-285
• Reading 44/43 “Designer Vaginas”, Weil Davis, 3rd ed.: p.291-299; 4th ed.: 287-294

Supplemental readings:

• Hear Maya Angelou read “Phenomenal Woman”: http://www.diversity-radio.net/archives/MayaAngelou-PhenomenalWomen.mp3 (mp3)
• “Still I Rise“, Angelou http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=6834&poem=33053
• “Femalia” review Myrick Stocker, Expository Magazine. http://www.geocities.com/wost_prof/femalia_review.html
• The Shape of a Mother. Photo project. http://theshapeofamother.com/
• Breasts – sexual or for breastfeeding babies? 007b.com
• The Seventeen Magazine Project http://www.theseventeenmagazineproject.com/
• Girl’s Life Magazine: Repeat Body Image Offenders.  May 16, 2009.  http://jezebel.com/5257583/girls-life-magazine-repeat-body-image-offenders
• The “I Am” project From two Fort Wayne photographers. One of the project’s goal’s: “To inspire women to be content and comfortable as their natural selves and to realize that as the definition of beauty.” http://photographyforwomen.blogspot.com/search/label/I%20am%20project
• Rapunzel, Rapunzel, cut off your hair.   Patton-Carson, Lindsay.  July 20, 2010.  Fem Threads. http://femthreads.com/2010/07/20/rapunzel-rapunzel-cut-off-your-hair/
• Dove Evolution commercial YouTube http://youtube.com/watch?v=OXf8fr0Kp3Q
• A Girl Like Me YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17fEy0q6yqc

Breasts – sexual or for breastfeeding babies?