Posting Assignment #3 (due Sunday 10/3, 11:59 P.M.) Body Practices in Everyday Life

Find an example of a body practice from your everyday life (things you do or people around you do, images of bodies and practices and so on). Describe it (if it's an image, post the image) and explain what it does and how it does it (in terms of our work, of course; things like: docile bodies, image and self image, choice / agency, 'pursuit(s) without a terminus' (Bordo, 166), constitutive power, 'other-oriented emotional economy' (Bordo, 171), and so on.

Perfection in the Body of Eve

In Susan Bordo's article she claims that women strive to look a certain way to fit in with our culture and society. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia generally occur the most in white middle- to upper-class women. These women are striving to look their best for their significant others, friends and families. They want to be seen as powerful and strong. Men generally look at woman with thin bodies over women with healthier curves. This is due to our culture; so often we see the thin, beautiful women plastered on the billboards, ads, and TV screens with gorgeous men trailing after them. This leads young girls and teenagers to believe that the only way to score some nice arm candy is by cutting off any kind of candy at all and conforming her appetite to fit into the norm of society. 

As stated earlier, eating disorders are most common in the white middle- to upper-class women, coincidentally Christianity is also very common to this type of women. This picture shows Adam and Eve, the first people created by God. I think that fact alone makes this picture even more powerful. THIS picture is how women and men are supposed to look, because THESE are the first ever humans created by God. If a woman is striving for perfection in the eyes of men, this picture might even suggest what it takes to look perfect in the eyes of God.

Slave to Society

Susan Bordo offers a "cultural approach to the body" by putting together this group of essays that focus on how culture has so much to do with the way we as a society portray our bodies and vise versa. Bordo argues that all that we do to our bodies and how we present them whether it seem strange or extreme is based upon how our culture has brought us up. The influence, which creates the idea that, for example we should be skinny as a woman and or tough and macho as a guy is all surrounded around the concept that our body is our "medium of culture". Bordo claims that our body is the center of all we want to be and who we are represented as in society along with the normalities of whatever culture we are in.

This picture on the right is called "The Slave Market" by Jean-Leon Gerome. Richard Leppert gives us the idea that this picture represents the little power and voice women have. In this photograph the nude woman is being examined as to whether or not she is worth the amount being asked for, for she is being sold as a slave and bargained about. The woman is offered up as an object and represents sexuality in a different way. The woman in the picture is not standing in a seductive position or in a way to be looked at . Instead the woman is being closely critiqued and observed putting a sexual sign in the image through the fingers in her mouth feeling her teeth. Bordo would look at this picture and probably claim that this photograph reinforces that culture portrays woman as a symbol of sex and or representing women as an object to men or their “owners” whether it is direct or indirect.

Bordo and Lepperts ideas taken together show through this image and in culture and society that what how our body is portrayed represents how much power as a woman we have or do not. The men in this society have control and this cultures influence shows that a woman can be treated as an object and without power they can be much more vunerable and yet still always representing or selling some sort of sex. Although it is not shown as much in society anymore a naked woman now a days is debated whether or not it brings empowerment or just the opposite. Either way our bodies portray us in a way and construct views for how the rest of society sees and acknowledges us both woman and men.

In Susan Bordo's piece "Unbearable Weight", Bordo consistently makes a point to remind us that, through culture, women are held to a certain standard and looked down upon if they do not adhere to this social construction of a woman's body. She raises the idea that woman can use their bodies as a means to empower themselves, which, when analyzing many aspects of modern american culture, still holds true today. We can see this obviously in things like t.v and magazine ads and not so obviously in things like the posture of woman or body language.

In the image "Valpicon Bather", there sits a naked woman as she prepares to enter the bath. The woman is sitting with her back towards the viewer while still fully exposed. She is also clearly unaware she is being watched from behind her. Leppert explains that the woman (and any woman in general) must be aware of the actions her and her body are doing in order to hold any power. I feel this claim in itself both supports and contradicts Bordo's thesis. Once again, Bordo feels that women use eating disorders and other methods to control their bodies and subsequently have power over other people. Leppert's claim supports this in the sense that you obviously make a conscious effort to begin starving yourself and shoving an out of place object down your throat to induce vomiting. But what about the power WE give someone? I feel the woman pictured above still unknowingly holds power over the peeping tom watching her. The fact that she is a private setting preparing for a bath with her back turned to us lets us know she does not want to be seen exposed. And with the action of having her back facing us, she is unwittingly holding power over the viewer, who has a desire to see more as Leppert states in the reading. The Peeping Tom has given the woman power over themselves by silently watching her, but unsuccessfully catching her fully exposed from the front of her body.

