The Body Project By Joan Jacobs Brumberg: Chapter Analysis

First of all, there was this body whose daily changes she noted behind the closed bathroom door until one of her sisters knocked that Carla’s turn was over. How she wished she could wrap her body up the way she’s heard Chinese girls had their feet bound so they wouldn’t grow. She would stay herself, a quick, skinny girl with brown eyes and a braid down her back, a girl she just begun to feel could get things in this world.” (Alvarez,71)

For my discussion, I chose to write about Susan Bordo’s “Reading the Slender Body”. In the article, it discusses the lengths people would go to to achieve the “perfect” body. A young, athletic runner, was interviewed and she said, “Between the hunger and the muscle pain from the constant workouts? I can’t tell you how much I hurt. “A lot of people would take dramatic measures to ensure they achieve the body they want. I think the cost is only worthwhile if people learn how to diet and exercise correctly. When people want to lose weight or get healthy, they often have to give up junk food and eat smaller portions. I think those costs would be worthwhile. Some people tried to starve themselves just to achieve looks but do not realize they are

People have been fighting with themselves, and with popular culture at large, for years, regarding the idea of the “perfect body.” Though it could be argued that this battle is being waged mostly by women, there has been a shift in today’s society, where the quest for the perfect body includes both sexes. And as the 20th Century marched on and became the 21st, this idea of a beautiful body became thinner, waif-like, less and less substantial, and most definitely much less healthy. In addition, in her article “Never Just Pictures,” author Susan Bordo argues fashion photography, primarily, but definitely not independently, has been scaling down and thinning out the image of idealized beauty, making it harder and harder to achieve healthily or socially. Bordo explains images, of angular beautiful models has informed all of popular culture, growing beyond merely the realms of fashion. And this, Bordo tells us, contributes to a sense of societal longing and lack of

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.

A menstrual cycle is a key element in a woman’s life, as each month it helps the recurring pregnancy process; that should be respected and normalized to all sexes. It is essential to the human race’s reproduction, despite the costs and taboos placed on periods.

By extension, this also included the lenses of The Body, Romantic Love, and Tradition. Not wanting to go the traditional route of finding angry YouTube celebrities raging on about rape culture and blatant sexism, I turned to the world of fiction novels that represent real problems in America. There, the novel The Handmaid’s Tale, was presented to me. This became my primary source quickly, as it describes the commodification of women and their bodies. A woman's worth is directly related as to whether or not she is fruitful during the act of copulation, in a dystopian reality where the chances of conception are 1 in 40. For my reference source, I chose EBSCO as it was provided to me through the Holman Library and allowed me to search through numerous scholarly articles. My multimedia secondary source is a Prezi presentation that elaborates on the color of oppression in the The Handmaid’s Tale. This prezi elaborates on the symbolism found within The Handmaid’s Tale, as showcased by the use of color and dress styles. For my scholarly secondary source, an article discussing the double standards of purity in a woman body as presented in a magazine article proved

The tips provided in the latter part of the pamphlet attempt to dispel earlier false, preconceived notions of menstruation yet they adhere to the dominant ideologies of femininity. This is emphasized through images which specifically place the female character in the home and ultimately illustrate that marriage and reproduction are necessary highlights in a successful lady’s timeline (or lifeline?). The booklet maintains menstruation as a “new set of problems” that young women must now learn to cope with and in order to do so, Kotex will lead the way. Much like learning how to properly curl your hair or learning to allow a gentleman to pay for the date, Kotex was now the answer for being “in the know” when it comes to menstrual

During Adolescence children are transitioning into adulthood. At this time, both boys and girls are experiencing hormonal changes. Both sexes react differently to these changes. Girls begin menarche typically between the ages of twelve and thirteen years of age. At this time girls are mostly informed, however girls still feel that they are not prepared and find themselves in a state of surprise when menarche starts (Berk, 2014, p. 365). It has been found that African American girls may be better prepared for their change and transition much easier than their Caucasian classmates. Girls tend to tell their friends that they are menstruating; therefore they are more apt to get the support of others through this change (Berk, 2014, p. 368).

