Please discuss your responses to Susan Bordo's assertions about women and food advertising. Can you think of any contemporary examples? If you can't, try a Google Images search of "people eating" and compare the men and women. Is her argument dated?
Susan Bordo makes an interesting point about how women are looked at in relationship to food, and I think her argument is not dated. In my everyday life I see examples still where women are looked at differently for their appetite than men. One example would be the sitcoms where there is a fat man married to a beautiful petite woman. I have always found this odd. From what I see in real life, people of a similar build with similar appetites seem to be the ones that get together and have a relationship. I think Bordo over exaggerates the effect that advertisements do have on how people actually eat. Eating disorders are based on more than how people are depicted in advertisements. I find it hard to believe that people need to be reminded of “how dangerous food actually is for women”… This statement fits well with the recent scare tactics of many persuasive writers and politicians, but lacks much factual basis. I found her reference to Victorian ideals as a nice way to demonstrate that this is not a new idea and it has been developing for a while.
I found the writing by Susan Bordo to be interesting. Susan Bordo’s argument is not dated. I found Bordo’s argument about the subjectivity in relation to the French girls and the diet pills, to be relevant to today’s society. The assertion about subjectivity in advertising does not only pertain to women but men as well. The contemporary example would be Yoplait yogurt commercials. Essentially, one woman opens the refrigerator and discusses all the “sweet deserts” she eats, while her husband is trying to find the desserts. The ad is subjective because the commercial displays that a woman can still eat “whatever “sweet dessert she wants as long as it’s a Yoplait yogurt. Another argument I found relevant to today was Bordo’s argument of control in relation to food. The assertion about control in advertising is one in which a woman will have full control by using a certain product. I find that it is not necessarily the product or service that puts someone in control, it is that person’s willpower that puts him/her in control. I find that when advertisers discuss women and losing weight, the advertisers always focus on how much to eat, not what to eat. A contemporary example is the gum ad, where a woman is arguing to herself silently whether or not to eat a Macadema nut cookie. However, the lady doesn’t eat the cookie, because the gum puts her in control of her eating options. The final argument I found relevant to today was the idea of advertisers fusing sex and desire into food. The desire assertion in advertising is that if a woman uses a certain product or service she will be enthralled by the product or service. A contemporary example would be a McDonald’s commercial where a woman has 10 McNuggets and teases her boyfriend who is singing/begging her to give him a McNugget.
To continue on what Katie said, I have also noticed that sitcoms have skinny wives with overweight husbands. King of Queens for example, has Doug Heffernon who is an out-going overweight man's man marrying a beautiful skinny wife in Carrie. I've noticed that in the show when they go to a local bar Doug usually gets wings on top of wings with bear, whereas, Carrie will just order a salad. It fits into that stereotype that Bordo was talking about where Men can eat whatever they want and still be considered a man's man, whereas, if a woman does it then she will be considered a slob (and possibly even ugly and pathetic). I think our soceity is showing signs of advancement in accepting body images with commercials such as dove soap that show body images of women of all sizes and ages, and not just the classic model. However, with the recent craze of stars such as Lindsay Lohan and Jennifer Aniston looking sickly skinny, it makes one wonder how much gains we have made as a society. Granted it may only be a handful of stars, but they get so much publicity that a child may feel compelled to take the same drastic measures to get some attention. Although, these magazines now are stressing how ugly and unhealthy these lifestyles are, which is a step foward. I also think that with the push in America to be more healthy, people may start aspire for a body in the middle of the two roads to achieve healthiness. It's obviously a debate that's been going on for years, and it's hard to pin-point where it's going.
Susan Bordo's argument is not dated. However, more often in commercials we are seeing regular and overweight women advertising a product they used that made them slim and sexy. They show the before pictures and we see how slim they are now. This appeals to the average woman because it shows that regular people can potentially become the ideal skinny woman by using whatever product is being advertised. This is more common now than just a skinny model eating dessert food. Another example of how women are looked at based on what they eat is Jessica Simpson. When she lost weight and became super slim for her role in the Dukes of Hazzard, she was praised by the media being called hot and sexy. However, since she has recently gained weight, the media has been ripping her to shreds. This hardly happens with men in the media and if it does it is not done to this extent. This exemplifies Bordo's argument that women are seen as people who should watch everything they eat but men can eat whatever they want whenever they want.