...Alien vs. Media predator...

Bordo mentions that the "ideal" female image is currently being torn between a feminine look while also trying to incorporate a level of masculinity. She uses Sigourney Weaver's role in Aliens as an example of this ambiguous (Bordo uses the word androgynous) image for women.

How are

women supposed to create a balance between a "natural" feminine look while obtaining this masculine quality, which seems to be physically impossible without the aid of surgery in some cases? Or maybe the question should be why do they need to try to obtain this image for themselves?

And then we have this image:

It's a total contrasting image of Sigourney. The women in the picture are voluptuous and relaxed compared to Sigourney's jagged and alert masculine portrayal. Even the items that the ladies are holding seems to have something about their gender image. In the Aliens picture Sigourney is holding an unmistakable phallic symbol, whereas the woman lounging has a fan... I don't know, maybe that represents how hot she thinks she is or something... Anyway, I think it is clear to say that it is interesting to compare such images as these and to consider that artistic depictions of women from the past are much more fair and realistic to women today.

As a man I think it is harder for me to have a valid say or opinion in this sort of thing though. Cultural expectations aren't the same for me and thus, I don't share the same experiences as women that deal with these sort of media burdens everyday. I do acknowledge that men get similar media bombardments, but it's not the same, so my views are skewed.

Beautiful, Powerful, and Vulnerable.

One of Susan Bordo's points is that she says women use anorexia to feel some sort of power. In a way they will try to possess the feminine body and the masculine power through the same thing. That is what makes anorexics so enticed to not seek out help or get better, because the power they gain from being able to control something and achieving the ideal female body type are unexpected. This is a paradox because she gains masculine power by pursuing conventional female behavior. Self-control is also an admirable quality so when someone sees someone skinny their mind probably jumps to them most likely having self-control when it comes to eating. Of course we know this is not always true seeing as how some people’s bodies are just built a certain way. The sexuality of a woman’s body may also make her feel vulnerable, and by making her body skinny and ridding it of feminine curves, that vulnerability will go away if her body is no longer seen as “sexual”.

I chose the Absolut picture to analyze. Of course when we first look at this image we immediately see the objectification of the woman’s body and how the ties on the corset form the shape of a vodka bottle. We can also see the extreme curves that are portrayed on this woman’s body. They almost seem unrealistic. This image is also a double bind in a way, because women are expected to have sexual, curvy bodies while at the same time be skinny. This also demonstrates the vulnerability women can feel about their sexuality as here it is displaying the woman as less than human so she is less powerful.

The Horrible Realities of Inhumane Desires

One of Susan Bordo’s main themes is that there is power when an anorexic person feels power over the ones around her when they are troubled by the unhealthy appearance of ribs and bones. This ties in to the power that the female receives from controlling both her own body and her seemingly uncontrollable life. She also receives power and confidence by the support of the media and advertisements, which are “objectifying” women in to a look that is unattainable by normal means. To the person with anorexia, something that is normally unhealthy and damaging (an eating disorder) is turned in to something powerful, enabling, and positive. In An Allegory with Venus and Cupid, this very same theme occurs, but in a very different sense. In the painting (shown above) the horrible, unhealthy thing is what is happening between Cupid and Venus, siblings. In Leppert’s account of the painting, Cupid is a developed adolescent in a child’s body, who aims to sexual pleasure Venus, who is visibly being pleasured sexually (her erect nipples) and robbing Cupid of his male sexual dominance (she is disarming him, she is larger than him, Cupid is feminized). In this painting themes of incest, switching of gender roles, and a kinky sexual nature are shown, which are paired with anorexia’s unhealthy and unnatural dynamics. The characters in the painting are visibly happy with what sinful and ludicrous acts are going on, much like the pleasure that happens when anorexic women feel the pleasure and power they have over people and their bodies, thus Leppert’s and Bordo’s ideas are seemingly one in this painting; something that is rationally incorrect is supported by cultural fact. Yet, Leppert goes on to state that the painting is a distortion of reality, something that is impossible and unattainable; the cold, inhuman light, Cupid’s invisible neck, and Venus’ contortions all suggest that the scene is only a desire, not a reality, very much unlike the realities of anorexic women, who desire to be beautiful and thin. But this is where Leppert’s and Bordo’s ideas support each other; Bordo’s women’s illusion on control of their bodies and eating disorders reflect the seemingly perfect, yet fantastic scene of Venus and Cupid.

