Oprah Winfrey's Panopticon

Social media has been a platform for misogyny and rape culture to propagate. Women are constantly reminded of what they “should” look like through photo’s shared and spread around the internet. Social media has the power to influence many things such as disrespect towards women. Although it is not highly recognized

Women are sexually exploited in the media. In today’s society if people watch television programs such as Chingy featuring Snoop & Ludacris – Holidae; Charlie's Angels; the Z100 commercial with Britney Spears; or Baywatch they will see that the feminine image is presented differently than the masculine. In these programs men are typically placed in sexual situations fully clothed, while women are presented in provocative clothing or less. The camera will frequently zoom in on body parts to focus on the woman’s buttocks, midriff, and legs. Society is still dominated by men who control what people see. As a result women are increasingly portrayed as sex symbols as a way for a media company to turn

Ehrenreich’s “Welcome to Cancerland” narrative resists becoming normate, she is critical of the economics and gendering surrounding breast cancer in mainstream culture biomedicine. Ehrenreich states that “more so than in the case of any other disease, breast cancer organizations and events feed on generous flow to corporate support (45).” Ehrenreich writes that “it is the very blandness of breast cancer, at least in mainstream perceptions, that makes it an attractive object of corporate charity and a way for companies to brand themselves friend of the middle aged female market” (48). Corporations make a profit while also appearing to care for individuals with breast cancer. The events sponsored by corporations engage with breast cancer on a surface level, much of the “ultra feminine theme of the breast cancer “market place” is “a response to the treatments’ disastrous effects on one’s looks” (46). The mainstream often does not recognize the treatment effects, environmental causes, the long-term psychological, physical, and social impact of people who survive or live with the disease, which Ehrenreich states. Furthermore, the focus on the appearance of women show that the breast cancer market reinforces patriarchal ideals and normative modes of gendering that Ehrenreich resists. Ehrenreich states that like the marketplace, the breast cancer industry largely profits, it is a $12-16 billion industry in surgery and treatments (health care centers, chemotherapy, radiation, drugs, and other options enforced by the biomedical industry) (51). Ehrenreich notes that one-third of Avon Breast Cancer Crusade, twenty-five percent of Komen of money is spent on advertising for races (51). The survivors who participate in races or purchasing breast cancer merchandise “are the best possible advertisements for routine screening mammograms, early

Miss Representation: Essay A stereotypical representation of how women are over sexualised in the American media is presented in the documentary of Miss Representation. We see stereotypes of women being viewed as bitchy, catty and only useful in media texts as sexualised objects. The American mass media bombard the market with sexual imagery of women by cramming the media with unrealistic manipulated images of women whom sadly appeal to the youth of not only the American population, but also all other countries that consume that media. This affects most of the American population, especially girls, by subconsciously pressuring them into thinking that these manipulated images are ideal and if you don’t look like how society wants you to look,

Foucault's "Panopticism" (1979) is a careful piece that talks about how a panoptic framework would impact culture, society, the political, and individuals. Foucault describes panopticon is to “induce the inmate a state of conscious and visibility that assures the automatic function of power.” Foucault mentions, surveillance has a lasting effects, regardless of the fact that it is discontinuous in its activity; that the perfection of power ought to render its real unneeded practice. The Inmates are in a dominating circumstance that they are them-selves the bearers. Foucault (201, 202–3) also mentions that "He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and knows it, expect responsibility regardless of the constrains of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon

I have always believed that modern women were discreet about subjects, such as wanting more money, sex, and exercise; however, prior to reading Cosmopolitan I was unaware that this content was available for males to purchase and gain more insight on women. My initial perception of Cosmopolitan was that I would be bombarded by articles on clothing, make up, and celebrities; instead, I stumbled upon articles about emergency funds, cycling, and the best sex toy in the market. Upon analyzing women’s magazine Octobers Cosmopolitan I was able to examine articles that went against my expectations and views on the opposite sex because I discovered women are concerned with their finances, lust, and bodily improvement.

Perhaps the first and most glaring appeal to People and any other pop culture “bible,” so to speak, would be the well-known and promiscuously-dressed celebrity on the front- typically a woman. Contrary to initial expectation, this tactic doesn’t lure men into the trap; it lures women. Whether they feel inferior or simply interested in the woman’s beauty, we don’t know, but the reader still becomes prey to the publisher. Similarly, we select celebrities to be the spokesperson of our media because it insinuates that their project or objective contains more substance than others since there is a celebrity working with the magazine. Even seeing a professional football player such as Tom Brady or Cam Newton on the cover of Men’s Health would lead men to believe that the only way to be as healthy as Brady ot Newton would be to read the

The nature of celebrity has undergone a dramatic transformation in the last century, particularly in the qualifications necessary for becoming famous In Daniel J. Boorstin’s The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, he argues that in previous centuries, notable individuals were “heroes” who were celebrated for their “greatness in some achievements” (49). Eventually, due to the rise of mass media, a “celebrity” was created in which the credentials for merit all but disappeared. Instead the celebrity became “a person who is well known for his well-knowness” (Boorstin 57). Currently, there is no other celebrity in the world who is more famous for being famous than Kim Kardashian. Kardashian did not rely on traditional accomplishments to achieve celebrity status; instead, she exploited her renowned beauty, particularly her curvaceous figure. However, that is not to say that she is any less impactful. Her highly publicized and controversial actions, most of which relate to her free expression of sexuality, are criticized and praised by millions of people every day. Indeed, it is Kardashian’s ability to generate so much feedback that makes her such an influential pop culture icon, and this has only increased since she became a mother. The controversies surrounding her famous body showcase the many opposing attitudes that society has on the relationship between motherhood and female sexuality.

