Textual Analysis of Relationship Article in Cosmopolitan - Essay Example

Textual analysis of Relationship article in Cosmopolitan The construction of ideal women has been presented in diverse ways from different articles in the 2015 issue of Cosmopolitan. The construction of ideal women in the articles has been approached variously, ranging from the behavioral perspective to their physical body outlook. The first advice given as relevant for the construction of ideal women entails doing things they find comfortable, rather than being pressured into doing things that they would personally not wish to do. Thus, ideal women are those ones who will continue to eat what they normally eat, for as long as their diet is healthy, as opposed to being pressurized to change their diets for the sake of attaining a bikini body (Moore, 2015). Additionally, ideal women will only make a change of their diet, dressing or lifestyle, just when they genuinely want to do so, as opposed to doing it because if they do not, then, they will feel as if they do not belong. In this respect, the ideal woman is the one who does not compare her body with that of other women (Ginsberg, 2015). The major problem that has been facing women is the urge to look like the supermodels that are constantly shown by the TVs or the magazines. According to the Cosmopolitan advice, trying too hard to look like others does not do any good for women, because it causes them to waste much of their time trying to fabricate as opposed to living their own lives (Moore, 2015). Thus, an ideal woman should eat a Pizza or a piece of chocolate ones in a while when she feels that she needs to do so, as opposed to fearing that it will cause her to gain some pounds, because ideal women recognize that they live only once, and they should enjoy life to the fullest (Moore, 2015). Further, the construction of an ideal woman is also defined by high self-esteem and confidence in oneself (Narins, 2015). For example, an ideal woman should not be worried about keeping a pack of condom with her if she needs to get intimate, for the fear of what it will make her look like in the eyes of a man (Kobola, 2015). Instead, an ideal woman will comfortably grab a pack of condom when she wants to get intimate, because it only serves to show that she is a woman who is committed to having safe sex (Kobola, 2015). However, it gets even better after the couple has already gotten married, since intimacy starts having a more safe space. Nevertheless, after marriage, there are instances where sex is likely to become boring, and this is where an ideal woman plays the role of liberating the sex life, often through being open and communicating her feelings, preferences and likes to her husband (Hills, 2015). Therefore, the construction of an ideal woman requires that the woman be committed to improving the sex life of her marriage, through communicating openly and also through being adventurous and spontaneous, as a way of spicing up her sex life with her husband. An ideal woman will play an active role in ensuring that sex life in the marriage stays on top of other prioritizes, by recognizing that sex is essential for a healthy relationship between the couple, while also understanding that successful sex life is a team effort (Kobola, 2015). Nevertheless, even while trying to spice up the marriage sex life, the ideal woman must always ensure to keep it within her comfort levels, rather than trying to be dventurous with what makes her uncomfortable, because it will not be sustained in the long-run, thus may end up hurting her sex life even more (Kobola, 2015). The construction of ideal women also has to do with how the women interact with their family. An ideal woman is not that one who is overprotective of her children and cares to monitor every of their move. On the contrary, an ideal woman will get involved in her children’s lives but not in a smothering way, through giving them the freedom to be what they want to be on their own, but ensuring to make them responsible and accountable no matter their age (Nunez, 2015). Additionally, an ideal mother will always ensure to make her children understand that she is older and wiser than they are, while at the same time making them comfortable enough to run to her as the first person from whom to seek help and advice, if they have a personal issue they need to fix (Nunez, 2015). An ideal woman will also teach her children to be comfortable with whom they are, and to overcome hate and criticism in ways that will not see them overly hurt and depressed. The ideal woman loves her family and is committed to doing everything that is in their interest, including occasionally sacrificing some of her own comfort for the sake of keeping the family happily together (Hills, 2015). Sincerity is part of the construction of an ideal woman. The major mistake