The unnaturally Thin

The essence of Bordo’s article in simpler terms is that women developed eating disorders as a result of becoming more independent. The ideal body type of a woman used to be a plumper figure. This meant that the women’s body type was made from her man. If you were plump it meant you were well taken care of and rich, your husband took care of you. A thin body typed used to be looked down upon, you were worthless, poor and not taken care of. Today, part of social status is determined by being independent and taking care of one’s own self. Someone with a plump figure is seen as being lazy and reliant on others. As a result, the ideal body type has shifted toward being thin. Taken to extremes, women have begun starving themselves to rebel against being controlled. The choice to be unhealthily thin has been twisted into the desire to be self-sufficient.
The painting above was painted in the 1700’s. The women’s body types in all of the paintings featured in Leppert’s article is a different ideal standard then you would see today. Women have always been fighting for equal rights and power. In today’s culture the ideal body type for a woman is a thin stick figure. So being thin gives a woman confidence and a feeling of superiority and power, as stated in Bordo’s article on page 172.
I have a few very good friends who have battled with eating disorders. One friend in particular will never escape from the strangle hold of needing to be thin. She was one of my peers that I danced with throughout high school. Her eating disorder got so out of hand that I remember her saying once that if she had to choose between dance and not eating, she would choose not eating. She is a very insecure person and very concerned about fitting in. The only time she felt in control of her life was when she chose not to eat.
It is sad that today’s culture promotes an unnaturally thin woman as being what’s “sexy”. Paintings of the 1700’s show how different the standard of a beautiful woman was in the past. It wasn’t an ultra thin stick, it was a healthy woman with some meet on her bones. People are so concerned of what others think of them, they are willing to risk starving to death for it.

Gerome's Slave Market

https://moodle.umn.edu/file.php/11799/Images_from_for_The_female_nude/Gerome_Slave_Market.jpg

Bordo talks about how society can construct or change they way that people look or the way that people should look. This is very true and I think that a lot of people try to look like celebrities and famous people in general. She also says that bodies are a medium of culture. Which, I also think is very important. This basically means that our bodies and what we do with them help shape what our culture is. One more things she mentions is the power that women have over their bodies and eating disorders. She mainly argues that being anorexic or bulimic gives them control over their body, which also gives them power over members of the opposite sex.
This picture by Jean-Leon Gerome is of a slave market in the middle east. Leppert talks about how most nude pictures display the nude in a pose that displays their "powers of sexual attraction." In this photo, however, it is the opposite and the female is in a position of no power. She is being examined, while her owner stands behind her. The owner also has he white drappery which is supposed to signify her virginity which will make her more valuable to the new owner. Also, it shows the examination involving the teeth which is a humiliation to her. Basically, the "slave" in this picture has absolutely no control in the situation, but the reason this examination is happening is because of the power she has over her body. By no means does she look anorexic, or bulimic but she is very attractive, which will give her power over the opposite sex.