American society, Martin says is organized around distinctions of home and the outside workaday world. Cultural conceptions that place menopause, pregnancy and mensuration in the realm of family and home, however, women see them as inextricable from work and school. How to find private space and time to change tampons in high school (sometimes middle school) and at work.? How to conceal hot flashes and exhaustion from business associates? Women are asked to do the impossible-to-control hides their body functions in institutions that do not honor their needs.

Thesis: This is because society teaches women that our bodies should remain covered, modest, and most importantly controlled, and yet the female anatomy is frequently used as a marketing tool to sell any product a company pleases.

In terms of this change, Melanie starts to conceive herself as being a new person who is different from what she used to know in her childhood period. She feels the need for exploring and forming her gender identity in this age that could form a part of her existence. Therefore, she follows the social and cultural expectations as a way for achieving this task. In this exploring journey, Melanie becomes aware of the feminist aspects that she gains as a result of her biological maturing; she starts observing her female body that has flourished and attempting to construct her female identity based on her physical developments, “She thought: Physically, I have probably reached my peak” ( Carter, 9). She feels the power that her body starts giving her and wishes to employ in the process of forming her female identity. This kind of awareness of the feminist aspects of her body is the first method that she uses to construct her gender identity. Human beings, at this age, act according to a certain way that is socially and culturally expected of their bodies. For example, having a female or a male shape means to behave according to its standards and practice some assigned gender roles that can define the type of gender identity that you have. Thus, body is a signifier of human gender identity. Individuals manipulate their femininity, masculinity and sexuality to form their gender identities that ascribed to their

Today it is very common to see young girls and women having issues with their bodies. Sadly, so many young girls are developing body issues because of history, mental health, and social media because of these popular issues so many girls can not look in a mirror without feeling disgusted with them and hating everything about them. Hopefully, girls can find a way to look in a mirror and say with confidence that they are beautiful no matter what social media says. Some of the ways girls can help fight body issues are changing history, help girls understand mental health issues, and educate young women on social

Susan Bordo in her work, Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body, points out that “the human body is itself a politically inscribed entity, its physiology and morphology shaped by histories and practices of containment and control.” (1993, 21). That is, a pure body cannot be found, it is already inscribed, defined and explained by its very origin. But it is significant to analyze that body cannot be included and excluded in a fixed definition of society as in the way it’s beyond the fixity. Body is a social construction and its performance itself is a socially constructed notion. Performance of body according to gender, race, class, cast, power, in this way the very body and its performance are assigned, classified and conditioned by the society. Performance of a body in a fixed notion rightly points towards the imitation of the constructed norms of society. It is the way gender also

This literature review seeks to illustrate how attitudes and behaviors are affected by the onset of menarche and menstruation through a woman’s life. A young women 's introduction to menstruation are constructed by both positive and negative perceptions and are then perpetuated by the influences of culture, religion, family members, and the media (Rembeck, Möller & Gunnarsson, 2006; Roberts, 2004). In turn these influences typically create negative attitudes towards menstruation, which affect a woman’s body image leading to self-objectification, and causing disconnection from their mother, themselves, and other women. Most discussion concerning menarche are perpetuated negatively especially through the media, promoting its existence as a shameful event that requires hygienic management (Stubbs & Costos, 2004). Through engagement of dialogues throughout religious texts and within familial members primarily the matriarch, girls and women are conditioned to believe they must control their menstruating bodies quietly and secretly. Menstruation can be described as a Jekyll and Hyde phenomenon (Stubbs, 2008), which causes a disconnection from self. Most women describe their menstruating selves as a completely different person from their “normal” selves. Topics explored within this paper will guide research for future exploratory or empirical studies.

The history of women being forced to cover arbitrary parts of their bodies to adhere to modesty laws is rooted in the Victorian Age. Horrified by the erotic exhibitionism and sexual lawlessness of their Georgian parents, Victorians collectively reshaped society into passionless citizens painfully concerned with adhering to strict morality and modesty. The shift in women’s fashion from loose, low-cut, flowing gowns to high collared, long sleeved dresses, was the most visual change of values (Boyd). Women’s bodies, once glorified and revered, were seen as scandalous and inherently impure. The late nineteenth century was “an era of contention