Susan Bordo's writing was pretty interesting. You never really think much about how people, and women specifically, are compared to food to give the appeal of appearance. I think that Susan's quote that, "Today, all we experience as meaningful as appearances" is a little extreme and takes the argument a little too far. Not EVERTHING that we as people experience is through appearance, however a lot of it is. I also thought of the King of Queens show off the top of my head just as Brandon did. After completing a brief youtube search, I found some yogurt commercials as well as a few for some healthful granola bars. In each commercial, women were portrayed eating very small bites and they almost always have most of the food left. This ties in with the appearance that Bordo talks about. Another commercial is the Philadelphia cream cheese commercials, with the women on clouds eating bagels filled with cream cheese (once again most of the bagel is left and they are simply nibbling on it. Also, in all of these commercials, the woman is always fashionable, appears healthy, and is skinny.
Susan Bordo makes some interesting and valid points in her article, which by the way isn't dated. She looked at women's relationship with food and subjectivity in advertising which very much relates to today's society. Too many times we see commercials about women advertising pills or drinks to lose weight, or we see sitcoms (like those stated above) like Family Guy, and King of the Hills where the husband is overweight and the wife is skinny and petite. I do believe advertisements affect how people eat, some people base their diet and entire food consumption by what they've seen advertised on television. One contemporary example is the Slim Quick commercials. Here, there's an animated sort of cartoon couple. The woman is overweight and the male is skinny. The woman states that her husband can eat whatever and still wont gain weight and yet she drinks water and gains weight. This is supposed to be a powder weight-lose product that is to be mixed into a water bottle. The goal is to deal with women and control stress and hormones that's linked to weight gain. I'm not going to lie, I actually bought a pack over the summer, and no it doesn't work.
In this excerpt from Susan Bordo, there are many topics covered relating to women and their eating habits. In the first section, with the example of the young girls, it seems that this ad was targeted toward the younger generation leading them to believe the thinner the better and the best way to do that is by taking a pill. She also later makes a point to show the difference between what is acceptable dinning habits of women and men. It is considered manly if men eat large portions several times a day. She uses the example of the Victorian women to show their femininetyand how those same habits today make an attractive woman. ALso, it was interesting to disect some ads and see how they specifically market to men and woman, not only in terms of weight loss but also, emotion and sex. Ads such as the ones from SLim-Fast are meant to improve someones lifestyle and the example of Haagen-Daz was meant to target the emotional aspect of womens eating habits. It was supposed to show that men have a yearning for comfort foods as well and must indulge once in a while. In todays society, a persons body image is of utmost importance. Especially for women. It is easiest to see in Hollywood because if an actress gains a few pounds it does not go un-noticed but if a man gains some weight no one raises an eyebrow. Women are under so much pressure from the media and peers to look perfect that most will do whatever it takes to look that way. Bordo's analysis of the womens psyche related to food in my opinion was spot on. We are under so much pressure and there seems to be no end in sight.
i do not believe that Susan Bordo's argument is dated. i believe that society still struggles with the type of images that people are supposed to uphold and it is represented by the foods they eat. Flipping through a few magazines, watching commercials or searching google, the gender roles are still similar. They are shown with the women mainly eating healthier and the men eating a bit more meat and grease. Stating that women need to maintain a healthy and more attractive body and men can eat whatever they want. This becomes interesting to me that even though advertisements are exaggerated they still hold must truth to reality. It becomes frustrating to me as well because i am the oldest of 4 and have a younger sister who sees Barbie and princesses and already has a set thought of how life should turn out. funny how advertisement and entertainment can have such a large and negative impact on people.
I highly doubt that there will be come a time in modern American culture where this argument becomes obsolete. It has been this way for quite some time, and changing a culture’s ideas and perceptions of beauty would take some time. Women are still depicted as ideally eating small and healthy portions on television, in movies, and in commercials and women who eat large amounts or voraciously are classified as boyish or “one of the guys.” I particularly liked that Bord addresses the counter argument on page 103 when she says “Sometimes when I am analyzing and interpreting advertisements and commercials in class, students accuse me of kind of paranoia about the significance of these representations as carriers and reproducers of culture.” Bord goes on to say that her students “insist these are just images, not “real life”’ any fool knows that advertisers manipulate reality in the service of selling their products.” When I first read this I was in complete agreement with the student’s side of the argument; That advertisers are just trying to sell their goods and they do not have some crazed cultural agenda and that we, as intelligent individuals, should not be drawn in. However, we are all only human and when this is all we grow up seeing all around us, it becomes a part of who we are and what we view as beautiful, regardless of if this is what was originally intended. I find this type of discussion intensely interesting because I think it is somewhat of a double-edged sword. Obviously it is not healthy to any woman’s self esteem to constantly be told that to be skinny and toned is the only way you can be viewed as beautiful. However, if we argue against this, are we saying that it is okay to eat unhealthy food and in large portions that could, and probably will, make us overweight? Clearly there needs to be a line drawn, and there must be moderation on both sides.