In Susan Bordo’s writing she talks a lot about how an image or images that society creates, makes us think that is how we should look or act in order to fit into society. One of her main thesis statements is saying that society is putting images in our heads creating standards of what men and women should look like. These influenced images are coming from magazines, television, advertisements, etc. and people begin to believe they need to look like that skinny hot model on the cover of a magazine or that buff sexy man who is a model, just in order to fit into society today. This is also reflecting on the way we act, many people discipline their bodies to achieve societies so called “perfect body,” even if it means going to extreme levels by practicing anorexia and bulimia just to gain a feeling of acceptance.
In this painting “Adam and Eve Uffizi” by Baldung, it has signifiers of sex appeal, just like in today’s society one of the top ways to sell and advertise. In this painting it exposes the bodies of both Adam and Eve, trying to balance their bodies to look powerful by their posture and what was probably portrayed as the “look” in those days. People from this day probably looked at this painting, like we would today, and believe that is how we are suppose to look according to society. This painting was creating both male and female standards like the media does in today’s society by showing how they are both very attractive with beautiful perfect hair and being physically fit.

Fierce!

In "Unbearable Weight" by Susan Bordo, Bordo mentions numerous amounts of times how anorexia and bulimia continue to take a toll on women. Women turn to these disorders as cures to the struggle we are faced in today's culture. The pressures of society are forcing women to mold into something we will never fit into. She makes it very clear that women are not standing up against this awful trend and instead we are following it. Bordo is saying that women are not being strong like they should be. Anorexia and bulimia force women to not eat, throw up if they do eat, feel horrible about their self-images daily, suffer from health problems that are the result of turning to these disorders, and so many other things. Words that can be used to describe Susan Bordo's women in today's society: unhealthy, too skinny, weak, sick, worried, insecure, depressed, confused.

In "An Allegory with Venus and Cupid" by Agnolo di Cosimo Bronzino, Venus is painted as a fierce, beautiful, strong woman. This image contradicts Bordo's theory of how women are typically weakened by society. You see this if you ignore all of the people/things painted around her or see that her face is happy and her body is strong and healthy despite the chaos going on around her. There are many ways to understand this painting, Richard Leppert even admits this by saying the allegory is "complex" and "uncertain". Leppert also says Venus is painted as "physically powerful, and she is literally posed so as to maintain complete control over her own dramatically elongated body." Words that can be used to describe Bronzino's painted Venus: full-figured, healthy, happy, confident, calm, strong, peaceful.

In Susan Bordo’s “Unbearable Weight,” Bordo discusses the idea that women (and men) are pressured to look a certain way by society. Women use eating disorders as a way to demonstrate their power, over themselves and others. By attracting attention to themselves by use of their lean bodies, women feel a sense of empowerment over the opposite sex. This empowerment over men, is an interesting idea, as traditionally men have been given the power role in societies throughout history. Women drive themselves to eating disorders in order to gain the power they seek. In a similar way, nudity can be used by women to achieve power over lustful men.

In Ingres’s “Valpicon Bather,” this idea of female empowerment is also explored. The woman is being viewed by a “peeping tom,” and the woman is not aware that she is being watched. Her body is relaxed and natural as she gets ready to bathe. This woman, while being nude, exerts no power over the man, because she does not know that the man is watching her. In class, we looked at pictures from magazines and ads of women wearing little clothing. In these pictures, all of the women were posed in positions to best display their bodies and exert power over those viewing their picture. This is the opposite of what is happening in Ingres’s painting. Because the woman does not know she is being watched, her nudity is supplying her with no power. She is not posing to exert power, she is captured in her daily routine at a private moment. She is the vulnerable victim while the “peeping tom” has the power.

Relating this back to Bordo’s idea about power, a person cannot have power over another person—whether through means of lust, nudity or any means—unless the person is aware of the power they possess. If a woman with an eating disorder does not know her body attracts the attention of others in society, her disorder has gained her no power over them, just like the nude bather did not have power over the man watching her because she was not aware he was watching.

Temptations

Through the analysis of Bordo's Unbearable Weight against what we learned in Becoming a Marihuana User it can be concluded that there are similarities in learning to smoke weed and learning to be anorexic. People who partake in these behaviors do so because they seek pleasure as well as control. The desire for control can come from an unlimited amount of scenarios; marijuana users or anorexics use their actions to have control over their body. And the pleasure a marijuana user or an anorexic feels is why the lifestyle becomes so desirable. Both of the behaviors are learned. There is not a genetic component to partaking in the activities, the experiences that people have effect them to be a marijuana user or not, or be anorexic/bulimic or not.

