All Hips Are Not Leaving

Another literary device that Lucille Clifton used in the poem was the literary device of repetition. By using repetition, Lucille Clifton emphasized the size of the hips and their power. Throughout the poem the speaker repeatedly said,” These hips…, They want…, They need..., They do…, and They go…” An example of this was when the speaker said,” …these hips/ are free hips. / they don’t like to be held back. / (6-7). In this quote, the speaker was saying that she is free, and that people cannot stop her from doing what she wants. The speaker tried to show women that they should not let anything stop them from doing what they want and that they should

Joan Jacobs Brumberg’s work, The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls, examines how American societal changes are reflected on the female body. Brumberg’s work draws primarily from the diaries of young American girls, giving intimate glimpses into the inner workings of their minds about how they relate to their bodies.

Louise Halfe’s “Body Politics” challenges the qualities and behaviour of the idealized feminine woman by contrasting the stereotypical “city woman” with a more masculine “real woman.” The poem’s speaker describes her mother’s opinion of what it means to be a real woman, which is seen through “Mama said.” Throughout the poem, the speaker uses vivid imagery to create a stark contrast between the idealized feminine “city woman” and a “real woman” who does not conform to the feminine gender norm. To begin with, the title of the poem itself can be viewed as an obvious critique of the feminine ideal. By definition a body politic is a group of people “considered as a collective unit” (Merriam-Webster). This is significant because in Butler’s theory, she emphasizes that a person’s gender can vary depending on a given situation, and therefore women cannot be grouped together and defined exclusively by their feminine qualities. Instead, she argues that women should be viewed as individuals capable of possessing both masculine and feminine behaviour. This belief relates directly to the poem’s title, as Halfe is clearly making a statement on the manner in which patriarchal societies expect women to conform to a singular feminine ideal. Moreover, it illustrates how women’s bodies become a political site for the masculinist culture to impose feminine gender on. With consideration to the title’s reference to a homogeneous group of women, it is interesting that stanzas two through four all

In both poems “Barbie Doll’ and “homage to my hips” the speakers focused on the same idea but had different ways of expressing those ideas. In the poem “Barbie Doll” written by Marge Piercy shows how a young girl is affected by the idea of a “perfect” body that society thinks a girl should have. A Barbie doll is a toy that young girls play with. Barbie is an unrealistic way of how a young girl should look and can ultimately lower one’s self-esteem. The company that makes Barbie decided that it would be beneficial for young girls to see the different body images one can have. On the other hand, in the poem “homage to my hips” the speaker Lucille Clifton is proud and appreciative of her hips. She is able to go against the standard norm of how society wants girls to look and gives her hips the importance that they are actual people themselves. Although “Barbie Doll” and “homage to my hips” have a similar theme while the poets used a different structure and literary devices to portray how society sees a young girls’ body image.

Clifton’s embraces her feminine features what she was born with even though she was born in a patriarchal society. She is proud of her hips because she used them so much in her poem as symbolism. She doesn’t talk about her body or gender with any sign of regret. She is rejecting society’s view of ideal women when she emphasizes her “big hips”. She would be disappointed if she had small hips for her hips have shaped her. She directly goes against the rule that society have set out for her physically and psychologically. Clifton was a African American women before

To achieve this, the body must be abstracted, becoming a process of designing the ideal figure through mutating and etching away any flaws of the sitter. “[The nude is] a balance, prosperous, and confident body: the body reformed” (1956:3) conveying that a woman must be scoured of all imperfections to be confident in her own right. However, Saville contradicts this by almost aggressively painting her flaws, baring herself to all and reviling in her own nakedness. Proving further the empowerment, a woman can feel upon taking control of how others perceive her. Yet, Saville’s pride in her state of nakedness is condemned to vanity, not allowing her to feel entitled to the entity of her body. Berger agrees, calling out men for their hypocrisy in moulding women to view themselves being viewed all to justify the creation of the female nude. “Morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you have depicted for your own pleasure” (1972:51), Berger calls into question the male gaze and the liberties men have taken in portraying women nude, only for them to be shamed in their nakedness. Setting into motion the trend that women are to be ashamed of their body without clothes. Clark further creates insecurities, conveying to women that “to be naked is to be deprived of clothes…embarrassment most of us feel in that condition” (1956:3). Furthermore, to be