I like how Susan Bordo talks about how each generation, young women are finding new ways to be apart of the feminine arts by controlling their weight with the use of diet pills. She mentions a commercial ad of a woman who are not eating much but are described as "cool" because of her slenderness. In another ad, the speaker displays obsessiveness for for food. in comparison to the first ad, this women is eating anything she wants without thinking of the consequence. One topic Bordo mentions in relation to food is ethnicity and culture. She says there is a big contrast between "white women's obsessive relations with food and a more accepting attitude toward women's appetites within African American communities." I think her article is dated because people do still struggle with eating problems, particuraly women. I think that society does base alot of their eating habits on race, culure, commercials, and other types of advertisements. Gender also plays a major role because men are portrayed to always have the appetites and women are seen as those who want to eat right and stay in an ideal shape.
I do not think Susan Bordo argument is dated. Women are constantly dieting and trying to curb their food cravings. I agree with Bordo's point she makes early on in her essay, women want to have a casual relationship with food. Every women wants to feel as though it's not a big deal when food is consumed, but society knows that women are constantly counting calories, trying to determine if they have enough space for a sliver of dessert. On page 104, Bordo quotes "If I'm not eating dessert, I'm talking about it. If I'm not talking about it, I'm eating it. And I'm always thinking about it... It's just always on my mind." I think this hits the nail on the he as to women's obsession with food and constantly stressing themselves to be thin.
I also found the parallel between women's sex drive and their cravings for food very interesting. It is culturally acceptable for women to consume small balanced meals, and it expected that women will have a controlled sexual appetite. As discussed by Bordo, commercials seem to play on this risque idea of a woman's sexual desires with food metaphors.
Susan Bordo's arguments are dead on. Society pushes figure on women and food is the first thing that comes to mind when weight is brought up. every commercial break has a commercial about weight loss or healthy foods. It is shoved in our faces, and typically the commercials are directed at women.
I feel Bordo’s accusations of gender based diets do have relevance in today’s world. As others have said, I do recognize the media displays males as overweight retards and females as the more sensible, lean, and intelligent ones. It seems odd but it is still a picture portrayed in modern society. I personally have noticed that some women who eat less appear to be intelligent or often quite feminine at times than those who eat more. However, this obviously isn’t always true but I have recognized it in the past with previous relationships. It seems then that Bordo’s assertions are not entirely dated.
Kim mooney's Article taises the issue of gender steriotyping in relation to food consumption. Describesd as a criteria for creation of impression interpersonal as compared to an ideal woman who has been defined to be slander and eats less. i think this Gender steriotype is a spill over from other gender steriotypes that society has come to accomodate as " an ideal woman." Society has defined the woman to be the more emotionam but less proactive in creation of heterosexual relationships. and since women have come to terms with this sterotype they are now force to fulfill the emotional Gap while remaining in the sphare pf the defined norm. They tend to acomplish the emotional goal by looking for other means to cause the more proactibe masculine gender to act in their proactive manner to create that relationship. The norm is, women must be beoutiful to stimulate the creation of relationship. In a country that takes its ideal from the rich and famous, slim has been portrayed as the ideal and thus the rest of the country follows that norm. since knowledhe has shown that eating fats and eating much will result in the "un-slim" woman society now demonises the act of eating fot womem while the men go free. other countries which suffer from food shortage and famine actually consider the bigger woman as the beautiful one and will not judge female eating habits or consider them as a means of creating impressions. so it is more of a cultural behavior judge women based on their eating habits
Making a very interesting argument, Susan Bordo brings up the issue of comparing the idea of women eating and men eating differently. I think that this argument isn’t dated because a lot of women will gain notice if they have ‘healthy’ appetites, or praised for their lack of one. I, however, don’t necessarily agree with her advertisement argument. I don’t think that the skinny woman eating a cheeseburger really sends the message we can eat whatever we want and not gain weight, I think it’s just a tool used to better sell their product, using someone stereotypically appealing. The attention given to Jessica Simpson lately, is a good example. Everyone knows that she is a beautiful woman, there is no doubt about that. But some people pick at people’s flaws or weaknesses, in their opinion, being her weight. Gaining more attention lately, than Barack Obama, even being mentioned in one of his interviews, It shows how some unfair standards can be set just because someone was born female.