I think that what is being depicted in Bouguereau's Temptation illustrates the learning of an eating disorder. The women is tempting the young girl with the enticing apple. The apple looks juicy and delicious and appealing. This represents the appealing qualities of an eating disorder; being thin, being in control, being noticed etc. The young girl is somewhat mesmerized by the apple, she's also slightly leaning forward, you can tell that she is attracted to it. And the women who is holding the apple is facilitating passing it down. First of all, the look she is giving to the younger girl is almost saying 'doesn't this look good? I know you want this'. And she is the one tempting the younger girl with the apple. Tempting the girl with the sin that is representative of. An eating disorder starts in the same way. It seems like a good thing until it enslaves the person and causes them harm.

After reading Susan Bordo's 'The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity' one main quote and overall point stuck out to me-

"The body- what we eat, how we dress, the daily rituals through which we attend to the body - is a medium of culture (165)."

In the words of a more 'normal' person this means the way our bodies look, the way which we present them or show them along with what we do to maintain and take care of them represents the culture we live in or come from.

'Nymphs and Satyr' by William Adolphe is a painting from the late nineteenth-century and is the image that is posted above. This piece of art is looked at in Richard Leppert's work 'The female nude: surfaces of desire.' From: Art and the committed eye: the cultural functions of imagery.

Leppert tells how this painting is from the Victorian age, and how representing the "nude body" was nearly impossible because anything to do with sex and sexual desire was strongly fought against. As you can see, and as Leppert states, this picture is ridiculous. There are naked women tempting a satyr.

I feel that this painting defends Susan Bordo's position in a way. Like I already stated this painting was created in the Victorian age where they had no sense of what it meant to be naked and sexual. 'Nymphs and Satyr' is such an unrealistic artwork that it goes along perfectly with the Victorian culture. If they did not talk about or have anything to do with sex in their culture, they would not really know how to represent it would they?

(I really like another point Leppert made about this painting. He talked about how the man in this image is depicted as a satyr, and how this represents the fact that "real men" is an evolved concept. This is true in any Western culture today. Real men have power over women, or are supposed to. This is not really natural though, just something that our culture has created.)

A Red Apple: How Symbolic Is It Really?

Depicting the female gender and her body, Burdo describes the certain social “rules governing… contemporary femininity (171)”. Further explaining this topic, Burdo states that “women learned to feed others, not the self, and to construe any desires for self-nurturance and self-feeding as greedy and excessive (171)”. By commenting that the excerpt should be taken both literally and figuratively, the sentence is taken literally by stating it is in our modern society that the female gender has a tendency to literally not eat or carry out wanted tasks due to the fact that it is against society or considered greedy to even desire. Taken figuratively, the quote may correspond with the natural instincts of motherhood and wanting to provide for the family or her children before herself. Feeding and giving nurturance to the family/children before herself instead of supplying her needs first and becoming “greedy”.

Corresponding with the idea of motherhood and nurturance, the image entitled Bouguereau William Temptation depicts a mother and daughter at a pond with a “tempting” apple. By viewing the body language of the mother, she seems to be leaning towards the daughter as to give her the apple. However, in opposition towards Burdo’s quote of giving to prevent greed, Leppert states that the two props, the pond and the apple, serve in fact as symbols of vane [mirror] and temptation [apple].

When attempting to pick apart this painting for myself, I could not decide if the mother was in fact attempting to give her child the apple or if she was in some sense taunting the child with it due to the seemingly sly grin on her face and the child’s almost animalistic fixation with the apple. I also wonder if the mother bringing her child to the lush environment with the still, mirror-like pond is indeed for the child’s benefit or for her own. How would a child under the age of 5 really be able to realize the difference in scenery much less appreciate it? Do you really remember the trees and ponds in detail from a trip or park in your childhood?

However, I am taking the positive opinion on this painting. Leppert and Burdo almost completely contradict each other. The mother is greedy for attempting to give her child nurturance [Leppert] but in contrast greedy for keeping the apple and pond for herself [Burdo]. Symbolically, the apple serves as a metaphor for Eve giving into temptation. So, my question is, who is really giving into the temptation: the mother or the child? And further, is the mother full of greed, teaching her child greed, or merely enjoying a piece of fruit; nutrients that humans need not merely desire to survive?

