To begin, it is evident that the premise of the article is solely based on the pros and cons that derive from black women attempting to exist in a white man’s world by making a name for themselves in society. Hull and Smith state that “the necessity
In O’Grady’s essay Olympia’s Maid: Reclaiming Black Female, O’Grady criticizes the subordination of black female subjects in art. Culturally, art has constructed the identity of black females to be inferior compared to their white counterparts. As a consequence, viewers objectify black female bodies and tend to ignore the subject all together. “Olympia’s maid. Like all other ‘peripheral Negroes,’ is a robot conveniently made to disappear into the background drapery.” Rather than been seen a person in the drawing, she becomes an object viewers glance over. She is no more significant than the background. In fact, her inferiority is what highlights the nude body of her white female counterpart.
When black females are growing they are raised to have characteristics that force them to be more independent. When black females who were raised to be independent were asked to describe themselves they said words such as “pushy, strong, loud, aggressive, assertive, demanding, determined ()”. Her strength comes from her implementing quotes in her argument, however, they also lack a full story.
As black women always conform under patriarchal principles, women are generally silenced and deprived of rights because men are entitled to control everything. Women are silenced in a way that they lose their confidence and hesitate to speak up due to the norms present in the society they live in. Hence, even if women have the confidence to try to speak, men wouldn’t bother to listen since men ought to believe that they are superior to women. In addition to that, women often live in a life cycle of repetitions due to patriarchal principles since women are established to fulfill the roles the society had given them. It is evidenced by Celie as she struggles to survive and to define oneself apart from the controlling, manipulative, and abusive men in her life.
According to both Gloria Anzaldúa and Audre Lorde, marginal bodies become silenced and invisible by hiding difference and the “whitewashing” of history. Through their writings, both authors recognize different ways for a marginalized body to be seen by those who would try to make them invisible. From their standpoint, there are problems with identity that requires exclusions, and as feminists, they are speaking against feminists. The identity that is being discussed is being proposed from women that “don’t fit”, by those who are going against the “norms”. Therefore, identity is being both embraced and rejected at the same time by these authors.
When reading chapters seven and eight from Peggy Orenstein book, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, it was interesting and yet horrifying to see it written out on paper. The chapter that really stuck out to me was chapter eight, Its all about the cape, was still the issue of girls and their weight. I know from growing up I have heard all about physical appearances and how it should be maintain in a healthy way. During my late high school days and even into early college days, going on diets was the newest trend and even television shows were participating in them. The latest gossip was about which diet people were on and who was going home on, The Biggest Loser. It was great that America wanted to start being healthy again, but by doing so we were
The media portrays the average person as flawless, thin, tall, and beautiful. They advertise products that can help a person achieve what they call “perfection.” They slap photos all over the place, on billboards, magazines, and ads, showing us what a “real” person looks like. The media brainwashes us into believing that we need to meet their standards in order to achieve ultimate beauty and should we stray from the path they pave, we will not be considered beautiful. Our society places too much emphasis on our appearances, forcing many to undergo drastic changes to become “beautiful.” Many people begin to develop issues concerning their body and image. Teenagers, especially, feel the need to conform to society's view of the perfect body. They feel the need to have flawless skin, to be thin, to be tall, and to be perfect. They don't understand
Eating disorders are becoming a rising problem in many individuals regardless of their age or gender. Eating disorders are problems that revolve around abnormal eating behaviors and distorted beliefs about eating, weight or shape. They can be classified as psychiatric problems, which are considered a general medical condition. Eating disorders happen when individuals are obsessed about controlling their weight by controlling what they eat. Often, they judge their self-worth by their ability to control their weight/shape (Grilo 6). It is no secret that eating disorders are alarmingly common. Especially now, in this culture, where large corporations are “investing” in this industry as a result of their market research which can then only mean one thing – eating
The Help is set in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s. Skeeter, a southern society girl, interviews the black women who have spent their lives being servants for wealthy white Southern families. There are various scenes throughout the film that show social stratification, racial inequalities, gender inequalities, and class inequalities.
Within the essay, “Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference”, Audre Lorde discusses the systematic oppression and hierarchical structure imposed on Black people, third-world people, and working-class people. She succinctly mentions how the power dynamic rests mainly on white and heterosexual males, and that they evade responsibilities in order to maintain such structures. They also misname and refuse to recognize such differences in race, class, gender, and sexuality, therefore persisting racial erasure. In conjunction to her essay, Cherrie L. Moraga analyzes the alienation in class and culture in her article, “La Guera”. Throughout this article, she sees the intersectionality between sexuality and race, and utilizes her mother’s
The way in which society targets femininity is written about by both Julia Sereno and Janet Mock, and the fact that this theme is present in both of the writings produced by trans women shows its importance when discussing trans-female identity (Mock 147, Serano 42). To specify, similar concepts about femininity are posed by both Serano and Mock in their writings. Serano, in an instance when she is talking about media productions of trans women, Serano explicates, “The media neutralizes the potential threat of trans femininities rose to the category of ‘woman’ by playing to the audience’s subconscious belief that femininity itself it artificial… In fact, it’s the assumption that femininity is inherently ‘contrived,’ ‘frivolous,’ and ‘manipulative
So when people look and see that they don’t look like they’re favorite super-model it can put a downer on their self-confidence. This causes many girls feeling that they aren’t good enough in society, society won’t accept them because they aren’t perfect and they start to not like their body. When for many females they can’t lose as much weight as their friend can just because of their genes and how they were born. “The lack of connection between the real and ideal perception of their own body and firm willingness to modify their own body and shape so as to standardize them to social concept of thinness…” (Dixit 1), being focused on unrealistic expectations can cause women to lose themselves and change their attitude on how they view their body, and not for the better. “Body dissatisfaction, negative body image, concern with body size, and shape represent attitudes of body image.”(Dixit 1), women are so obsessed with looking good that they are missing out on enjoying
Some artificially made their butts bigger, others over-lined their lips, and almost all painted their faces black for the party without second guessing their actions. This reminded me of our class discussion about how bodies, especially black female bodies, are often desensitized and are thusly seen as separate features, not just one singular body. In this case, big butts and big lips are seen as black girl features and are often appropriated, in obscene ways such as the blackface party, but also in subtler ways like getting lip injections and butt implants as a white woman. As a society we often hyper sexualize black women and their features to maintain the hierarchy through desensitizing their body parts, and thus, them as a group. This is problematic because we cannot take a part of someone’s being, someone’s culture, and make it fashionable on a white person while ridiculing it on a person of
The chapter of Denial highlights and show us the experience of black women trying hard to change themselves to fit in with the society. The use of the techniques of mise-en-scene in the visual film provide the audience with with the reality in which black women are safe and comfortable. Black women should be fearless and learn to make decisions for themselves without the influence of the society and what the media says about them. And buy us standing together as women we can help each other in the challenges we have by supporting one
To be specific, she situates the imminent feminist struggle by highlighting the legacy of slavery among black people, and black women in particular. “Black women bore the terrible burden of equality in oppression” (Davis). Due to her race, her writing focuses on what she understood and ideas that are relevant to black females. Conversely, since white men used black women in domestic labor and forcefully rape these individuals. These men used this powerful weapon to remind black women of their female and vulnerability. Black feminism issued as a theoretical and practical effort demonstrating that race, gender, and class are inseparable in the social worlds we inhabit. We need to understand the interconnections between the black and women’s