Unmarked Woman Analysis

“I was never a beautiful women, and for that reason I’ve spent most of my life suffering from the shame of falling short of an unattainable standard” (87). Mairs starts off by telling us she was never a beautiful woman. By describing herself as this, it acts as an attention getter so the readers can become more interested in the reading. By putting emphasis on the topic of society 's standards for woman allows Mairs to go into greater depth with the topic, allowing readers to gain more knowledge and understanding of what the standards are like for a woman. A sullen tone is maintained throughout this chapter as Mairs describes the society 's standards for women leaving the readers a choice on how they feel about these standards. By using logos in her essay’s, Mairs is able to further describe the effects of standards have on women, including herself by stating in her quote, she’s spent most of her life suffering from not meeting the standards set for her. The use of short and long sentences in her essays help the rhythmic flow describe what it’s really feel like to fall short of standards people have set for

According to society, women must be submissive to men in order to keep a relationship. Women and wives were expected to play the role of a “good wife” while looking the part. According to Module 6 a good wife was required to touch up her makeup, put a ribbon on her head, and act happy (p.6). Not only are women to be submissive, but we also have to take on the role of looking beautiful and innocent to be likable and accepted by men and other women. I’ve met a considerable amount of people in my life and not a single one of them upholds to this image of beauty. Additionally, this assumption and stereotype that women are required to look like is unlikely. After all, there are many women who pull off the “masculine image” rather than the “feminine image”. Therefore, we should all work towards deconstructing this impossible “beauty image”. One way we could work towards that is not to idolize “perfect women” who apparently uphold the beauty standards to prevent this image from spreading to future

Deborah Tannen, a professor of linguistics at Georgetown University, is a popular author in the United States of America. Mostly of her focus in her articles and books is on the expression of interpersonal relationships in contentious interaction. Tannen became well known after her book You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation was published. However, this was not her only claim to fame. Along with this book, she also wrote many other essays and articles including the popular article “Marked Women, Unmarked Men.” In the article, “Marked Women, Unmarked Men,” Tannen differentiates how women and men are judged prematurely by their attire and appearance. She explains how women are judged and marked but men are not, but I believe that men are also marked in society.

Lianne George was a writer for New York magazine and Metro TV, and a reporter on the arts for the National Post. Currently, she is a senior editor for Maclean’s, in which the article, “Why Are We Dressing Our Daughters Like This” was published. Maclean’s is a popular magazine which covers national and worldwide political and social issues concerning families in the United States and Canada. The targeted audience is educated, in the higher middle class, and around forty years old with an equal men and women reader ratio. In the article, George clearly shows how in society younger girls are shifting towards dressing more provocatively from marketers introducing them to sexual trends. Although George uses generalized ideas and doesn’t seem to have a strong voice on the topic of girls being dressed more sexually, her goal to raise awareness is effectively presented by constructing a common ground with the readers, and allowing the readers to critically think about the problem by providing contradictions.

In a society that is heavily influenced by mass media, women are repeatedly compartmentalized into unrealistic, and often degrading standards of appearance and sexuality. Doris Bazzini’s research on magazines and Caroline Heldman’s blog explores themes related to a woman’s appearance, while Jessica Valenti elaborates on the concept of virginity in her essay titled, “The Purity Myth”. Despite the diversity in scope when it comes to womanhood, there is a numerous set of expectations that a female must fit in order to be “ideal”. However, this checklist is so specific and debasing that it renders the criteria useless. The three main pre-requisites in being the ideal woman include physical attractiveness, sexual accessibility, and purity. The pressure

Scott Russell Sanders’ essay, “Looking at Women”, contains his views about women that originate from his experience living among a given group of people. In fact, it is apparent that his opinion results from his childhood memories. The quotes he chooses as well as language depict his opinion about how men view women and illustrate that his thoughts were acquired during his early years of life. As stated, his thoughts originate from the personal views of other people about women. Thus, this paper seeks to examine his perspectives about women. In particular, it shows that women attract the attention of men by wearing fancy clothes and attending beauty pageants to get noticed.

“We found garments and the Golden One gasped at the sight of them”(Rand 91). This is an example of a typical stereotype, that all women are obsessed with clothing and their appearance. “They stood before it and looked, and looked upon their own body”(92) This

The eye opening topics of The Twilight Zone reveal societal issues that were relevant in the 60’s when this show was first released. The black and white, 22 minute episodes each told a story while teaching lessons to the audience. This series was a popular science-fiction show during the 5 seasons it ran. Each episode highlighted a different part of society and brought light to the problems it will have if society doesn’t fix them.