While being visible, the prisoner's in the cells would be unsure if those in the guard tower were consistently watching them from the same place, and this combination of fear and confusion would cause them to become docile and complaint to the will of the wardens. French philosopher Michel Foucault argues that the Panopticon model is how power functions on all levels of society, and according to his thesis, power depends on a combination of isolation and ignorance of the nature and extent of the power's control (Foucault). Relating to this definition of power the differences between the “subject,” or the individual subject to a greater power, and the “self,” the self-determined individual free of power's constrictions and a comparison to a larger power (Nealon&Giroux). In the context of Bentham and Foucault's work, the individuals occupying the cells of the Panopticon are subject to those in the guard tower—literally in the structure and in the structure as applied as a metaphor for power in society. The principles presented here as to how power functions and protects itself can be applied to both novelist Bram Stoker's Dracula and abolitionist and suffragist Sojourner Truth's speech Ain't I a Woman?.

Author Michel Foucault uses the Panopticon as a metaphor to define the relationship between the discipline and punishment system, and the concept of power-knowledge. Discerning the population equates to power and knowledge. Power is gained by the information you acquire when keeping close tabs on people. The Panopticon uses a different method of “discipline”.

Popular culture has an undeniable influence on how society perceives itself. When examining mass culture, one must keep in mind the equilibrium between how much we, as a society, affect the way popular culture is constructed and to what extent popular culture influences the way we view ourselves and shapes our ideologies. An aspect of popular culture that may serve to greatly exemplify this theory of society as both the affecter and the affected is the genre of magazines targeted at young women. Though these publications are targeted as the representation of our society’s adolescent females, they actually have a great influence over the ways in which teens view and construct

The Panopticon better known as the perfect prison offers a jarring reflection of how society has been monitoring and policing our women through several different practices within a social cycle. Feminist philosopher, Sandra Lee Bartky, displays how everyone in society is guilty of monitoring and policing of femininity in her article, “Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power” Bartky’s symbolic use of the Panopticon is a way to allude that systems set in place by the male patriarchy have been a tool in order to oppress and objectify women. Despite the idea of the Panopticon being used to show how women are scrutinized the rest of Bartkey’s argument seems to have flaws by not fully exploring content and making generalizations on who can and cannot be policed. Bartky’s inference to the Panopticon is poignant but despite this the argument made in her article is lacking as she does not fully develop upon her ideas.

Sandra Bartky begins her piece by explaining Michel Foucault’s ideas about modern power dynamics. Unlike in the past, power in modern society focuses not only on controlling the products of the body but, rather, on governing all its activities. In order for this power to continue, people are disciplined into becoming “docile bodies” which are subjected and practiced (Bartky, 63). This discipline is imposed through constant surveillance in a manner similar to the Panopticon. Inmates in said prison are always visible to a guard in the central tower, so they mentally coerced into monitoring their own behavior. In the same way, individuals become their own jailers and subject themselves to the society’s whim due to being in a “state of conscious and permanent visibility” to its all-seeing eye (65). Bartky, however, breaks from Foucault’s theory by claiming that there is a clear difference in the disciplines imposed on men and women that are ignored in the latter’s writings.

The media, which seems to endlessly show women as sexual objects, has the capability of limiting a woman’s potential and damaging their self worth. More often than not the media depicts the way people go about their daily life. People look at the media to determine how they should dress, act and in some cases even how they should perform sexually. There are the fashion magazines that focus on beauty, attracting and satisfying men, self-improvement, and (occasionally) work and politics. Examples are Vogue (emphasizing fashion and makeup), Cosmopolitan (emphasizing sexuality and relationships with men), and Self (emphasizing self-improvement and employment). Not only are most magazines directed at women, but the ones that are directed towards men are about work and politics, not about how to improve your looks or please your woman. The media along with other social institutions plays a large role in how women are viewed. A horrible example is being set for today’s youth, and men are taking the loss of self respect of women in the media to the extremes, thinking that they can degrade women in everyday life as well. With the constant representation of women being viewed as nothing more than sexual objects, women themselves are beginning to feel as though they have little or no potential, as well as no self

The general public has responded to gender biases in all the different sectors of society that they manifest in. Whether that be during the developmental childhood years, or into adulthood where women are underrepresented by the media or portrayed as “eye candy” for men and not afforded the same opportunities. A pin from Pinterest leads to a story for the Huffington Post, written by Caroline Bologna, of a seven-year-old name Maggie, who while shopping at a chain store, was disappointed to see advertised on a marvel superhero clock, “ fun gift for boys.” As a huge superhero fan, Maggie was not happy by the gender biased advertisement and her mother, Karen Cole captured her daughters displeasure in a photo she later tweeted with the caption: “My superhero loving 7yo daughter not impressed when she spotted this sign in @Tesco today @LetToysBeToys” The tweet soon after went viral as it garnered support for the advocacy of gender neutral toys. Influential celebrities like Zendaya have also reacted to the oversexualization and digital manipulation of women 's body, by rejecting the use of photoshop and revealing the untouched version for their fans and the public. Found on Pinterest, the pin depicts Zendaya’s social media post where she uploaded the unedited version of the photo alongside the photoshopped picture, with the following caption: "Had a new shoot come out today and was shocked when I found my 19 year old hips and torso quite manipulated,