that most women have been making is to avoid hurting others, and thus end up doing things they might not be genuinely willing to do, so the others can remain happy. However, an ideal woman will not get married to a man for the sake of pleasing either the man or her family, even though she knows that she will not remain happy in the marriage (Iversen, 2015). An ideal woman must understand that while trying not to hurt others is a noble course, there are at times when it becomes inevitable to cause others some hurting, for the sake of protecting one’s happiness. An ideal woman also understands that some self-sacrificing is needed in order to acquire and secure love, but extreme self-sacrificing can be more damaging to a woman (Iversen, 2015). Further, the inability to voice the truth can hurt a woman inwardly for too long, and the overall effect is that she ends up hurting even the very people that she was trying to protect (Iversen, 2015). However, being capable of expressing her feelings in all sincerity, a woman is able to recue herself from the prison of self-turmoil. Additionally, an ideal woman realizes that her breasts are one of her most important body parts, and thus she does everything to keep them rightly comfortable and also appealing (Moore, 2015). Most women are concerned about their breast, most especially when it comes to the issue of their size, their shape or the best bra size. However, instead of comparing her breasts with those ones of others, an ideal woman concentrates in keeping hers comfortable and appealing, while being confident and comfortable about them (Moore, 2015). Further, instead of trying to do things like breast surgery or holding them in bra sizes that do not suit them for the sake of acquiring the shape and size that a woman deems fit, an ideal woman will focus on exercising to keep healthy, not to run off from the breast problem (Ginsberg, 2015). Most importantly however, an ideal woman does not spend time acknowledging that part of her body that she does not like about her body (Ginsberg, 2015). Instead, an ideal woman accepts that thing, and spends more time, love and compassion on that thing. This is because; an ideal woman must realize that what she thinks keeps her from attaining a perfect body is just an illusion in the mind, because there is nothing like a perfect body, and there is no one who is looking or judging that part anyway (Moore, 2015). Therefore, the construction of ideal women has to do with being comfortable with every aspect of their body and looks. Behaviors also constitute the construction of an ideal woman. Ideal women knows that it is inappropriate to have work flirtation or engage in a love affair with a coworker, since the end result is that one of the parties will eventually end up hurt by the office or workplace gossip (Toore, 2015). Therefore, keeping a safe distance between love, infatuation and obsession with a coworker is every ideal woman’s duty, owing to the fact that it is the only way that both respect and hurting in the workplace can be avoided. There is no doubt that coworkers might spend a lot of time together, get used to one another and in the course of time even get attracted to each other (Narins, 2015). However, an ideal woman must sustain the discipline of avoiding workplace flirtation, because it is only through such discipline that a healthy working relationship among coworkers can be sustained (Iversen, 2015). The major problem associated with workplace flirtation is that a woman might end up developing a workplace affair that causes her to ruin her family life or marriage, yet the workplace affair will not result in a permanent engagement. Therefore, the construction of an ideal woman entails the separation of the workplace from the personal love life, through demonstrating only professional and ethical behaviors at the workplace, and then running the love life differently. The mix of the two always has a bad ending, and that is what an ideal woman should focus on avoiding (Iversen, 2015). Further, ideal women understand better than being overly and unnecessarily jealous or envious of others. Being competitive is healthy, but when the competitiveness turns into personal comparisons and envy, it becomes a poison that eats women inwardly slowly until they are unable to heal for the rest of their lives. Therefore, the fundamental of ideal women construction is that ideal women do not compare their bodies with those of other women (Moore, 2015). By the time an ideal woman reaches the age of twenty, she understands that having a big or small body size than the other women does not matter anymore, than what a woman is actually growing to become in life. Therefore, an ideal woman understands that being smaller or larger than what the others are does not determine the greatness in that woman (Ginsberg, 2015). Therefore, while