Marina Warner's Monuments And Maidens: The Allegory Of The Female Body

In the context of physical appearance, black woman are only featured with body parts- mainly their “large, rotund behind” (Perry 137). The presentation of the face is mainly limited to white or lighter-complexioned women. The highest idealization of women is one that possesses a “‘high-status’ face combined with a highly sexualized body read by the viewer as the body of a poor or working-class woman” (Perry 137). Perry further substantiates her claim by stating that “women are created or valued by how many fantasy elements have been pieced together in their bodies” (137). She debunks the opposition arguing that the bodies of black women are appreciated by pointing out that only a minority of black women have such attributes, and those without are pressured and struggle to achieve such proportions.

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

“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”  French existentialist writer, Simone de Beauvoir, states in The Second Sex (1949), powerful analysis of what a woman should be in the West. She goes into detail on how femininity is a social construct and was constructed for the male gaze, the patriarchy (Nigel Warburton, 2014). This is an argument in both Sandra Lee Bartky’s Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power, according to her, you are born into your gender, not the characteristics of it (2010, 27). And in Rosalind Gill’s Supersexualize Me!: Advertising and the ‘Midriffs’, she discusses how advertisements are a major factor in shaping our views on what is masculine and feminine (2007, 95). In this essay, I will compare each chapters’ arguments, this includes power and femininity and who is to blame for disciplining women’s bodies to fit a narrow spectrum of femininity; and the similarities of the arguments when discussing how femininity is being shown in the size, movement and appearance of a women’s body and how they both reject societal meanings of femininity.

As you begin Beauty (Re) discovers the Male Body your read of author Susan Bordo spilling her morning coffee over a shockingly sexual advisement of a nude man. Initially, I rolled my eyes and settled in assuming, I was going to read about the tragedy of how men are now being objectified and exposed in adverting like women. As I flip through the pages looking at the scantily clad images I’m not really shocked; this essay was written fifteen years ago; I see these kinds of images going to the mall. What was shocking, however, was how Bordo a published, woman philosopher born in 1947 wrote about these images. I felt myself blush as I read “it seems slightly erect, or perhaps that’s his nonerect size, either way, there’s a substantial presence

There is something subtle about attitudes toward women, something that many people act in accordance to but are only subconsciously aware of. It is the constant judgment that women face, and it is also something Deborah Tannen noticed while sitting in an ordinary meeting one day. During that meeting, she found herself noticing only the females of the room, not the men. Tannen then realized that it was because “The men’s styles were unmarked” (Tannen 389). While there are standard hairstyles and clothing for men, there are none for women. Everything that a woman wears is a reflection of who she is. In her piece titled There Is No Unmarked Woman, she writes about her experience and concludes that women cannot escape judgment no matter what they do.

The intricate balance between oppression and admiration is in constant battle for the human body. In this world there are those who are convinced in total modesty and those who view the human body as sacred. The balance is always broken by uncontrollable hormones and stares of men targeting the perfect women. This ineluctable desire of men always leads to the contretemps in which women sense objectified. Scott Russell Sanders contemplates why men look at women in his excerpt “Looking at women”.

As a female, I am extremely aware of the culture that has been developed around women throughout the world. I believe that as a female I should not have to experience the objectification by men that so profoundly conveys the false belief of the inferiority of women. I believe that I should not be discriminated against or evaluated because of my gender or physical appearance. This generalisation however does not only apply to women. Many men are also subjected to a culture in which they are evaluated by; one of which stresses the importance of a good body image and a sense of masculinity which emphasises strength, control and superiority over weak individuals such as women and children as ‘manly’. These are century old traditions and have stimulated

The artwork advocates for the recognition of women through symbolically inserting them into a period of history where women were not recognised. The artwork contends that we as a society must do better in recognising the great women of history and their achievements. (Edelson, M. B. 2002). Edelson champions how the

