Body Image By David Bordo

The hypersexualization of females is fairly prevalent across different cultures. The media seems to be bombarded by it; magazines are plastered with risque images of barely clothed woman and even young girls. In 2011, a French issue of Vogue featured females as young as ten years-old as models, “Stretched and slinked on an array of animal furs.” Their clothing was low cut and revealing. This prompted the French

‘‘Fleshmarket’’ is set in Edinburgh in 1828. Two of the main characters are Robbie and Essie who are brother and sister. They live in an awful, poverty stricken environment in the old town after everything changed when their mother died at the hands of Doctor Robert Knox. Robbie Blames Knox for his horrible life and suffering as he believes Knox has not suffered yet and he took away the good life Robbie nearly had before Knox operated on his mum and this leads to his deep obsession with Knox.

“Beauty” by Tony Hoagland was written in 1998. In this poem, Hoagland expresses his feelings on how women care too much about physical appearances. Throughout his poem he tells the story through the eyes of a brother of a girl who learns to love herself for who she is. Hoagland’s poem stresses the importance that beauty goes deeper than the surface. Throughout his poem, Tony Hoagland uses many literary devices to perfect his poem. These devices include the message, tone, imagery, figures of speech, and personification.

Looking back on history men’s and women’s roles haven’t always been divided; both genders were needed to work and provide and until the fourteen hundreds, they wore the same clothing. Men’s fashion developed to show the reality of their bodies with apparel such as tights, while women’s bodies were accentuated in tight bodices. Bordo shows us that as men’s clothing became more comfortable and utilitarian their role in society followed suit. Men today are supposed to be active; they are workers, the penetrators, the ones in control. Advertisements in the essay show us men continually portrayed as “rocks,” aggressively facing the camera or actively working. When women appear, they are simply to be gazed at and admired for their beauty. The images of men acting coincide with society’s standard of men being the

A quite common misconception of advertising is that only women are sexually objectified to sell a product, when in most cases men are just as sexually glorified. Men are shown in an array of different types of ads such as ones for cologne, razors, alcohol, etcetera. Depending on the product being sold there is a very distinguishable type of man being shown. Classy men in suits, manly guys with large muscles and excessive facial hair, or men surrounded by varying amounts of beautiful women. These three general types of males are depicted this way because that is generally how most men strive to be.

In "A Woman's Beauty: Put-down or Power Source," Susan Sontag portrays how a woman's beauty has been degraded while being called beautiful and how that conceives their true identity as it seems to portray innocence and honesty while hiding the ugliness of the truth. Over the years, women have being classified as the gentler sex and regarded as the fairer gender. Sontag uses narrative structure to express the conventional attitude, which defines beauty as a concept applied today only to women and their outward appearance. She accomplishes this by using the technique of contrast to distinguish the beauty between men and women and establishing a variation in her essay, by using effective language.

Masculinity is not a single-definition trait; it relies on an ever-changing spectrum which can never be truly measured because of all the different factors having to be considered. The “manly” man of the 1800’s, who’s emotions were hidden to display strength, would no longer be considered the “ideal” male in society. As shown in the ads of Suistudio; feminist ideals have permeated into the “thick coating” of the masculine archetype. No longer is “femininity” in need of the male protectorate as a sturdy platform to build a steady life on in an ever-changing world, for they are becoming one in the same. Suistudio’s recent ad campaign shows that preferred-masculinity is changing from its traditional firmness to a strength shown by a man’s emotional comfort within an evolving world while protruding the outward appearance of physical health.

In watching the 2012 Super Bowl commercials, we can see versions of hegemonic masculinity demonstrated. Perhaps the most vivid version was seen in H&M’s Super Bowl ad, utilizing soccer (futbol) star, David Beckham:

I chose gender criticism this theory to analyze the gender roles and the gender expectations displayed in “Lady Susan”. I chose this theory because “Lady Susan” mainly discussed the relationship between males and females, and the interesting gender roles the characters played. Thus, gender criticism theory can help me to understand and comprehend the underlying meanings of different characters’ conducts and personalities as females.

In this analysis, the author examines the staging of male and female subjects in visual discourse by deconstructing advertisements that involve gendered subjects, examine gender on an institutional level, and look at gender as a performance. Advertisements are the most conventional ways to portray commercial realism, something that could be real because they don’t look peculiar or weird- they look normal. The big question asked by Erving Goffman, author of the book, “Gender Advertisements” is why do these advertisements not look strange to us when in fact they really are (Jhally)?

Society follows a norm that requires a general agreement between groups in order to function as a whole. Human beings are social “group animals” (Lessing 1) and need each other to survive with the intention to get along or fit in. These desires to conform “influence our idea about ourselves” (Lessing 1) and people lose a sense of their inner self based on these insecurities. The false concept of ideal beauty of body image is displayed in the media and it pressures young women and men to accept this particular notion of beauty. The role of the media comes into play because it pressures individuals to give in, since they appeal to our need, which is to be accepted. Although, people oppose to media pressuring individuals to conform, it is clear

In absolute terms, the author of the earlier examined piece, gives obvious illustrations of established and recognized male personalities, and applies them to his preferred vocation; however, I personally believe he has mixed feelings, in both his message and individual beliefs. While there is no doubt he enjoys his work, society has likely

When one looks at an image from Calvin Klein, Victoria's Secret, or Versace, the first appeal comes from beautiful models. These individuals are normally jumping, laughing and representing every idealistic way of life by manifesting the idea of a blind promise. Unfortunately, these images are not only created with the intent of being manipulative, but also to resemble the present history involving societal roles. At the moment, Ads are able to capture the political ideologies or the social influences in order to represent the position of modern times. On the other hand, the Versace brand recently released a new campaign on Fall clothes bringing to light a different topic. At a quick glance, the Versace Advertisement depicts the everyday family of four. However, through John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, the picture represents the hegemonic portrayal of male dominance, the suppressive forces of society on women, and the influence publicity has on the surveyed. Through this lens, one can understand the social relations and expectations publicity creates for individuals.

Women have historically been seen as sex objects while men have been seen as “success objects.” “Marked Women” by Deborah Tannen, “A Woman’s Beauty: Put Down or Power Source?” by Susan Sontag, “The Men We Carry in Our Minds” by Scott Russell Sanders, and “Man Bashing: Trivial Pursuits or a Truth with Consequences?” by Warren Farrell discuss these two sides to gender roles. These essays most effectively argue that women face more challenges in today’s society than men.

The Body Shop was founded in 1976 in Brighton (UK) by Dame Anita Roddick. The Body Shop began life as a small outfit in Brighton selling just 25 products. The customers were encouraged to recycle packaging (the part of the reason is because Roddick do not have enough bottles at first) and there was a real focus on natural ingredients that were ethically sourced and cruelty-free (cosmetics products manufacture by methods that do not involve experimentation on animals). The company has now more than 2100 franchised stores in over 60 counties.