Gender And Sexuality

Alike gender, sexuality is also a social construct, especially when looking at the period before the 18th century, when one’s sexual orientation did not matter, hence there being no need for justification, just as pointed by Foucault: “Sexual practices had little need of secrecy; words were said without undue reticence, and things were done without too much concealment; one had a tolerant familiarity with the illicit.” (3). And the 19th century came and brought with it a big change, and not only did people become engulfed by social norms, whom they should abide at all costs, but they also had to keep their sexual preferences under lock and key: “But twilight soon fell upon this bright day, followed by the monotonous nights of the Victorian

There is a cliché quote that people say, “Beauty is in the eye of beholder.” But in the essay “The Ugly Truth About Beauty” (1998) Dave Barry argues about how women who spend countless hours on their so called “beauty” whereas men seem not to care. Barry uses juxtaposition and exaggeration to poke fun at men and women behavior and shed light on the harm that the beauty industry is doing. When Barry argues his point of his essay he addresses both genders, but more specifically teenage to middle age men and women, but he writes about it in a humorous and light-hearted manner.

Explanation: Sontag discusses the endless battle women face with beauty. By showing that the term beauty “has accumulated certain demeaning overtones” (Sontag 238), she shows the negative connotation beauty has now received and explains

Reference: Roger McMichaels. A Deeper Look at Beauty. New York: Graymark, 1995. The quoted material is taken from page

The argument of The Beauty Myth is that as women have received more eminence, the standard of their personal appearance has also grown. Wolf’s position on the issue is that this type of social control is potentially just as restrictive as the traditional roles of women. The Beauty Myth discusses how society’s viewpoint of beauty is detrimental to women because it causes many emotional and psychological problems to women who strive to become “perfect”. This book is important due to the fact it raises awareness to the issues that many young women are currently facing.

Beauty is seen as one of the most important aspects of an individual as it the first characteristic someone notices about a person. Some are treated differently due to his or her aesthetically pleasing or displeasing face and is most evident in the book Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C. S. Lewis that takes place approximately in the time period 700 to 450 B.C. In the novel Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C. S. Lewis the three central female characters, Orual, Psyche, and Redival, are all regarded to differently based on their physical appearances and this attitude is prevalent in modern society.

Beauty is traditionally defined as a concept that focuses on a combination of qualities such as shape, color or form that pleases the aesthetic sense, especially the sight. With this interpretation there is a general standard to what is “beautiful” and what is not that is appealing to everyone. However, there has been an increase in the belief that the judgement of beauty is relative to different individuals and/or cultures and that there are no universal criteria of beauty. Within the novel, Love Medicine, written by Louise Erdrich, there is an emphasis on the more novel conceptualization of beauty. Beauty still induces attraction, but what has changed is what is considered attractive.

According to the philosopher Thomas Nagel, the concept of “sexual perversion” falls under the rubric of psychological rather than biological, anatomical, or reproductive categories. Psychological rather than physiological since sexual perversion does not occur in lower life forms and it is the psychological aspect of it that makes the distinction. Not just for reproduction

In his novel, The Six Names of Beauty, Crispin Sartwell describes beauty in the simplest of terms, “beauty is the object of longing” (3). The Greek Goddess Aphrodite has been associated with beauty, love and sexual desire since seemingly the beginning of time, and the pure, Aphrodisiac ideas of beauty will never truly fade; therefore, Aphrodite will never fade away from our culture, “Her stay would be never-ending, her work never complete,” (Paris 13). The connection between the goddess and the ideas of beauty is clear, but is often overlooked in favor of labeling her as the goddess of love and desire. The relation of beauty to every other aspect of life is one that Paris mentions and one I find of particular interest, as without beauty

It’s difficult to envision a world where idealized female imagery is not plastered everywhere, but our present circumstance is a relatively new occurrence. Before the mass media existed, our ideas of beauty were restricted to our own communities. Until the introduction of photography in 1839, people were not exposed to real-life images of faces and bodies. Most people did not even own mirrors. Today, however, we are more obsessed with our appearance than ever before. But the concern about appearance is quite normal and understandable given society’s standards. According to Jane Kilborne, “Every period of history has had its own standards of what is and is not beautiful, and every contemporary society has its own distinctive concept of the

Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, and sadly the beholder’s eye is usually warped by what society generally deems to be beautiful. In today’s society, things such as youth and slenderness are often deemed to be conventionally beautiful. One could also argue that fair or light skin are often deemed as being more beautiful than that which is not. While being deemed attractive rather than beautiful, one thing that society tends to promote when paired with two or more of the above traits is also a sexual manner of

There is a common clique stating that beauty is pain. However, this message has a dangerous connotation to it, and the poems “Barbie Doll” and “Beauty” identify the woes of striving for society’s image of beauty. In today’s society, what is considered beautiful emphasizes physical characteristics over other aspects, also women can drastically change their self-perception depending on whether they are engaged in following the trends.

A trait that has classified women for centuries is beauty. It is one of human beings’ most prevalent propensities to judge a woman by her beauty. This is act of a simple natural inclination has caused debate and moral lapses within society. Susan Sontag’s essay A Woman’s Beauty: Put-down or Power Source? presents the arguments of whether or not the beauty of a woman is adverse to the woman as a whole.

In “Hookers at the Point,” the issues of gender and sexuality clearly play an important role in prostitution. Prostitution is one of the most controversial and complex subjects in many parts of the world. Some feminist theorists believe that prostitution is a form of violence against females and others believe is a way for females to be in control of their sexuality. According to sociologist Susie Jacobs, who explores the link between sexuality and gender control, “women’s sexuality is regulated in most or all societies and regulation is maintained through the legal sphere, social constraints and punishments” (Jacobs, 2014). Thus, the idea of selling sex is considered linked to a system of male power that represents “the absolute embodiment of patriarchal man privilege” (Kesler, 2002). This cultural stereotype of prostitutes is complicated because the motivation behind prostitution varies.

The concept of femininity is associated with beauty. As sontag explains, “A beautiful woman, we say in English. But a handsome man”. Sontag discusses how beauty used to be a word that described the whole being and addressed both sexes but has morphed into a charged word that focuses only on the outer self and is usually used toward women. This change in language