How Feminists Confronted the Issues of Female Body Image - Essay Example

feminists confronted the issues of female body image BY [Name of the organization] [Author’s name] [Date of fulfilment] introduction The matter is of great concern when we see that most of the feministic approaches are against the declaration of various aspects as related to female body. The general idea always prevails by considering the image of a lady as per her physical structure. This paper is dealing with the confrontation of the feminists for these kinds of demarcation. There are lots of controversies and interpretation of considering a position to women as per the image that gets displayed by her body. As a matter of fact there are lots of oppositions for these types of declarations. This paper is all about all kinds of beliefs, habits, and is basically related to the attitude that grows with negative body images that takes root in the tender adolescents and affects young adulthood through out. This changes the attitude towards life and the ambition, resulting to all kinds of self-disgust, self-deprecation and all sorts of eating disorders. The position as has been takes by the feministic approaches if very much against these kinds of negative attitude and that is what been discussed in this paper. Literary interpretations The case of considering the beauty or the existence of a women is also well scrutinised by Melanie A. Katzman and Sing Lee (1997), in reference to the biomedical models, where fear of fatness leads to the matter of starvation. This is impartial in both Eastern and Western societies and under no circumstances considered as a wrong practice. This is a growing trend and more and more people are getting into it. There are lots of practices that makes the relevance for anorexia nervosa which is a as a body image disorder in women. There were all kinds of interpretations initiated regarding the representation of women through her body. Hélène Cixous is one such interpreter who in her ‘The Laugh of the Medusa’, declared a rigid point of view. According to her, if women are made to remain within her body due to the repression led by men then there can be two options for her existence. The one is very much obvious of being trapped inside her body and the next option is about being a medium of communication and transcending all kinds of the boundaries. Hélène Cixous is of the view that if a woman is suppressed inside her body by the dominance of men then she might end up like that; or on the other hand she can utilise the body image as a means of communication to cross all the limits of overpowering male dominated society. This is the analytical section that makes Cixous oppose to the means of such suppression also holds the theoretical possibility regarding the body image as a strong tool for dominance. This is again a matter that is very much revolutionary and the act of suppression within the image created by the body is distinctly elaborated. Julia Kristeva though never accepted her thoughts as feministic, yet they are a matter of feministic discussions within the critics. She made a great attempt in bringing the female body image into the periphery of discourses in the human sciences. She was more into the discussion and interaction of maternal body in comparison to the concept of pre-oedipal diagnosis. For her the consideration of women with the image of her body is a partial initiation. Physically and anatomically she may be different but when it comes to thought and intelligence the discrimination should not persists. In ‘Looking Queer: Body Image in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Communities’ Atkins discusses about the sexual minorities with typical kind of eating disorders and an extreme obsession for appearance. The idea is to give an insight into the issue of body image, helping you to accept and to love your body. The purpose is to oppose all kinds f standard believes that are harmful in making the position weaker through body image. Here Atkins tries to open windows to make women love their body then to get into the bog of depression and depreciations before time. It has also been discovered that these kinds of demarcations are all very affective in case of heterosexual women, the lesbians on the other hand are more confident about their body image. In a way it is the root to give the women the adequate space in the society. ‘The Body Image Trap: Understanding and Rejecting Body Image Myths’ by Marion Crook, is considered as an eye-opener to the dark domain of women’s personality that could hardly compromise with the issues related to her body image. In this book Crook has discouraged all kinds of discriminations within men and women due to the image that they carry with their body. The approach is rather positive and the matter of concern is to oppose the situations where men dominate the position of the women due to the bodily weaknesses in her. Crook is very strong about breaking the body image myth and to consider all kinds of weight, height, and shape as just part of the personality. The family media and the socially interactive platforms are the basis of this kind of demarcating consequences. It is thus very important to break the image and to pave the stone for the equal proceedings. Considering women body as the matter of concern in the periphery of independent intelligence display is something that needs to be discouraged. Hurdles and obstacles As a matter of fact the oppositions as has been initiated by the feminists for the encouragement of body image of women, there are equal oppositions and obstacles to the same. There are many authors who have interpreted the mater from different perspectives and found some very relevant causes creating trouble in the negation of the same. Susan Bordo, in her ‘Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western culture and the Body’ has found the excessive weight is the biggest hurdle in making women come out of the body image. The beauty gets counted in the excessive weight of her body and as such she faces lots of hurdles in representing herself. Susan has discovered that the social conducts are mostly shocking in this respect and thus the discouragement is so strong. Jacquelyn N.Zita has blamed the philosophical set up of society as the biggest hurdle in making women come out of her body image. In her ‘Body Talk: Philosophical Reflections on Sex and Gender’ and The Male Lesbian and the Post-modern Body Jacqueline analysed the tension that persists in the physical body and the constructed psyche of women in particular. She has discovered that the normal heterosexual society never allows women to represent her identity out of her body image. The preferences are always for