Monday, March 8, 2010
Blog #7
An eating disorder is defined by "any of several psychological disorders (as anorexia nervosa or bulimia) characterized by serious disturbances of eating behavior" (Merriam Webster) But an eating disorder can be more than anorexia or bulimia. Any disordered eating habits including binge eating (over eating)
Friday, March 5, 2010
Paper #1
1. The beauty myth is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a culture and defines what beauty is. Wolf says about it, “The beauty myth is always actually prescribing behavior, not appearance.” In some ways, the beauty myth exists as a way to maintain control over women (and increasingly men). Wolf cites this in her book by saying that every time women loosen their restraints in society, the beauty myth takes an ever firming grasp on their lives - the bra, the razor, the girdle. All of the previous examples were created for sale to women as they were trying to gain freedoms in society, such as the right to vote or the right to own property. As women gained sexual freedom, the ideas that shaped women’s sexuality became another false goal that actually suppressed their sexual identity.
The beauty myth tells women they are not beautiful because of (fill in the blank). As cultures change, the beauty myth changes and evolves to continue oppression of women. Wolf also recognizes that men are affected by the beauty myth as well. Increasingly, homosexual men have images of beauty they must fit, and some men feel pressure to look like body builders with the use of steroids. It affects every one of us. Whether our opinions of our own bodies change, or our ideals of what makes others beautiful changes.
Reality shows on VH1 and MTV consistently show women with tan skin, large breasts and fake hair competing for one man’s love. Celebrities fill our TV screens and magazines with recently altered faces to fit the “ideal” image of beauty. Fashion repeatedly exploits women for their bodies. Recently, American Apparel held the “Best Bottom in the World” competition. They asked women from around the globe to submit pictures of their behinds to their website to see who had the best butt. Feminist blogs all over the Web exploded with comments. AA moved beyond objectifying models’ bodies, now they are objectifying their customers’ bodies.
2. The Internet pornography revolution brought porn into every household whether you want it there or not. With an alarming amount of porn at their fingertips, many men become desensitized and need more unusual styles of sex to get them aroused. In the documentary style MTV show, “True Life,” three men who are addicted to porn tell their stories. One man revealed that he had to watch the weird stuff, violent sex, because normal porn did not do anything for him after years of daily pornography use. Wolf also cites the same subject of women’s vulnerability in her book. She said, “If the women depicted in mass culture are “beautiful” and abused, abuse is a mark of desirability. For young men, “beauty” is defined as that which never says no, and that which is not really human.” She goes on to illustrate the results of a study that showed 61% of college aged men said it would be exciting to use force to subdue a woman.
The advertisement I chose that offends me depicts a young woman in sexy clothing and high heels being held down by a shirtless man. She appears to be resisting , albeit in a sexy manner, while he holds her down by her wrists. Gathered around are four men, one shirtless and one almost shirtless, all looking at the scene before them. They appear to be waiting their turn. The scene illustrates a rape/gang rape situation with one women and five men. The ad is for Dolce and Gabbana, a fashion clothing company. It appeared in Esquire, a men’s magazine whose slogan is “Man at his best.” I must argue, that men using violent sex and depicting gang rapes is hardly illustrating the so-called man at his best. The ad is using violent sex as a way to sell men’s clothes, although I’m not sure how that works. I suppose it implies that if you wear Dolce and Gabbana (but not too much because you want your oily muscles to shine in the sun), you can use your manliness to overpower defenseless women with your friends - not a very strong or socially acceptable message if you ask me. I digress.
Ads like this pose a dangerous threat to women in society. They normalize violence in sex and make it acceptable for men to treat women as sexual objects. The same can be said for violent pornography. In the book, Wolf cites a study that showed that 1 in 4 women had an experience that qualified as rape. Many of those women do not even associate their situations with rape. Wolf says images like this encourage violence toward women and rape among young men in our society. The issue arises with repeated exposure to the objectification of women in ads like this and shows on television stations such as MTV.
