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Abstract
Fat
oppression doesn't just affect fat people or fat women. It really
works to keep everyone in line. Fear of fat is rampant in our society
and is responsible for the current masochistic race toward a slender
body image. We are a culture nearly addicted to individual control
and the notion seems to exist in our society that fatness means
a loss of self-control - which is considered the ultimate moral
failure in our culture, and perhaps the most frightening of all
fears.
Statement
of the Problem
Everyone
is born into a culture - a set of shared ideas about the nature
of reality, the nature of right and wrong, evaluation of what is
good and desirable, and the nature of good and desirable versus
the bad and non-desirable. (Richardson, Taylor, 1983)
The
definition of desirable, with regard to body image, has spanned
rotund to emaciated, with various ideals in-between. And, the methods
for achieving the desirable, idealized image of the times have been
equally as varied.
Today
we live in a society obsessed with thinness and youth. The emphasis
on thinness in our culture not only oppresses overweight women,
it also serves as a form of social and psychological control for
all women:
"Fat
oppression doesn't just affect fat people or fat women. It really
works to keep everyone in line. It's a whole system of social
control that keeps thin women absolutely terrified of being
fat or thinking they are fat, and a whole lot of energy goes
into dealing with fat. It keeps women who are medium-sized absolutely
panic-stricken because they are right on the border. Those of
us who are fat are over that border into some state of
evil, basically, very much outside of what is permissible within
white American culture. If you are fat, then what you are supposed
to do is strive desperately to get non-fat..." (Judith Stein,
Fat Liberation Movement, Mitchell, Newmark, 1981)
The
achievement and maintenance of thinness and beauty is a major female
pastime, as reflected by all of the magazines, newspaper articles,
T.V. shows, commercials, idealized role models, and books that are
aimed at the female audience. This endeavor consumes an enormous
portion of the females' time, energy and money, leaving her little
time for other activities and/or important life issues. But, we
as women play a major role in perpetuating our culture's ridiculous
ideals by buying into the image with the purchase of the magazines,
diet books, beauty books and designer clothes thrust upon us, rather
than developing an acceptable, personal idealized image of our own.
By refusing to take that responsibility, we indeed perpetuate our
own lives of dissatisfaction and self-hatred, and this need not
be so.
Review
of Literature
Idealized
Body Image - Historical Perspective
There
are always underlying reasons for the idealized female body image
- these reasons appearing to stem from political and economic sources.
In
18th Century America the "idealized" Colonial women were tough,
big, muscular, strong and very fertile. (Valentine, 1984) This was
a period of time in the history of our country in which size and
strength were important assets for a woman to possess, for her own
survival as well as her desirability as a wife, mother and worker
of the land. Her fertility was important because the more children
she could produce, the more free labor or helpers the family would
have to work the land.
By
the 19th Century the idealized female body image had changed drastically.
It was now necessary for the ideal woman to be sickly, frail, pale,
wan and prone to fainting alot. (Valentine, 1984) The underlying
reason for this new ideal was political. Women had to be made frail
in order to support or justify slavery in the 1800's. Actually,
what this ideal succeeded in doing was to make slaves of the women
too. Womens' bondage was not in physical labor, but in the restrictive
clothing they were encouraged to wear and the restrictive lifestyle
they were allowed to live.
The
corset came into fashion in the early 1800's and remained in fashion
until the 1920's. With the idealized hourglass figure in fashion,
the corsets were designed and constructed more and more narrowly
through the middle area. This inhibited movement as well as breathing.
But, the women were desirous of meeting the ideal.
Some
women of the time had ribs surgically removed that kept them from
corseting themselves into a small enough waist size, which was the
desired image. There was strong competition for men and marriage,
since women generally had no means of supporting themselves.
This
was a time when the family unit was everything and it was a women's
duty to bear lots of children, obey her husband (and men in general)
and keep her mouth shut.(Todd,
1984) Femininity was synonymous with weakness, frailty, grace and
romanticism. Beauty was defined as pallor of skin, tiny waist and
a large bustle. (Todd, 1984) Women were less than second-class citizens.
They were denied the right to an enjoyable life.
Men
reflected a lot of status by having a wife who fit the ideal of
that time. That fact still seems to hold true. Admiring glances
fell upon the fragile waist that could be hand-spanned and lifted
by a pair of strong male hands. (Brownmiller, 1984) For the women
who resorted to those extreme physical measures in order to effectively
compete for prized men, the removal of their lower ribs actually
succeeded in dislocating their kidneys, liver and other organs,
as well as causing other medical problems. (Hynowitz, Weissman,
1978)
Another
manner in which women could demonstrate and confirm their frailty
was by fainting. Charm schools were opened to teach women the fine
art of fainting -how to position oneself, who should be present
in the room, etc. ( Valentine, 1984) The charms of the fainting
female so exquisitely demonstrated the need for masculine protection.
(Brownmiller, 1984) Women assumed the position in society of goddesses
and were a demonstration of "the poetry of dependency." (Stanton,
1851)
The
beginning of the women's movement in the mid 1800's had a major
effect on body image. The corset was specifically attacked for its
restrictiveness - both in breathing and in movement. "If all women
should decide not to wear corsets, nothing would be thought of it."
(Connally, 1903) There is alot of power on reserve for women as
a group that they have yet to utilize. However, many women did band
together during this time period and converted to a corset-free
figure. It seems that when women agitate for equality and start
gaining independence, body types and fashions reflect it.
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