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.