This is mainly influenced by newspapers and magazines. Recently, the main newspaper that highlights the expectation of the body image is The Daily Star, which took over The Sun’s page three, (which will be covered later in the essay). It is clear their main demographic are males, due to the coverage of topless, or revealing women which feature throughout the newspaper. Upon purchasing the Daily Star the main picture was a celebrity in just her bikini. This relates to Mulvey’s () male gaze therefore attracting a male audience. This not only gives men a reason to abuse the female body image. It also creates a sense of awe for the woman as it create insecurities...When opening up the newspaper the first image you see is of a topless woman with a quote saying “DELICIOUS DANNI” (pg.3). Through the lexicon used it connotes that women are ‘pieces of meat’ therefore dehumanising the woman for a sexual object, for them just to admire. This links in with otherness as it amplifies the male expectation of women’s bodies. Referring back to

Imagine being told as a female in today’s world you must look or act a ¬¬certain way in order to be accepted. Being what you want to be is not allowed and changes have to be made in order to be included. They say “pain is beauty, and beauty is pain” as they way a woman looks today are completely different from ten or even fifty years ago. In this paper, the reader will understand the mind of a woman in today’s society and the difficulties to be not only accepted but being her own person as well. Not only has the appearance of a woman changed but also role titles and job descriptions as well. Jane Martin’s play “Beauty” shows us two different versions of the problems women are facing current while living in today’s world and taking a walk in

Fashion, or rather the fashion industry, is ageist, sexist, racist, fattist and fascist, but only in so far as today’s society is. This industry is merely an extension of capitalism, and as such its only concern is generating as much profit as possible. Trying to include and represent all different types of people is very low on its priority list, so it continues to perpetuate harmful societal patterns, be it on purpose or not.

Stacy Davis, self-proclaimed activist for feminism and womanism, is a “scholar trained in feminist theory and African American biblical hermeneutics” (Davis 23). In her article, The Invisible Woman: Numbers 30 and the Policies of Singleness in Africana Communities, Davis argues for a prominent place for single woman (specifically those who have never married) in biblical scholarship, and as leaders in the church, with questions of their sexuality left alone. Davis argues this viewpoint from the perspective as an unmarried black woman.

Figure 1 displays a simplistic background with minimal cover lines and the central focus of a woman who is depicted as being passive and docile. This is evident in the way she shies away from the camera by creating a sophisticated ambience about her. The costuming shows a limited amount of skin, allowing the face to become the focus of the cover. The long sleeves and the high neck collar connotes a conservatism - something which women were expected to follow due to the male perception of an ideal wife. This enforces the targeted audience during the timeframe to use the magazine as the main beauty standard. The model highlights the beauty in her looks, placement and positioning of her body in a suppressive manner. This emphasizes the manner women were to portray, due to male authority over women. This shows that the value of the magazine as it encourages the reader to look at the beauty standard as the social norm. Furthermore, the background vs foreground background flowers evokes a sense of purity, innocence and grace emphasising how women were expected to display conservative and high standards of morality. For example, a guide written in 1955 called ‘The good wife's guide.’ The guide exhibits the idea of women being financially dependent on men due to their employment and constructed gender norms such as

Mary Wollstonecraft’s, Maria or The Wrongs of Woman, is an analyzation and critique about a woman’s place in society. Specifically, that socially, politically, and economically woman are at a disadvantage. Furthermore, society perpetuates this imbalance through certain expectations about motherhood, marriage, and double standards. This power imbalance has always been present in society and through the analyzation of Maria and themes such as: motherhood, domination, and traditionalist thought it is possible to contextualize the era that Mary Wollstonecraft lived in to gain a better understanding of what women went through in her time so that we have a reference to compare to how women are treated today.

According to Greenberg (2013), approximately 20% of the girls between the age of 8 and 18 who are using makeup say that they felt unappealing and undesirable without wearing makeup. And as a result of the survey she conducted, girls are wearing or using makeup in early age. They are also influenced by their celebrity idols, other people in TV shows and by the people in the environment they belonged. It says that women are more comfortable going out and socializing when they are wearing makeups. It also implied that the reasons why girls in early age prefer using makeup are because they are copying what older people around them do.