Post #4: My Body Should Not Be Your Problem

Women’s bodies are policed in several different ways. Body policing is about more than just telling women what they can and cannot do. It includes creating structural ideologies that use the media to convince society about body images that are acceptable. It includes creating legislation about women’s bodies without their input. The policing of women’s bodies involves convincing women that they do not have a say in how they are viewed and whether or not their needs will be addressed in society. The problem with this is that it is mostly done by men and reinforced through advertising and media. This does not nothing but spread insecurity and infiltrate the minds of the most susceptible to advertising - teenagers. According to Beauty and the Beast of Advertising, “Most teenagers are sensitive to peer pressure and find it difficult to resist or even question the dominant cultural messages perpetuated and reinforced by the media.” This makes them more susceptible to developing eating disorders, depression and self esteem issues due to what they interpret as the ideal body image and the misconception that women are only meant to be sex objects and housewives. (Kilbourne, 122-124) In addition to body image issues, it signals to women their lack of autonomy in society.

Wykes Gunther discusses the relationship between media and body image. “The mass media reinforce and reproduce thinness within a whole history of cultural constructions of femininity which make it acceptable to audiences and so sellable to advertisers (207).” Constructing definitions of beauty that fail to reflect the general public is damaging to women because it creates a single story about beauty and how to achieve societal acceptance. This is even more damaging to women of color when they do not see themselves reflected in the media or worse - when the realization about the standard of beauty is revealed to be paradoxical and harmful to them. Women can’t win when it comes to body image unless advertising and dominant fashion images say otherwise. Gunther points out that female celebrities have power and influence however, “even when they were featured in their own right, usually because of ‘star’ status, it was their bodies and their sexual status in relation to a man that formed the image and the store.” (209) This bares a striking similarity to ‘Ways of Seeing’ about how women are viewed, “the ‘ideal’ spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him.” (Berger, 64) Even when women are in positions of power and appear to be in control of their bodies, the stories that supposedly demonstrate their importance are tied to men. Their image is therefore policed by the patriarchy and the media. The constant over representation of unhealthy body images and tying female importance to men in the media impacts the way that women, especially young girls see themselves. It determines who women seek out as role models and gives unrealistic expectations to men about what women look like.

Trying to be perfect

For years women have been taught that they are for the viewing pleasure of men or in the words of Berger, “Men act and women appear.” (47) While it is one thing for women to accept that they are at a disadvantage in society, it is different thing to tell them that they have little control over their own bodies. That kind control is in the hands of men in government; who don’t know the first thing about what it means to live in a woman’s body. Pregnancy and birth control are two topics that women should have a right to decide upon. Roxane Gay discusses how pregnancy is changed from a private, intimate experience to a public one due to government legislation when it comes to a woman choosing to exercise her right to terminate her pregnancy. “Several states have introduced and/or passed legislation mandating women receive ultrasounds before they receive an abortion.” This kind of legislation polices the bodies of women by taking away their right to control over the very anatomy they were born with and placing it in the hands of people who don’t have the anatomical equipment or burden to have to make that choice. Women carry have to children and deal with physical changes to their bodies, hormones, childbirth and ultimately changes to their livelihood but yet if they decide that they aren’t ready for that responsibility and want to abort, their choice is met by ridicule by conservatives who seek to undermine and make it more difficult to exercise their right to choices. Gay writes, “Waiting periods, counseling, ultrasounds, transvaginal ultrasounds, sonogram storytelling, all of these legislative moves are invasive, insulting, and condescending because they are deeply misguided attempts to pressure women into changing their minds, to pressure women into not terminating their pregnancies, as if women are so easily swayed that such petty and cruel stall tactics will work.” Birth control is also highly politicized and threats to healthcare legislation makes it harder for women to exercise control over their bodies. As Gay puts it, these debates single that “the rights of women are not inalienable.”

No Birth Control for you

My body should not be your problem but for some reason you (men, conservatives, government legislation) choose to make it one. Policing women’s bodies gives the message that they lack autonomy over the one thing that they should control. The irony in men making these decisions is painful especially when it is left in the hands of those who have been accused of abusing women. It tells women that their opinion doesn’t matter even in areas that it should count the most i.e., reproductive rights and women’s rights. The media affects the ways we view these issues and how they are legislated. The more media coverage an issue gets, the more ground that can be broken through. The media’s news coverage of the Me Too movement and the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings showed that sexual harassment and assault were important. While coverage of these issues do not necessarily equate to victories, it allows for more discourse and movements to deal with issues that people see are important. As culture changes, it forces advertising to change and work toward diversity and inclusion. Although the goal of advertising is to sell and generate income, increased representation in the media and news coverage of important women’s rights issues for advertisers to follow suit - even though they may not always get it right which we see with companies like Pantene and Dove that work to create advertising to combat negative images of body image.

Articles Referenced:
Berger - Ways of Seeing
Gay - The Alienable Rights of Women
Gunther - Conclusion: Body Messages and Body Meanings
Kilbourne - The Beauty and the Beast of Advertising