an ideal woman turns twenty years of age, she realizes that it is her duty to start loving herself for what she is, and also that it is now time to start associating with people who appreciates, loves and accepts the woman for who she is and for what she looks (Hills, 2015). The essence of being loved or having friendship is to be made to feel whole and comfortable with oneself. There has never been a greater mistake that insisting on loving or keeping friendship with a person who makes the woman feel bad about her body or her whole self (Hills, 2015). The construction of an ideal woman therefore entails being comfortable with oneself, not comparing with others and being able to select and keep in love or friendship with people who appreciate and accept the woman, as opposed to making the woman want to change who she really is. The choice of dressing is another important aspect to the construction of an ideal woman. Dressing does not only define who a person is, most especially a woman, but also determines how the woman is approached, respected or treated by the society (Narins, 2015). Therefore, while there are certain pieces of clothing that might pass to be good and comfortable yet they are very cheap, an ideal woman should run the art of rewarding herself through purchasing quality clothes that will not only make her look good, but also make her valuable in the eyes of the society (Moore, 2015). There are certain economic limitations that would make it impossible for a woman to afford very expensive clothes. However, an ideal woman understands that spending the money available wisely through shopping widely as opposed to just picking what comes on the way as cheap, is important (Kobola, 2015). Additionally, ideal women realize that exercising to keep healthy is an important part of their lives, especially when they are young and vibrant (Narins, 2015). Therefore it is a requirement of the construction of ideal women that they start exercising to stay healthy when they are young, because once they turn thirty or thirty-five, their muscles may start wasting easily. Keeping in good shape at that age is then difficult than when they are in their twenties (Moore, 2015). References Ginsberg, M. (May 5, 2015). Zooey Deschanel: "I Dont Buy Into That Skinny-Is-Better Mentality": The New Girl star talks about feminism and body image in our June issue. Cosmopolitan. Available at: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/a39744/zooey-deschanel-june-2015/ Hills, R. (May 8, 2015). What Sex Is Really Like After Marriage: "Its gotten more comfortable, which sounds boring, but its actually quite liberating!" Cosmopolitan. Available at: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/a40142/sex-after-marriage/ Kobola, F. (May 8, 2015). 13 Things Guys Dont Care About the 1st Time You Have Sex Its sex. Things are going to happen. Cosmopolitan. Available at: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a40215/first-time-sex-things-guys-dont-care-about/ Kobola, F. (May 7, 2015). 10 Ways Youre Teasing Him Without Even Knowing It: You think youre being gross or dressed down or weird, but all he can think about is how hot you are. Cosmopolitan. Available at: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a39733/ways-youre-teasing-him-without-even-knowing-it/ Moore, L. (May 8, 2015). 13 Things Every Woman Thinks About Her Breasts: You know, I never get tired of looking at these. Cosmopolitan. Available at: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a40203/things-every-woman-thinks-about-her-boobs/ Moore, L. (May 7, 2015). 16 Habits Every Woman Absolutely Must Start in Her 20s: Stop comparing your body to other womens bodies. Cosmopolitan. Available at: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a40170/habits-every-woman-absolutely-must-start-in-her-20s/ Moore, L. (May 8, 2015). 12 Things Every Twenty something Woman Needs to Do to Get a Bikini Body Spoiler: You already have one. Cosmopolitan. Available at: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a40220/things-every-twentysomething-woman-needs-to-do-to-get-a-bikini-body/ Narins, E. (Feb 18, 2015). 20 Body Language Signs That Mean Hes Into You: Figure him out before he opens his mouth. Cosmopolitan. Available at: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a36457/things-his-body-language-signs-hes-into-you/ Nunez, A. (May 8, 2015). Latinas Editors10 Reasons Latina Moms Are the Best: She taught you how to shake off the haters. Cosmopolitan. Available at: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a40193/latina-moms-are-the-best/ Toore, A. (2015). The No. 1 Reason Not to Have a Work Flirtation Chloe would rather not right now, OK? Cosmopolitan. Available at: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a39918/bedroom-blog-the-number-1-reason-not-to-have-a-work-flirtation/ Read More