Homage to my hips In Clifton’s “Homage to My Hips” she defies the long socially constructed ideal of the female form. She praises her hips, specifically their bigness and power. As opposed to the ideals of slenderness and submission, Clifton prides in her hips’ ability to resist unfair body images. In other words, Clifton likes her body for its size and power, which she calls “free hips”. Furthermore, she writes that her hips “don’t like to be held back and that these hips have never been enslaved”.

From the time of infancy girls are being shaped into society's “perfect image”. It is almost a stigma that if a woman is not a size 2, she is not beautiful. Throughout her poem, Clifton's readers are able to perhaps idolize a woman that is a proud, curvy, Latina woman, who embraces every inch of her hips. “these

The poem “Homage to My Hips” by Lucille Clifton (1936-2010) celebrates the woman’s natural body just as it is. Lucille rejects societal pressures and the tendency of women to conform to the standards of beauty. She then opposes the body shaming which is so widespread in society then and now. During the whole poem, Lucille is very clear on making sure the understanding of her illustration is of a strong idea of

A mother teaches her daughter at an early age about values and morals. Most lessons reflect society’s expectations about what it means to be a woman. Throughout Kincaid’s poem titled Girl, I noticed the use of “how to”, followed by “duties” of a woman. Kincaid’s poem is flooded with variety of emotions, and I feel a personal connection to it. Reading the poem the time setting was in the past days. Women did not take a stand, and felt

In the 1950s, excessively feminine silhouettes were celebrated thus accentuating curves, full bosoms and narrow waists was a prevailing way for women to dress. Nevertheless, with her sphere of influence on women, Audrey Hepburn introduced an alternative to this limited standard of how women—through various aspects of dressing and behaving—should be (Keogh 1). Some of the popular stars who eventually became sex symbols in the period were Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot and Grace Kelly. Hepburn’s physique however, was totally different from these women. She did not have a big bosom or a bottom. She was not curvy. Unlike Audrey Hepburn’s

This poem also talks about what is acceptable or not is defined by the majority. This can be found in lines four and five “’Tis the majority in this, as all, prevail-.” Those lines speak loudly to society’s view on what is and is not considered beautiful. This poem also describes two types of people. You have the “straightaways” (line 7) who are the people who judge the quickest and then you have the “demur” (line 7) who are the weaker people meaning they are more easily influenced and are more likely to change their views so they can fit it. Society has such high standards of beauty that girls are starving themselves just so they are not judged as harshly. The average American woman is a size twelve, yet being a size twelve is considered “fat”

Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996) and Zadie Smith’s On Beauty (2005) have two very culturally and physically different women at their centres. From her diary entries, we can deduce that Bridget Jones is a middle class, white woman in her thirties, who is, despite her proclamations about her obesity, actually an average size. Smith’s third-person realist narrative allows her to construct a clearer picture of Kiki Belsey; she is an American black woman of fifty-two and ‘a solid two hundred and fifty pounds’. What both protagonists have in common, however, is their hyperawareness of their bodies being subject to various gazes. With particular focus on these two characters, this essay will argue that women in these novels are forced

On the day I was born, Rod Stewart’s ‘You Wear It Well’ was number one in the charts. Some might call it coincidence, I prefer to think of it as fate – or at least a clue as to what lay ahead! Ladies, I was once a size eighteen and I know the various difficulties that accom- pany the battle against fluctuating weight. This is precisely why I detest those arti- cles that group women into categories such as pear shape and apple shape. The way I see it, every woman’s body is completely different and cannot be categorised under any one label. Similarly, you often hear the phrase, ‘Style is not something you have, it’s some- thing you inherit.’ NONSENSE! Anyone can be stylish if they want to be and, when you think about it, everyone

Lucille Clifton's “There is a girl inside”, teaches the reader to never let old age influence one's spirit and portrays this by using Clifton's own spirit as an example.