Hunger pains are Powerful!

One important concept that I think Susan Bordo is trying to make is that still in today's eyes "femininity" can come from a woman being the dominant figure because they learn to nurture others and not themselves. So woman having eating disorders is almost justified in a way because that means that they just simply replaced their "selfish" appetite with the hunger to fulfill other's needs. A woman's power then comes from the ability to limit herself because she is there to satisfy anyone else but herself. Which is ridiculous! This then relates to Richard Leppert's ideas and art because as he explains, "female's nakedness is not expressive of her own feelings but is a sign of "her submission to the owner's feelings or demands."" He also then includes that if you look at artwork where the women are portrayed as being nude, you will either see that mostly the men in the image are clothed, or the image will not include men at all. So that then leaves the interpretation that men are outside the frame, looking at the woman in the picture. She is letting go again of her quote "selfish" feelings and succumbing to what needs to be done of her, fulfilling the needs of the one looking at her, which is fulfilling culture. Now while in the case of nude portraits, and eating disorders these instances are extremes, not every woman literally starves herself just so that her family will not go hungry that night for dinner. But the irony that women sometimes feel powerful because they give away their own beliefs and feelings so that other’s will be powerful is something that culture should be aware of. Strength should not come from the realization that you just made someone else feel good, but rather the realization that you made yourself feel good.

"Transformation of Meaning"

How can something so ugly, so impossible and so difficult seem pleasurable and good? It can because of culture. That is what one of Susan Bordos main arguments was, that culture is working to transform something distorted to make it seem wonderful. When Susan was talking about anorexia she mentioned that when a woman decides to go on a diet or fix her appearance that she will begin to get complements. First the complements will come from her parents telling her that she is looking better, then people around her will begin to notice. Her friends, her coworkers, and students at school will begin to pay attention to this woman who is beginning to change. This woman is soon caught in the current of trying to look thin and pretty. All the magazines and media she has seen showed skinny and thin as being "powerful", "sexy" and "controlling". Her body begins to thin to the point where all of her ribs can be counted without taking a second look but she continues to lose weight. Culture has disciplined her that being thin is sexy and powerful. Being thin will feel great, awesome, and liberating. This is not true however because the anorexic person is not getting nutrients, they don't have energy, they are losing normal body functions, and eventually could die from malnutrition. Susan Bordon says that culture transforms the way we view things by making "conditions that are objectively constraining, enslaving, and even murderous come to be experienced as liberating, transforming and life-giving. When Richard Leppert describes the beautiful art behind this artwork, AN ALLEGORY WITH VENUS AND CUPID, he mentions that although it seems pleasurable to us, if we dig deeper it is something that is impossible. He describes that Cupids neck would be too long, that Venus's body would topple over, and that they are both in uncomfortable position.

Does art matter? It sure does because as we see, it shows us how we have been transformed by the culture to visualize something that is impossible to seem pleasurable and exciting.

How we expect from women.

Susan Bordo states that women are highly subjected to the glorification of the "ideal woman" through discourses like advertisement, Television, and art. We constantly glorify this "ideal" woman, while sending negativity and harsh criticism towards those who do not conform to that. Any woman who does not fit this standard often falls victim to eating disorders, self confidence issues, and psychological damages.

This claim of the broadcasting of this "ideal woman" is supported by Ingres' Turkish Bath. At first glance, we see lots and lots of naked women. This man's painting obviously boosts the female form. Yet his ideal woman and ours are different; these women are definitely not skinny, nor do they look powerful or determined. He places emphasis on the more plump, seductively posed, large breasted women, displaying them as points of emphasis and his "ideal women". But ah variety is the spice of life, and he has included some skinny, more emotional women in this painting. But where would they be? Following the far left back wall to the right wall we can see a woman eating, women chatting, and an emotional, thin girl standin

g in the background. Ingres takes them emphasis off of them, and by doing so, supports his ideal woman that simply sits there naked and looks sexy. He even "displaces his own fantasy onto that of a young woman at the right who very firmly grasps her companion's breast" (Pg 233 bottom of first paragraph).