Companies like Dolce and Gabbana use ads like this for their shock value. They know that negative publicity brings positive revenue, so the consequences mean nothing to them. Dollar signs are increasingly posing a risk to women’s safety and health. This is seen not only in the fashion industry, but the makeup industry and the cosmetic surgery industry to name a few. If society will ever move beyond violence toward women, we must move beyond images like this:
3. The ad I chose as my “like” is unusual. I chose to avoid the Dove ads and the anti-ED ads and search for something a little more subtle. It is less something that sends a positive message, and more something that empowers women. The ad could be seen as innocent or could be seen as overtly sexual. It was highly offensive to Catholics around the world. The ad shows a reasonably fit, naked man (facing away from the camera of course) posing as a nude model. Two nuns sit, sketching the man’s body and two are simply watching the man with lustful eyes. The nuns sit with their habits pulled up to thigh height, revealing a garter. The advertisement, though it is not as apparent as some ads, is selling gym memberships. Equinox fitness sells fitness as a healthy life goal, and I agree with them. The ad is portraying a man with a very nice body. The lighting highlights his muscles while the shadows create flattering illusions. I find it interesting that the ad is targeting men, while showing the body of only a naked man. Of course, the argument could be reversed that the ad is implying, “come work out with us and women who don’t have sex will throw themselves at you.” However, that was not my initial reaction to the ad and I realize that ads can all be interpreted in multiple ways.
When I view this ad, I see women, religious women even, showing sexuality without taking off their clothes. The lustful looks imply that the nuns want the man. Yes, women who have given their bodies to God have sexual feelings for Adam’s descendants. Wolf states in her book that, “religious guilt suppresses women’s sexuality.” And I tend to agree with her. She goes on, “the female sexual organs are what the older religions feared as ‘the insatiable cunt.’” I see this as an interesting point. Many religions hide their women. Catholic women become nuns and hide their bodies and save their virginity for God. Muslim women hide behind veils and are separate from their men during religious ceremonies. While I believe in every person’s right to choose their own religion, it appears that these cultures are suppressing their women’s sexuality. This ad shows that the epitome of unsexy has sexual feelings as well. I would imagine that these ‘untouchable’ women of God are also often subjects of pornography, but that is a different discussion for a different time. I appreciate this ad for its ability to objectify a man and to give sexual identities to women who aren’t often described as having sexual identities. The ad goes beyond the stereotypes of women in religion and gives them a new power: to be sexual.
The beauty myth tells women they are not beautiful because of (fill in the blank). As cultures change, the beauty myth changes and evolves to continue oppression of women. Wolf also recognizes that men are affected by the beauty myth as well. Increasingly, homosexual men have images of beauty they must fit, and some men feel pressure to look like body builders with the use of steroids. It affects every one of us. Whether our opinions of our own bodies change, or our ideals of what makes others beautiful changes.
Reality shows on VH1 and MTV consistently show women with tan skin, large breasts and fake hair competing for one man’s love. Celebrities fill our TV screens and magazines with recently altered faces to fit the “ideal” image of beauty. Fashion repeatedly exploits women for their bodies. Recently, American Apparel held the “Best Bottom in the World” competition. They asked women from around the globe to submit pictures of their behinds to their website to see who had the best butt. Feminist blogs all over the Web exploded with comments. AA moved beyond objectifying models’ bodies, now they are objectifying their customers’ bodies.
2. The Internet pornography revolution brought porn into every household whether you want it there or not. With an alarming amount of porn at their fingertips, many men become desensitized and need more unusual styles of sex to get them aroused. In the documentary style MTV show, “True Life,” three men who are addicted to porn tell their stories. One man revealed that he had to watch the weird stuff, violent sex, because normal porn did not do anything for him after years of daily pornography use. Wolf also cites the same subject of women’s vulnerability in her book. She said, “If the women depicted in mass culture are “beautiful” and abused, abuse is a mark of desirability. For young men, “beauty” is defined as that which never says no, and that which is not really human.” She goes on to illustrate the results of a study that showed 61% of college aged men said it would be exciting to use force to subdue a woman.