a body that is more into shape and ids good to look at. The main obstacle lies in making women understand her stand point as a strong contender to men. The hurdle is very much created by the sexual relationships that give more importance to the structure of the body then just any other characteristic in the women. As derived by Briget Dolan and Inez Gitzinger, in their ‘Why Women?: Gender and Eating Disorders’ the actual hurdle and the major obstacles are all initiated by crucial behavioural, psychological, sexual, cultural and political factors that persists in the formation of the society. The stresses are so vigorous that the dominance leads to absolute eating disorders among women. Gilligan, Carole and Lyn Mikel Brown, (1992) analysed the psychological aspects and got the crux in the adolescence that forbids the girl from taking a healthy option to prevent her from gaining wait. This leads to the disorder in the eating habits and as result the weaknesses comes in before time. The physical appearance is given more emphasis from a very small age in a girl and that leads to the later discrimination in her. Kalof, Linda, has elaborately discussed the stereotype concepts related to the attractiveness of a woman. She says it should depend on individuals’ judgments about the potentiality in the women rather than the image that she carries in her body. A preconceived notion of an attractive woman lies exactly in the body image that she displays. This is rather a very common practice and is a great hindrance in making a universal image more attractive then the other. The demarcations and the specifications are all particularly analysed only in case of the woman’s body and that makes he more conscious about it. Linda establishes there can be diversified interpretation regarding the conclusion of calling someone attractive. This is totally a personal view point and should not get generalised. Carole Pateman, have come up with a different view point in her 'The Disorder of Women. Her approach is more political and more concerned about the differences that persist as per the geographical and political differences of defining beauty. The disorders in women due to the negligence to wards a healthy diet is very common in developed countries and in democratic formations. She has discovered that there is the lack of realisation of checking out the idea of having a welfare state where women especially mothers nee to be given proper food and the absolute diet. A regular negligence to it is definitely there to lead the whole nation to a weaker state. Apart from all kinds of hurdles and initiations led by the psychological and cultural interventions, a different periphery has been discovered by Cyndi Teblen, in his ‘The Body Snatchers: How the Media Shapes Women’ the blame has been seriously over the media. The understanding is directly related to the image that media creates for a standard figure of a woman there are lots of discriminations exists in the society and for women the media is making the base tougher. As for Cyndi Teblen, the attitude is created and well nurtured b the media. They are more into show business and declare that it is the only standard body that should be give more emphasis. The Barbie dolls and the staved chicks are made ideal for a good body. Irrespective of the fact the body that gets displayed in a show business should not affect the practical initiations; there is the construction of the image in every single mind and that negates the standard of being better than just a body. Cyndi Teblen encourages women with a dignified life with a good position in the society more than those who are short lived and is off no difference to social set up. Yadlon, Susan, showcases all kinds of cancers and diseases that detoriates the physical and psychological structure of women. Here the elaborations are all related to the physical and the psychological hurdles as has been faced by a breast cancer patient. It is here that the elaboration and all the stresses related to body image are made more practical and drastic. Conclusion Eventually the contributions of the feminists are really noteworthy. The attempt for the creation of a new format of society and the construction of a stronger positioning for women is the basis of this study. In most of the cases it has been seen that women need to have a good body and a display of it can make many profitable contracts. This also reserves a good position for her in the society and there comes in a level of acceptance for her. This is something that has been well denied by many feminist groups. As per some it is really something against the dignity of women, while others considers the male dominated society being responsible for such discriminations. A women need to be analysed and placed in a society as per her competitiveness and potentiality. It cannot hold any justification with the short lived body image. The matter of trust and feelings are all shifted to appearance and sexuality. This is what a threat to the social set up is again. The society will not exist if there is this continuation of inappropriate eating along with References Atkins, Dawn (1998), Looking Queer: Body Image and Identity in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender Communities, 1998. Bordo, Susan, Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western culture and the Body, 1993 Crook, Marion, The Body Image Trap: Understanding and Rejecting Body Image Myths, 1991 Dolan, Briget and Inez Gitzinger, Why Women? :Gender and Eating Disorders, 1994 Gilligan, Carole and Lyn Mikel Brown, Meeting at the Crossroads: Women's Psychology and Girls'Development, 1992. Kalof, Linda, 'Stereotyped Evaluative Judgements and Female Attractiveness', Gender Issues, 17, 2 (Spring 1999), pp. 68ff. Melanie A. Katzman and Sing Lee, Beyond body image: The integration of feminist and transcultural theories in the understanding of self starvation, Research Article, Department of Psychiatry, Cornell Medical College, New York, New York and Department of Psychiatry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997 Helene Cixous' "The Laugh of the Medusa" Resource Page http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/english/English295/albright/main1.htm [ retrieved on 14.09.08] Pateman, Carole, 'The Disorder of Women', in The Polity Reader in Gender Studies, Polity Press, 1994, pp. 108ff. Teblen, Cyndi, The Body Snatchers: How the Media Shapes Women, 2000. Yadlon, Susan, 'Skinny Women and Good Mothers: the Rhetoric of Risk, Control and Culpability in the Production of Knowledge about Breast Cancer', Feminist Studies, 23. 3 (Fall 1997), pp.645ff Zita, Jacquelyn N., Body Talk: Philosophical Reflections on Sex and Gender, 1998. Read More