So Ingres has used his painting to advertise his "ideal" woman, a plump, seductive, large breasted (and in my opinion inactive, uninteresting, sack-of-potatoes) Caucasian woman who sits seductively (no matter how uncomfortable that probably feels) and does not demonstrate normal human qualities, such as eating (hunger), emotions, or independence (speaking with other women). Just as we use media and images to constantly glorify our "ideal" woman while giving negativity to anyone who does not conform. Don't believe me? Go to any grocery store or gas station, look at the magazine covers. They are filled with how to be the ideal woman and what happens when you aren't.

Struggle of Gender Domination

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/ingres/ingres.valpincon-bather.jpg

In Susan Bordo’s “Unbearable Weight” Bordo claims that she finds the “I view our bodies as a sight of struggle, where we must work to keep our daily practices in the service of resistance to gender domination.” To break this quote down in a sense is a little dense. Throughout the essay Bordo discusses the pressures and social norms that go along with a woman keeping her body looking the way it is in order to be right with society. In doing so the resistance to gender domination that Bordo is speaking about is in fact resistance to societal norms. The struggle comes from how the body is interpreted through society and how the human mind wants their body to be viewed, which in part creates a psychological test that pushes many to the breaking point.

Jean Auguste Domingue Ingres discusses the struggle against gender domination that Bordo speaks of with Valpinçon Bather in the essay by Leppert. In it Leppert discusses the lack of visual imagery presented in the painting by Ingres (based on the fact that the viewer can only really see her back side) and the intrusion sense that is felt by the viewer because this is a scene that is felt private by the woman. Leppert goes further in discussing hearing and sight stating that hearing is more feminine than sight and in this sense the power of sight is given to the viewer which makes the viewer feel uncomfortable for looking in on a woman in a private moment, while hearing is given to the woman with the image of her ear being turned to hear something.

So, what does this all mean? The significance of the woman having the power to hear is showing how she knows she is being watched with out having to look. The masculine gaze that is coming from the viewer is being matched by a much more subtle underhanded act of hearing from the woman. The gender dominance struggle that Bordo speaks of is being illustrated in Valpinçon Bather in part by the contrasting acts of the more masculine: sight and the more feminine: hearing and by empowering the woman to inflict a sense of uneasiness in the viewer shows how in this battle of gender dominance the woman has won.

Baldung's Adam and Eve

Bordo talks a lot about how society constructs an image of what our bodies "should" look like, and relates this image construction to how people act. Men and women alike must show extreme discipline to achieve the perfect bodies seen today in magazines and on television.

Eve's body represents very little sexually, but is still overwhelmingly powerful. Leppert focuses on the amount of detail and attention paid to Eve's lips, fingers, and toes. A woman's body is not a purely sexual text, but one that maintains the attention of others because of its presence and capabilities. I feel compelled to quote Leppert simply because I think he puts it best when he says of Eve, representing woman, "Her agency is her being, and that being is sexual."

It is a woman's being, not her appearance, that grants her power over others. However, that being is powerful and can determine how her body is read to be a sexual object. This is represented with the simplified breasts and nether-regions of Eve's body.

Sex may sell, but it is not the body that produces sex. Instead, it is the being and agency of the individual.

"A Body of Art"

In philosopher Susan Bordo 's text "Unbearable Weight," she claims that our society has embedded objective standards in terms of what the bodies of men and women "should" look like based on the images seen today in the media, and she links this claim to the self-inflicting practices of anorexia and bulimia.These habits may make an individual feel a sense of empowerment, and a sense of acceptance and belonging in society; I believe this is how Bordo tries to displays to readers that our bodies are simply "blank canvases," and that cultural context will ultimately tell us what to "paint" on them.