The advertisement I chose that offends me depicts a young woman in sexy clothing and high heels being held down by a shirtless man. She appears to be resisting , albeit in a sexy manner, while he holds her down by her wrists. Gathered around are four men, one shirtless and one almost shirtless, all looking at the scene before them. They appear to be waiting their turn. The scene illustrates a rape/gang rape situation with one women and five men. The ad is for Dolce and Gabbana, a fashion clothing company. It appeared in Esquire, a men’s magazine whose slogan is “Man at his best.” I must argue, that men using violent sex and depicting gang rapes is hardly illustrating the so-called man at his best. The ad is using violent sex as a way to sell men’s clothes, although I’m not sure how that works. I suppose it implies that if you wear Dolce and Gabbana (but not too much because you want your oily muscles to shine in the sun), you can use your manliness to overpower defenseless women with your friends - not a very strong or socially acceptable message if you ask me. I digress.
Ads like this pose a dangerous threat to women in society. They normalize violence in sex and make it acceptable for men to treat women as sexual objects. The same can be said for violent pornography. In the book, Wolf cites a study that showed that 1 in 4 women had an experience that qualified as rape. Many of those women do not even associate their situations with rape. Wolf says images like this encourage violence toward women and rape among young men in our society. The issue arises with repeated exposure to the objectification of women in ads like this and shows on television stations such as MTV.
Companies like Dolce and Gabbana use ads like this for their shock value. They know that negative publicity brings positive revenue, so the consequences mean nothing to them. Dollar signs are increasingly posing a risk to women’s safety and health. This is seen not only in the fashion industry, but the makeup industry and the cosmetic surgery industry to name a few. If society will ever move beyond violence toward women, we must move beyond images like this:
3. The ad I chose as my “like” is unusual. I chose to avoid the Dove ads and the anti-ED ads and search for something a little more subtle. It is less something that sends a positive message, and more something that empowers women. The ad could be seen as innocent or could be seen as overtly sexual. It was highly offensive to Catholics around the world. The ad shows a reasonably fit, naked man (facing away from the camera of course) posing as a nude model. Two nuns sit, sketching the man’s body and two are simply watching the man with lustful eyes. The nuns sit with their habits pulled up to thigh height, revealing a garter. The advertisement, though it is not as apparent as some ads, is selling gym memberships. Equinox fitness sells fitness as a healthy life goal, and I agree with them. The ad is portraying a man with a very nice body. The lighting highlights his muscles while the shadows create flattering illusions. I find it interesting that the ad is targeting men, while showing the body of only a naked man. Of course, the argument could be reversed that the ad is implying, “come work out with us and women who don’t have sex will throw themselves at you.” However, that was not my initial reaction to the ad and I realize that ads can all be interpreted in multiple ways.
When I view this ad, I see women, religious women even, showing sexuality without taking off their clothes. The lustful looks imply that the nuns want the man. Yes, women who have given their bodies to God have sexual feelings for Adam’s descendants. Wolf states in her book that, “religious guilt suppresses women’s sexuality.” And I tend to agree with her. She goes on, “the female sexual organs are what the older religions feared as ‘the insatiable cunt.’” I see this as an interesting point. Many religions hide their women. Catholic women become nuns and hide their bodies and save their virginity for God. Muslim women hide behind veils and are separate from their men during religious ceremonies. While I believe in every person’s right to choose their own religion, it appears that these cultures are suppressing their women’s sexuality. This ad shows that the epitome of unsexy has sexual feelings as well. I would imagine that these ‘untouchable’ women of God are also often subjects of pornography, but that is a different discussion for a different time. I appreciate this ad for its ability to objectify a man and to give sexual identities to women who aren’t often described as having sexual identities. The ad goes beyond the stereotypes of women in religion and gives them a new power: to be sexual.
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