relevent reading

Relevant Reading:

Notes on: The Politics of Women’s Bodies

Regarding what relevant critical practice there is surrounding the media and its participation on how women should look act and their body language-I have come across a book called the politics of women’s bodies-which talks not just about theory but about media involvement and relevant photographers that explore body language- i found it both interesting but extremely relevant in helping me come up with ideas on what to actually photograph-I must admit that I found it hard it come up with originals ways of experimenting with my topic- I want people to think when they see my pictures not just say its a nice photograph.

Quote from the reading

“We are born male or female, but not masculine or feminine. Femininity is an artifice, an achievement”

But how do we know to look masculine or feminine, who imposes/ influences these ideas upon us?

Who influences such discipline on female identity and subjectivity?

Marienne Wex photographer- studied body language of men and women-ideas of how we should walk and sit.

Quote from reading

“We have examined some of the disciplinary practices a women must master in pursuit of a body of the right size and shape that also displays the proper styles of feminine motility”-This quote is the idea of self surveillance and starting to look at the gaze-Foucault and Bentham- a theory relevant to topic and one I will research further.

In the chapter femininity and the modernisation of patriarchal power, it talks about how women make themselves feminine- the application of makeup is something that all women should do (idea imposed through the media) It also talks about the norm of how women should look and through the male gaze if you don’t fit in with the social norms you are seen as odd and an outsider

Chapter- Designing Women

Cosmetic Surgery-Magazines are designed to help “women achieve hegemonic standards of feminine beauty”

The word hegemonic standards i think is really important in this context- are women not individual, are we just ranked and rated against each other?-something to maybe think about? I know there is the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ but this book definitely makes me think that in terms of the male gaze- men only judge and look at what is physically in front of them.

The chapter continues to discuss women’s choice to look good, or whether it is no longer a choice but pressurised by hegemonic cultural norms

Are women victims of media and society?

Sum up of reading:

Quote: “beauty” that many women so badly try to achieve the “standards we seek to achieve are constructed and serviced by men, men’s interests and magazines” (Morgan 1991) need to find page!

· There are so many theorists and existing literature that explore the social construction of women’s bodies and the way they should look.

· This book suggests like my personal view that media reinforce these ideas heavily.