In Baldung's famous "Adam and Eve Uffizi," we can see some of these trends from a historical and biblical perspective; Lepprt states that Baldung's paintings were intended to have a significant degree of eroticism or "sexiness" if you will. This is displayed through the exposing of male and female genitalia, and provocative body postures exhibited by the men and women in his paintings. This, perhaps, could very well be one of the early examples of the concept "sex sells;" In today's ads, men and women are displayed as being very physically fit, attractive, and depending on what type of ad it is, borderline naked. I believe that these early cultural functions of imagery are still seen today, and will continue to serve as male and female representation in the media.
(I would have posted the image, but the image uploader wasn't working at the time I wrote this)

Balancing Bodies and the Bronzino's 'An Allegory With Venus and Cupid ' Picture

One of Bordo's main thesis statements was that we are trying to balance our bodies with the way we are seen in society today. We discussed this aspect in class on Thursday. What she means by this statement is that when we see pictures in the media (tv, magazines, ads, etc) our minds become somewhat brainwashed and we begin to think that we NEED to look like the person in the media image. We begin to think that we HAVE to look like that ('balancing') and have that trim, good-looking body in order for society to classify us into the 'hot/popular' people in society. Under this mentality, we also realize that maybe we can't always reach that goal of a 'hot' body, so we try our best to make ourselves look that way using any means (often unhealthy) possible...thus, making our bodies look presentable for society. The media is a poison for the mind...it warps our thinking into thoughts that center around looking like gods such as Cupid and Venus...aka the way society views as the 'hot' man or woman; they don't realize that everyone is perfect, just the way they are. The media mostly tries to show how women can look physically powerful and tiny (THE DOUBLE BIND: 2 contradictory expectations) and be in total control by the way they present their bodies. That's how we TRY to balance the way our bodies look with how society views us today.

Bronzino's An Allegory With Venus and Cupid, we can see how the woman's body is used to attract the eyes of women trying to look like that and the eyes of Cupid. It supports Bordo's stance in the fact that Leppert agrees that the woman's body is "physically powerful" and can turn eyes and minds. The picture depicts what the women's body should look like, just like our ads today in the media. Society today would classify Venus as 'hot' and that she would be the epitome of today's super model. When woman of the day saw this picture when it was painted, they probably felt that they had to balance their bodies with the way society was viewing them, so in a sense they tried any means possible to make their bodies look powerful and tiny (THE DOUBLE BIND), which is one thing that Bordo stresses as very contradictory.

Posting Assignment #2: Why art matters—to men, women, all of us (Due 11:59 Sunday 26; comment by 11:59 Monday 27)

The Hard Part: Last week we offered a 'show and tell' project.  They're seldom boring, because we get to find things and talk about them.  This week we're asking you to engage with ideas and readings.  It's so, so easy for this sort of writing to fall into the 'school essay' trap: quotes, dutiful summaries, claims about which nobody could possibly care, blah, blah, blah.

Please don't.  There are stakes in these readings—how we lead our lives; what our families and friends will be like, the relationships we form.  The nature of society.

So follow the basic rule of CSCL 1001:  'don't bore your friends.'  Take a position.  Think about how it matters.  Put yourself in it.  Mean it. Read close and sharp.  The job here is to help us all to see all the possibilities in these two readings—and maybe a few things we hadn't thought of.

The Issue:  Susan Bordo offers a methodology (actually a few of them) for understanding women's bodies and the things that 'construct' them (she calls it an 'analytics' or a 'praxis,' or a 'new discourse').  She offers a view of 'human nature': how the things we do make us who we are.  She treats the body as a 'text' and shows us how to read it–through the hard, disturbing practices of anorexia and  bulimia. She reads some ads, and mentions lots of other cultural texts and practices.  She offers hope: if we can see, we can act against forces that limit our lives.

Richard Leppert has much the same political goals in mind, but works very differently—trying to show us how several hundred years of visual representation of women's bodies and their spaces has given us a 'way of seeing' women and finally, a definition of women and their place and nature.  Neither of these writers think their view is complete, perfect or always right.  But they see patterns.

The Project: Take one of Bordo's main claims (thesis, arguments) and describe it so that normal humans will understand.  Then select one of the paintings from the Leppert essay (the images are on the Moodle in good detail and full color), and explain how it—and Leppert's account of it—supports, contradicts, or otherwise relates to Bordo's claims.

No right answers here. Welcome to agree, disagree, expand, illustrate or otherwise work with the articles and their ideas.

How long?  Though you should never assume that longer is better, we'll read whatever you write.  For this one, maybe 300 words.