Inscribing Gender on the Body

In our society today, the body and what the public thinks it should look like have significantly changed throughout the past few decades. Early on, women were seen as “beautiful” with curvaceous bodies and embracing not just their outer beauty, but mostly their inner beauty.
Today, the media has corrupted the idea of a beautiful woman, and has focused more on the aspects of outer beauty and the “ideal” woman. Women are viewed today as “beautiful” when they are extremely thin, almost to the point of where bones are visible. The sad truth is that it is the norms to see women of all ages follow this concept developed and projected by the media through television, magazines, advertisements, etc.
Media constructions of the female body are seen through seven different advertisement techniques. These include objectification, dismemberment, obsession with thinness, silencing, infantilization, ageism, and violence against women. The most popular technique that is easily seen by anyone is the obsession with thinness. The advertisement method is shown through models in magazines, and even famous actresses and singers. Thinness has become a culture norm in our society that targets women to strive to be thin, because if you are not, then you are not considered to be as “beautiful” as someone that is.
All these ideas of the way that women should look like and act are extremely self-degrading. Women are beautiful no matter what size, color, age, etc. they are. The female body is beautiful, and women do not need the media or anyone else to tell them that.

Third Wave Feminism

Third Wave feminism started to begin in the early 1990’s. It was a very individualistic Wave, much different than the First and Second Waves that had occurred beforehand. The women associated with the Third Wave were criticized for not being political enough and focusing more on their sexuality, power, and body. Many characteristics include individual empowerment through their sexuality and embracing the idea of “girlie culture”, which was the idea to embrace femininity and reclaim their sexuality. Instead of regular protests, Third Wave feminists participated in “radical cheerleaders”. These groups would show up at political events, protests, etc. and dress in outlandish outfits and cheer about what it meant to be a woman.

This Wave was extremely controversial between the Second Wave. They believed that all the work they contributed had been forgotten through the new ideas and characteristics of this more modern Wave.

Overall, I do not know if I would consider myself to be a Third Wave feminist, for I do not know if I consider myself a feminist yet. Between all three Waves, I do believe that I would associate myself with the Third Wave more because the characteristics of them are portrayed in our society today and have been around since my generation was born. I do believe that women should be allowed to embrace their sexuality and individualism to provide the public with knowledge about feminism.

First Wave Strategies

One strategy that was used during the First Wave was the idea of unity. First Wave feminists wanted to be a united group of women who all had one cause that they were fighting for (in this case, feminism). This strategy was effective for them during this time because it helped inform the public, especially other women, about the issues of feminism and how they wanted to fix and change them. It also allowed them to get their voices heard about the topics and showing the inequality that women had in society. The several united groups that were formed hosted many conventions to plan out their strategies and tactics used to voice their ideas and issues concerning feminism.

In today’s society, I believe that the strategy of having one group to take a stand against feminism and have their voice heard would not be as effective as it was back during the age of the First Wave. This is because, in our society today, we have many different opinions and ideas that are voiced which I personally believe would cause conflict within this strategy of one group. That is also a cause of the reason why many protests back then were peaceful and resulted in parades. Today, they are more. Organization is also hard have when there are many people with different beliefs forming all different types of associations and groups. Overall, this would make it hard for feminists to use one of the First Wave’s strategies.

Feminist Theories

From what I have learned about the different feminist theories, I think the most persuasive type is liberal feminism. I find this the most persuasive because of the motives and reasons that it possesses. Liberal feminism states women’s oppression is rooted in the lack of opportunity and education. In the lecture on Monday, January 26, Professor Davis said that this theory’s key is the demand for equal access, economic power, and education.

Women are considered to be unequal in the public sphere. I find their vision for equality is the most influential and realistic. The vision states that their goal is gender justice and sexual equality by removing legal constraints. This vision persuades me the most because situations with this occur in everyday occurrences. Economic power and education are a major part of our society and where we see feminist problems occurring.

Economic power and status and educational opportunities are limited in some societies, and both have a connection and relation between each other. Economic power and status in a job can reflect the type of education you received. Education can be limited and bias towards the female gender, which I find to be an important issue that needs to be looked at and fought for.

All of the other theories are persuasive as well, but for different reasons. Liberal feminism has a broader range of topics, and I feel as though it allows more women to associate with it and their ideas than the others.