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.