Powerful Discourses Regarding Women's Bodies

I chose to conduct my research on how the role of media affects how women perceive body image. I was interested in knowing the ways in which the media influenced the ways in which they perceive themselves and their beauty. In order to perform my research, I conducted surveys of female students ranging from ages 18-28, carried out experimental research on them to test whether they feel worse about their bodies after being exposed to thin media models than after being exposed to other types of images…

Discourse of Sex and the Creation of Docile Bodies Subjection is a process that operates in society, and according to sociologist Michel Foucault, can be applied to a multiplicity of discourses. Foucault explains that the beginning of the nineteenth century marked the age of sexual repression and censorship, which became a time of subjection through exerting disciplinary control over a docile population. In his The Introduction to the History of Sexuality, Foucault explains how the scientification…

In her essay, “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses,” Chandra Talpade Mohanty explores the simplified construction of the “third-world woman” in hegemonic feminist discourses. In contrast, in her essay “US Third-World Feminism: The Theory and Method of Oppositional Consciousness in the Postmodern World,” Chela Sandoval specifically analyzes “US third-world feminism” and how it is the model for not only oppositional political activity, but also consciousness in the United…

A discourse community is a club or group of people who share a particular interest and use a certain register of language to communicate with each other. A register is another way in which how something is said or written and can be just as important as the meaning of the message. We communicate with one another in many ways, either by e-mail, telephone, text, face-to-face, social media or letters, and the language we use allows us to get things done. However, the language and communication method…

the accompanying images. Frequently, the representation relies on the use of stereotypes and cultural bias. The language used in news stories can be used to represent particular groups or cultures which conform to the existing stereotypes – it is a powerful tool by which the attitudes can be constructed, promoted or challenged. People in the news are defined by their gender, race, age, sexuality or religion and therefore can be exposed to discrimination on these grounds. Mostly, the representation of…

Women’s Bodies in Taoism “I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.” This powerful statement by Henry Emerson Fosdick so simply defines the concept of a common Chinese religion. Taoism is a religion practiced by many Asians and by people around the world. It is a religion that is so beautifully complex and yet based on principle as simple as breathing in and out. This paper will outline some basic…

Beauty can be a powerful entity for humans to manipulate and mutilate their outward appearances through cultures for social status and re-identification. Thus, the purpose for aesthetic alteration and modification have become much more common in our current fluctuated society that we live in and Korea is no exception to this. It is undoubtable that the popularity of cosmetic surgery have drastically increased, particularly in South Korea where culture trends rapidly shift, a nation ranked first…

Maquiladoras and the Exploitation of Women's Bodies Works Cited Missing In a changing economic and political climate gender stereotypes in Juárez, Mexico refuse to change. With an increasing number of women forced into the workplace in maquiladoras(1), men's position and women's assumed position in society is being challenged. This changing economic environment in an unchanging cultural environment is part of the reason that young women are disappearing being raped and mutilated before ultimately…

Discourse Community Project 1 According to Porter, “A ‘discourse community’ is a group of individuals bound by a common interest who communicate through approved channels and whose discourse is regulated. A discourse community shares assumptions about what objects are appropriate for examination and discussion, what constitutes ‘evidence’ and ‘validity’ and what formal conventions are followed (38-39).” These five texts collectively constitute a community of discourse through their application of…

The women’s movement had been characterized by women's wish to acquire equal legal status to men by obtaining civil and political rights recorded in the Constitution and legislation. In Romania, the first wave of the feminist movement had been held simultaneously with the women’s movement in West, and it had been a movement of the elite, educated women with access to international information. An important period of this movement was before the establishment of the Romanian Constitution in 1923.…