Joan Brumberg’s article “Body Projects” brought up a number of interesting points concerning body image and the young women in today’s society. According to Brumberg, young girls believe that body is the ultimate expression of self. At the end of twentieth century, decades of anxiety about various female body parts have culminated into a single powerful mantra that pervades the psyche of American girls: “I hate my body”. Brumberg makes some gross generalizations about the entire female population and some of her statements are too exaggerated. She says, “When we dress little girls in bikinis, we imply adult behavior and unwittingly, we mark them as sexual objects” (118). This statement is a bit perverse. I certainly don’t think putting a three year old tot in a certain bathing suit in any way sexualizes the child. And someone who does associate a bikini on a little girl with a sexual object should be kept very far away from children. Additionally, I took issue with the author’s statements that “a slender body was central to female success”. And “When an American woman dislikes her thighs, she is unlikely to like herself (128). This sounds really ridiculous to me and belittles the entire female gender by implying that our personal happiness is directly dependent on how we feel about our thighs. Many young girls, including myself, might complain about their thighs, but that does not mean that we are so profoundly superficial that our psychological well-being is directly connected to how we feel about a certain body part.
Brumberg’s dramatic tone aside, the text’s main points ring strong and true in the context of today’s body-obsessed society. I found the dieting section about Yvonne to be particularly interesting. Yvonne was just coming into adolescence as society’s views on women’s bodies began to shift away from the matronly dress and full figures of the Victorian period to the onset of the flapper movement and the “century of svelte”. I have always thought of the movement of female liberation in the 1920’s as initiating very positive impact of a female’s position in society. Brumberg has however introduced to me the notion that with this flapper movement came the negative impacts of a body-obsessed female population. In one sense, the “unveiling” of the female body created new freedoms for women in terms of dress, however this was accompanied by increased beauty and dieting demands and the belief that these newly bared body parts must look sleek, svelte and “perfect”. As Brumberg says “This attitude that proclaimed greater freedom also required new internal constraints… What American women did not realize at the time was that their stunning new freedom actually implied the need for greater control of the body, an imperative that would intensify and become even more powerful by the end of the twentieth century” (98).
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One of my initial reactions to the "Body Projects" article was that these issues DO NOT only apply to girls. Take a quick scan around Little Fitness Center and yes, you will see female students dominating the ellipticals and treadmills to achieve a perfectly lean figure. However, you will also see male students using free weights and platforms in an effort to have the toned bodies that the media sets as standard for them. Many men are just as self conscious about their own bodies, they just tend to hide it because it's not particularly masculine to discuss your feelings in such a way.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I found the notion that the freedom women gained in the 1920's has actually made life much harder quite intriguing. This new freedom paved the way for decades of teenage girls to worry constantly about their weight and appearance. Perhaps the most upsetting part is that this new culture of vanity and mindless entertainment took away from "inner qualities, such as strength of character or generosity of spirit." External attributes were becoming as, if not more, important thatn internal attributes.
I never thought much of how the introduction of store-bought clothes led to the creation of an "ideal" type. It leads to the notion that there is a "normal" body, and if you don't fit that norm, there is something wrong with you. The design of bras also creates an "ideal" of what a woman's breasts are supposed to look like. This ideal, of course, is incredibly unnatural since nobody looks the same as they do with a bra and without one.
It is incredibly disheartening how much our consumer society has fed off of women and making them feel incompetent in order to get them to buy, buy, buy. Open any women's magazine and it has endless ways to "improve" yourself and tells you exactly what products you need to do so. Not until reading Gloria Steinem's "Sex, Lies, & Advertising" did I realize that companies go so far as to demand the appropriate "complementary copy" to go along with their ads. Companies everywhere are using women as their pawns for their own benefit by telling them that they aren't good enough. "Cellulite busters" mentioned in "Body Projects" are an example of this. While trying to convince women to buy a product, they are ruining self esteem.
Interesting thoughts, both of you! Emily, your skepticism about the little-girl bikinis is something that I share on some level. I DO see Brumberg's point that this replicates "adult" underwear, and that works to gender little girls. At the same time, Brumberg definitely overlooks the practical aspect of bikinis: they're simply easier to get in and out of (and think about changing diapers/getting little kids in and out of the bathroom!).
ReplyDeleteMissy, I agree that Brumberg's ideas about sizing and body image are one of the most interesting parts of this article; let's definitely bring both of these points up in class!
I agree with Emily's discussion on body image. It is certainly hard to dismiss the pressure to be thin when society and media in particular are constantly scrutinizing everyone's body. We have to rise above the influence of society and accept our bodies the way they are. The Dove commercials I think do a great job in exemplifying this notion and I hope more companies and groups of people jump on board since so many young girls get caught up with the desire to be thin, when in reality, happiness comes from within.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Emily's comment when Brumberg writes,
“When we dress little girls in bikinis, we imply adult behavior and unwittingly, we mark them as sexual objects” (118). When I think of young kids in bikinis, it is more about making it easier when they change and go to the restroom than it it about being sexualized. This along with other comments in her reading goes a bit over the top as Emily expands on.
I too agree with both Emily and Brumberg when it comes to little child bikinis. Emily's point about how people that see little children in bikinis as sex objects should be kept far away from young children did cause me to chuckle but is also very valid. However, I also do agree that Brumberg's point has some validity as bikinis do replicate adult swimwear. If children are taught to try to act as adults at too young an age, how far do these replications extend? Further, when they extend beyond clothes to actual behavior, what does this risk for what children think is acceptable and not in our society?
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