Lucille Clifton's 'Homage To My Hips'

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.

In this essay Margaret Atwood starts off the writing essay explaining how the female body is a topic of interest recently. She goes into further detail and personifies the word topic into her human body. Each paragraph has different points to be pointed out in her writing so she numbers her paragraphs along with her points. She goes into concrete descriptions of her daily routine such as rubbing her “topic” with a towel and having her “topic” feel like hell. She then goes onto the second paragraph where she analyzes the stereotypical female accessories such as a nose ring, veil, and brassier with many other types of accessories.

In her essay “Throwing Like a Girl,” Iris Marion Young examines why women move differently than do men. She discusses the apparent observable differences in bodily comportment, physical engagement with things, ways of using the body in performing tasks, and bodily self-image of feminine existence. Young makes the argument that the differences between men and women are not caused by a mysterious “essence” or by any biological or anatomical limitation, but, rather, we are socialized into “being” in our bodily space by the situation surrounding our existence.

This reading looks at the negative connotations and attitudes that are connected to the Black Females butt and how it defines their sexuality. Janell Hobson comments on the fact that society generally perceives black bodies as “grotesque” and connects this assumption to the ‘othering’ factor. The white body is what is deemed to be ideal and the pinnacle of beauty, the black female body is the opposite and something that is not to be desired. She goes on to talk about the focus on the black women’s backside in rap music. What it believed to be a celebration and acceptance for a black women’s butt in comparison to a white women’s, is in fact not the case. While white women are mocked for not having as large a butt, black women are still being

There are many companies in the world today that put an idea of this perfect female body into the heads of women. These images lead to a faulty standard men hold of women and their bodies and that women strive to become. Margaret Atwood addresses the issue of the way men view the female body by writing her essay in the viewpoints of a male so the reader can better understand how the expectation men have of the female body is unrealistic. First, she uses an allusive comparison to show the male expectation of the female body and how it is objectified as if it were a doll that comes with accessories. Next, she uses an anecdote with defamiliarization to show how the way the father views a Barbie doll and the way it portrays the female body to young girls is hypocritical. Lastly, Margaret Atwood uses insidious diction to talk about how men not only view the female body as a product but how they also use the female body as a product which can be sold amongst businessmen. In The Female Body, Margaret Atwood uses many rhetorical devices to convey how the female body is viewed through the eyes of men.

The “petty places” she is describing are literally places that larger hips may be looked down upon and also metaphorically symbolizes places like the kitchen or the bedroom; places that women are expected to be in, inn her society. Clifton believes women don’t want to be in these places that won’t get them anywhere in the world, they want to go out and do what they want and want to have some sense of fulfillment in their lives. However, During the time period, this poem was written when females were stereotyped and told to look a certain way. The fact that females always belonged in the kitchen whiles men went out there an pursued their dreams was bizarre . it's so surreal how females had no rights to peruse what we wanted to but rather, men were praised and men were "the head".

In Iris Marion Young’s influential piece “Throwing Like a Girl: A Phenomenology of Feminine Body Comportment, Motility, and Spatiality,” she discusses the expression of feminine movement and the effects of a gendered spatial perspective and view of the body. Drawing on previous works by Simone de Beauvoir and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, she constructs an argument about the limitation of women’s movements, at least in her specific historic and cultural context. She relates how the difference between masculine and feminine body movements are not explained through biological differences or a certain feminine “essence,” but through a woman’s view of herself and her body, formed by the influences of outside society. Through a study of the orientation of movement of women’s bodies, Young illustrates how women are restricted, confined, inhibited physically, and objectified, by their own power and the power of society.

Woman empowerment in "homage to my hips" In the poem "Homage to my hips", Lucille Clifton celebrates her femininity by paying homage to her hips. For being written in 1936, this poem goes against the grid of societal norms and encourages women to take pride in who they are. Her hips symbolize that despite being viewed as inferior, women are free and powerful. Women are often put into a little box and expected to behave and live a certain way.

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

It is imperative to go through each authors works and understand why they did what they did and how it affected the people around them. First, I will discuss Duncan and the early 1900’s (creative expression and suffrage). I’ll talk about how Duncan used nude dancing as a form of art to express freedom and democracy for women. To analyze Duncan and her approach, I will use My Life, Duncan’s autobiography, “My Idea of Dancing” and “The Freedom of Woman”. Next, I will ’ll move into Baldwin and the Civil Right’s Movement in the 1960’s. I’ll

The main focus of this article was on the depiction of the figure Salome, and the meanings behind these interpretations. Lawrence Kramer discusses this topic on two fronts: the late 19th century hypersexualizing of Salome and a more critical approach that stresses the study of the music itself. The author presents the works of many late 19th century artists and draws upon criticism/discussion of more modern scholars to help make his point. He concludes that though it would be easy to analysis Salome, especially in the late 19th century, as the Freudian trend towards sexualizing everything, it also provides a deeper view of the cultural underpinnings that create some of these dated and misogynistic notions/ideas.

towards her body does not need any viewers’ definition. From disguising and performing, she conveys the aspiration of merging herself with the mother-like

Today we live in a society where the female body has become so sexualized that a girl showing her skin is considered “distracting” or “asking for it”. In The Woman Upstairs, the protagonist Nora is an incredibly interesting character due to the different roles she plays in life and how she models herself and her opinions after those roles. At times Nora is a strong, independent and freethinking artist who applauds the female body, while at other times she becomes yet another victim of the stresses society forces upon women with the sexualization of their bodies and implied shame alongside. Through this almost character split Messud demonstrates both the ideal and real perception of the female body, and in doing so demonstrates an utterly

There is no singular body at any point only but “our” bodies. Anonymity then is also relevant to Vivien’s poem. One cannot differentiate between the present “our” bodies and ancient “their” bodies either. No difference exists between them, as they are mirror images of each other. The bodies in the poem are queer as they are both anonymous and imitated, yet simultaneously the bodies transcend time. Bridging a long period of time (ancient Greece to 19th centure Britain) means Vivien does not have a full picture of how these women of Lesbos lived. Imitating the past