The oppression of women is due to a ‘global culture machine’, which consists of the advertising industry, the cosmetic industry and communications media (Chapkis, 1986). From this, a constricted, westernised ideal of beauty is encouraged to women worldwide. Chapkis analyses rituals women go through to achieve ‘perfection’ such as anorexia or bulimia, using these to reveal the levels of oppressiveness these regimes are for women. “Women are entrapped in the beauty system, but there are possibilities for change if women are willing to accept themselves and their bodies as they really are” (Chapkis, 1986). For this to be possible ‘beauty secrets’ (the processes females go through to conform to the cultural ideal) would have to be carefully scrutinized

When looking at a portrait the first questions the viewer should ask is who is in the portrait, who is left out, and what this depiction makes the viewer believe about the person in the portrait. What female artists try to illustrate in their works is how a woman’s body is presented in reality rather than how it is imagined to look in society. Their goals are to break away from the gentle pictures that encompasses how a woman should look and act. They instead illustrate the beauty and ugliness of their environments, histories, and subjects and then place that onto the canvas. In the video interview of Mickalene Thomas she details how her artwork shows the ugliness in the history of beauty and uses these societal notions of beauty to show her own view of it. In these forms of artwork the viewer can see incredible differences in art both past and present.

The book by Wolf (1991) redefines the relationship between beauty and female identity by introducing the concept of the beauty myth. To explain the origins of this idea, the author mentions the rebirth of feminism in the early 1970s. Even though in most cases women were treated equally by law, there was a significant division in gender in society. Women were expected to follow the beauty trends and they felt unsatisfied with themselves when they failed to look like the “role model”, indicated by fashion industry, advertisements and pornography. According to the author, the beauty myth does not come from evolution, sex, gender, aesthetics, it is not even about women themselves, but about men’s institutions and institutional power.

In Waterhouse’s painting, the Lady drifts down the river towards Camelot, her agonized face betraying feelings of loneliness and despair. The Lady of Shalott would eventually die abandoned by her own love, Sir Lancelot. The concept of feminine weakness was common during the Victorian period, with a woman being dominated by her husband. Yet at this time, all were in fact ruled by a woman, Queen Victoria I. Her reign marked the beginning of Britain's journey towards gender equality and saw the rise of the suffragette movement, which was led by women who actively campaigned to get the vote. Though the Pre-Raphaelites were painting at a time when great strides were being made towards gender equality, they still chose to depict women as the “weaker sex.”

n today’s society, the human body is placed on a pedestal for the world to critique. Both women and men are seen as individuals that are supposed to act, dress, and look a certain way. If they falter, they are seen as strange and sometimes called names; this is especially true for women. According to society, man is woman’s better half, and many philosophers have shown interest in this correlation. Beauvoir, in her book The Second Sex, she talks about how women are the “other” and are seen as being less than men are. Also, Young explains in her paper, Throwing Like a Girl, how men and women approach certain obstacles differently. Along with Young’s, paper a company called Always made a promo #LikeAGirl and put into practice what Young states in her paper. Though these philosophers and company have tried to push for woman equality, other companies, such as Hardies, have stopped their efforts. So why do we see women as the lesser half? It is because, how we see the human body, particularly women, is in direct correlation to where and how we are raised.

In patriarchal capitalist society, the dominance of male perspectives on the female body is often presented through the image of the slender body as a form of empowerment through a masculine point of view. For instance, Marx’s interpretation of this type of subjective patriarchal view defines how women are controlled through more masculine identity. For instance, the

Mass Media such as films, advertisements and magazines are the huge influence on the definition of feminine beauty. From watching movie to passing through the subway station, it is quite often to see numerous images of female faces and bodies. Women are exposed in the world where most women display in films and on subway advertising boards are striking poses with little clothes on. Moreover, every image showed is airbrushed with Photoshop. Women are exposed with images produced by the media on what is considered to be the ideal face and body. The way media portray feminine beauty today changes the publics’ standard on feminine beauty and even how females view themselves. This essay will explain the impact of media in