Women Vs Society

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Words: 2329
Pages: 10
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Ashley Bixby
Jennifer Alvey
Women and Gender Studies
3/13/14
Women vs. Society and its Standards In the American society, as well as around the world, women have to face problems each and every day. The most prominent problems revolve around women’s bodies and their bodily health. Imagine each day having to try to measure up to ridiculous societal standards that say your body is not what is should be, and having to constantly defend yourself, and your decisions, concerning your own body. This is the real life struggle for American women, of all social identities. Within the chapter “Women’s Bodies, Women’s Health”, and the reading that follow, the women authors describe specific and alarming problems that are present in our society in regards to women and their bodies. Over the past several decades, it is clear that women have made great progress. Women have gained more sexual freedom, access to contraceptives, and new ways to ensure reproductive health. However, as women have gained more power and freedom, the beauty ideals for women and their bodies has dramatically increased as problematic. In the United States, women are portrayed, within in the media, e.g. television, magazines, advertisements, as “perfect”. However, perfect is not truly perfect. “Perfect” is exemplified as skinny (unhealthily skinny), young, light-skinned, vulnerable, small, and lesser. Women’s bodies are constantly objectified as advertisers create shapes, logos, and even things such as beer bottles out of women’s bodies, or even simply parts of their bodies (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey 210). The beauty ideals which the American society has created are anything but appropriate or accurate. Women as supposed to be young; this ideal is ageist because it makes men and women alike believe that women are only beauty and worthy is they are young and gorgeous. It is implied that once women are “old”, they are dried-up and not desirable. Women are supposed to be light-skinned; among many issues, this is racist because black women are targeted. Because of this ideal that women’s skin must be light and flawless, many black women are led to bleaching their skin, which is highly dangerous and extreme, or women simply feel lesser and like they do not measure up to the “perfect woman”. Though, it may not be clear and obvious, this “perfect woman” ideal is heterosexist. Why? Woman are portrayed as vulnerable, weak, subordinate; this is because, in contrast, men are dominant, strong, and “on-top”. Women are “supposed to be” perfect for their men; women are supposed to grow up, be gorgeous and perfect, and marry a man, be subordinate, and raise a family. Clearly, American beauty ideals are created in a way in which makes women believe that they are “meant for men”, that their beauty is only important because they need to satisfy men. Though, able-bodied women may not realize this, the American beauty ideals are incredibly ablebodyist. This simply means that the beauty ideals favor women who are able-bodied. This point is exemplified by the fact that, when one looks at any portion of the media, beautiful women are almost never disabled in any way. In People magazine, how often does a woman see a woman star who is in a wheel chair or who has some sort of disability? Though American society’s beauty ideals are drastic and unrealistic, not all communities within American hold the same meso-level ideals as the macro-level. Because communities are diverse and can be vastly different than the represented American population, meso-level beauty ideals can be marginally different that the society’s ideals. In the Jewish community, as well as the African American and Latin communities, the beauty ideal of being unhealthily skinny, to the point where women’s bones are showing, is ridiculous and unheard of. The American Jewish word “zaftig” describes a voluptuous women in a positive way. Zaftig means the woman embodies strength and sexiness (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey 211). In African American
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