It is evident that femininity paradigms are cultural products. Throughout history, western cultural has characterized feminine women as overly emotional, weak, submissive, inadequate, and inferior; essentially traits contrary to that of a man. Although contemporary cultural has made progress in shifting this paradigm, there are still flaws in the way our cultural views femininity. Butler, philosopher and feminist thinker, claims ‘sex’ is an ideal construct which is forcibly materialized by regulatory norms over time, such materialization is achieved through a powerful reiteration of those norms (Butler, 1993). While some characterizations of femininity have faded with progression, such as inadequacy, others seem to be protruding more and more in our modern age. Specifically, the sexual appeal of women has an overbearing influence on our conceptions of femininity in western culture. This idea is reflected in how media representations of women predominantly portray sexual appeal as a defining element of femininity. To say further, media influences the femininity paradigm through defining what is beautiful, instigating what is desirable, and constructs a discipline.
An illustrated example of this idea is shown is the film Miss Congeniality (2002). Gracie Hart, played by Sandra Bullock, is initially represented as rugged, tough, and severely uninterested in her appearance. The female FBI agent was considered to be one of the guys, which was reaffirmed through her participation in a wrestling match with her male FBI partner (and winning), the furthest thing from what we consider to be feminine. Gracie Hart then is forced to get all dolled up for her undercover assignment. After her make-over she is all of a sudden attractive and sexually appealing, and needless to say grabs the attention of her FBI partner Eric Matthews. Yet, this romance was merely due to her new sexual appeal that transformed her into a more feminine woman. The film took Gracie’s same body, the same face, the same hair, the same personality which were initially undesirable to Eric and altered her appearance to fit into what is deemed beautiful. Miss Congeniality strongly correlates physical beauty with the concept of femininity.
Desirability in women has been explicitly instigated by media representations. These attributes are governed by what heterosexual males find to be attractive, which provide visual differentiating from masculinity, in particular a sexual appeal. In order to be desired as a woman, there are certain standards set by ideological imagery. Beyond the possession of beauty, media femininity also puts reliance on attributes of desirability. An enhancement of feminine features often incorporates certain commodities that assist women in presenting themselves as more sexually desirable; such commodities include make-up to enhance facial features, push-up bras to enhance bust size, spanks to define a slimmer figure, high heels to enhance long legs. Again, drawing from Miss Congeniality, it was not until Eric Matthews saw Gracie in high heels, a tight red dress, push up bra, and make-up that he saw her for anything more than just one of the guys. Therefore, by partaking is such behavior a Gracie was looked at as feminine, yet the basis is mainly centered on this idea of sexual appeal.
Through media’s depiction of beauty and desirability, women are conditioned to view these ideal standards as normal. Going back to Butler's claims,‘sex’ is not a simple fact or static condition of a body, but a process whereby regulatory norms materialize it (Barker 298). Many women contribute extensive efforts into their appearance in order to achieved satisfaction towards this goal of normalization. Therefore, women are then disciplined by the standards of cultural media. Elaborated on this idea, Susan Bordo, author of Material Girl suggests that this disciplinary reality is effaced in the construction of all self-transformations as equally arbitrary, all variants of the same trivial game, without differing culture valence. The general tyranny of fashion – perpetual, elusive, and instructing the female body in a pedagogy of personal inadequacy and lack – is a powerful discipline for the normalization of all women in this culture. The femininity paradigm is largely influenced by this discipline.
There are apparent differences between how the media portrays femininity and realistic cultural views. Yet, it is quite apparent that media’s tendencies have created somewhat of a disciplinary function as to how women portray themselves has feminine. The element of sexual appeal has been predominantly been used in media works more so than traditional characteristics associated with femininity.
Work Cited
Barker, Chris. Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. London: Sage, 2008. Print
Butler, Judith. Bodies that Matter. London and New York: Routledge, 1993. Print
Bordo,Susan. "Material Girl: The Effacements of Postmodern Culture." Michigan Quarterly Review (Fall/Winter 1990).
Miss Congeniality. Dir. Donald Petrie. 2000. Film
No comments:
Post a Comment