Sunday, September 25, 2011
Obsessive
Susan Bordo talked about the issue females have more now than they did in past decades. I believe this is because now, our culture is to be the most active and healthy you can be. Everywhere we look we are slapped in the face with "Try this new diet to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks" or "Try these workouts to get a slimmer stomach." Just like Thursday in class when we were looking at the covers of Shape Magazine talking about which exercises to do to tighten your thighs or flatten your stomach and tone your arms and butt. We are constantly shown the way women's bodies are "supposed" to look like and it makes us feel very insecure if it isn't what our bodies look like. Females are becoming so addicted to exercising and dieting and it is wearing down our bodies. We are becoming addicted to trying to be accepted by people for the way we look and feeling good about ourselves when we finally hit that low weight and become "healthy." Along with exercising and diets, eating disorders are also signs of this new culture. Women are developing eating disorders because they are so obsessed with changing their bodies to become thin. We are working our bodies so hard that as Bordo said, "the practice of femininity may lead us to utter demoralization, debilitation, and death." Dieting, exercise, and the other ways people are trying to shape their bodies is the social construction. We are addicted to perfecting our bodies and will always be trying to create a better body image. I feel like women are always trying to better themselves because they never feel like what they are doing is good enough. They could be exercising every day and eating a healthy amount of food, but there are new diets and informative articles in magazines changing what they think is the proper thing for them to be doing. There will always be new diets and such being created and new women looking like models being plastered all over the place making us feel insecure. I know from personal experience. I have lost quite a bit of weight and I can definitely see a change for the better from my body, but I don't think I look good enough yet. I don't know if I ever will be completely satisfied with the way I look, but I know every day I will be exercising and watching what I eat to try and lose that extra few pounds. I think everyone feels this way some times. We all want to feel good about ourselves and feel accepted by others, but a question arises. How far are we willing to go to perfect our body?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
i believe this culture also branches out to the plastic surgery phenomenon that is going on in the world as well. People are going to great lengths to achieve the body and/or face they desire. Some it is unnoticable and others it is frightening to see what they have done to them selves. So you asked how far are people willing to go? It seems people will be comfortable with a doctor hacking up their face and/or body to obtain that so called "perfect body".
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying, but I also think an important thing to note is how the social construction of bodies has changed throughout the centuries. It used to be that women with curves were seen as beautiful, because it meant they had money and other resources available to them (such as food.) Now that there is an abundance of food available to most people, they think that by being able to resist it at times is a sign of strength. Michel Foucault defined the docile body as one that "can only be achieved through strict regiment of disciplinary acts." A lot of times it feels the body is in a constant state of alteration based on how one feels about his or her body based on what is seen as beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI think that this culture of women trying to perfect themselves has gone too far. And as much as i disagree with it, im afraid to say that not only do i know that i am part of it but also that i feel like, being part of it is the only choice i have. I think what it all boils down to is that as we do not exist as islands we are what the environment around us wants us to be. Just as in science there is natural selection in our lives there is cultural selection. The culture of women being perceived to have a certain type of body is one that has fuelled a lot of media publications. Everything about the modern women seems to always need to be changed, hair, face, weight,cup size, booty size to name only a few. The question to ask is where this perfect image stemed from. Its not every guy who likes anorexic looking girls. Its not every guy that likes women to have 'flesh on their bones'. Each and every guy has their own taste, so if it is supposedly for these guys that we are supposed to be changing our bodies, for why is it that we act as if all guys have the same taste. The media has put physical appearances on a pedastal, but every day a relationship breaks down with the man leaving a 'sexy' woman for a not so 'sexy' one. Could it be thatwe women misjudge what really makes our male counterparts tick? Could it be that we perpertuated this insecurity that now haunts us onto ourselves?
ReplyDelete