Susan Bordo Essay, Research Paper

For what reason do women alter themselves cosmetically? Why do they alter themselves in any way? Why do they wear high heals, make-up, change their hair, wear push up bras, wax? All of these are done in order and try and achieve the status of today s standards. What s the reason behind women trying to achieve this? The answer is envy.

The standards of beauty in America are getting stricter and stricter. American women are constantly bombarded with images of barbie-doll like images through the media. Hollywood and ads are consistently made up of thin, healthy, voluptuous, young women who are genetically blessed in all the right places. When the average women of America are hit with the images of these women getting the guy, the car, the money, whatever it may be, this is how we get a market for plastic surgery and other strange procedures for body alteration. The women of America see what kind of women are portrayed as ideal and strive to fit that image. It is envy that shapes the thought of how to dress, how to act, how to eat for women.

Women are judged on how they are presented , according to Susan Bordo. In the beginning of human existence the predominate concern for males was finding a mate who was fitting for reproduction. This is why men prefer younger women, when the age of women starts to interrupt with the ability to bear children, men do not find women to be that attractive. Also presentation of the body shape, skin, etc. Women have always been based on what they look like while men on what they can provide, and less on their appearance.

On a full page ad in a magazine, a woman is stepping over a railing. The viewer can only see from the waist down of this tall, slender woman, who is wearing a pink dress with a slit that reveals the entirety of her leg. Across the middle of the ad it reads, “10:00 PM steps out for a moment 8:00 AM lands in Sydney”. This is an ad for a woman s watch, but the only place the watch is found is at the bottom of the page, in the lower right hand corner.

To most this ad would represent the power of women today. The fact that the idea of women coming out on top in today s business world today isn t that far fetched. After reading Susan Bordo s essay, “Hunger as Ideology”, this would not represent that. Through her theories and interpretations of advertising and the relation they have to gender roles, this ad has deeper meaning. It all boils down to this, the fact that the women who is portraying this powerful statement is one of the genetically blessed, she is super model-like. Since she is so thin and beautiful, Bordo would interpret that as saying the only way a woman can be successful in this would today is if she is “36, 24, 36″. Women see this ad and envy the fact that she is the one in control, they want to be her so this adds to their conscious saying that in order to achieve this stature, they have to look like her.

On another full page ad, there is a scene of two lovers on the beach. This beach is frozen, the waves are frozen in place, the lovers have a few icicles on them. The women is on top of the man about to kiss him. She is dressed in a high cut dress with a neckline that exposes most of her cleavage. She is yet another thin, slender, young looking female with nice curves. The ad is for Dentyne ice chewing gum. Across the top of the ad reads “Arctic Chill . Colder breath is just the beginning”.

The pitch in this ad just maybe for good smelling breath, but this also shapes the standards of beauty. It says if your a women who looks like this, the only thing your lacking to get this male model is better breath. So a women would try to achieve this body to get the man. This is one of the causes of today s eating disorders in the young female population.

So as long as companies keep putting out ads that have skinny, young women, with unnaturally obtainable bodies, women will envy them and try to copy there looks. It is not women s fault but the media, which is dictating what we call beautiful.