I believe that Susan Bordo touches on some very good topics in her piece. In addition, I do not think that this article is dated, whatsoever. In fact, while I was writing on this blog I had the TV going on in the background and a commercial came up for Yogurt. The commercial had a woman talking on the phone with a friend saying that she had been indulging in strawberry cheesecake, key lime pie, raspberry mousse something or other and various desserts, meanwhile her husband is searching in the fridge for these things but cannot find them. He later figures out those were the flavors of the yogurt she was eating. This is a classic example of how women cant be eating these desserts because they are controlling what they eat, so they turn to a more healthy option. And the commercial uses words like, "indulging" relating to Bordo's point that there is a control issue that women have with food. Also, there is a massive problem with the way our culture defines the “perfect woman” if young women are idolizing Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, or Mary Kate Olsen who all at one point were skin and bones. We see it all over the TV and magazines, “So and So are too fat”, “Is she pregnant…. No just gaining weight”. The public is constantly picking on people and criticizing their weight, which is the most important topic that Bordo touches on in her writings.
Susan Bordo makes an interesting point about how women are looked at in relationship to food, and I think her argument is not dated. In my everyday life I see examples still where women are looked at differently for their appetite than men. One example would be the sitcoms where there is a fat man married to a beautiful petite woman. I have always found this odd. From what I see in real life, people of a similar build with similar appetites seem to be the ones that get together and have a relationship. I think Bordo over exaggerates the effect that advertisements do have on how people actually eat. Eating disorders are based
ReplyDeleteon more than how people are depicted in advertisements. I find it hard to believe that people need to be reminded of “how dangerous food actually is for women”… This statement fits well with the recent scare tactics of many persuasive writers and politicians, but lacks much factual basis. I found her reference to Victorian ideals as a nice way to demonstrate that this is not a new idea and it has been developing for a while.
I found the writing by Susan Bordo to be interesting. Susan Bordo’s argument is not dated. I found Bordo’s argument about the subjectivity in relation to the French girls and the diet pills, to be relevant to today’s society. The assertion about subjectivity in advertising does not only pertain to women but men as well. The contemporary example would be Yoplait yogurt commercials. Essentially, one woman opens the refrigerator and discusses all the “sweet deserts” she eats, while her husband is trying to find the desserts. The ad is subjective because the commercial displays that a woman can still eat “whatever “sweet dessert she wants as long as it’s a Yoplait yogurt.
ReplyDeleteAnother argument I found relevant to today was Bordo’s argument of control in relation to food. The assertion about control in advertising is one in which a woman will have full control by using a certain product. I find that it is not necessarily the product or service that puts someone in control, it is that person’s willpower that puts him/her in control. I find that when advertisers discuss women and losing weight, the advertisers always focus on how much to eat, not what to eat. A contemporary example is the gum ad, where a woman is arguing to herself silently whether or not to eat a Macadema nut cookie. However, the lady doesn’t eat the cookie, because the gum puts her in control of her eating options.
The final argument I found relevant to today was the idea of advertisers fusing sex and desire into food. The desire assertion in advertising is that if a woman uses a certain product or service she will be enthralled by the product or service. A contemporary example would be a McDonald’s commercial where a woman has 10 McNuggets and teases her boyfriend who is singing/begging her to give him a McNugget.
To continue on what Katie said, I have also noticed that sitcoms have skinny wives with overweight husbands. King of Queens for example, has Doug Heffernon who is an out-going overweight man's man marrying a beautiful skinny wife in Carrie. I've noticed that in the show when they go to a local bar Doug usually gets wings on top of wings with bear, whereas, Carrie will just order a salad. It fits into that stereotype that Bordo was talking about where Men can eat whatever they want and still be considered a man's man, whereas, if a woman does it then she will be considered a slob (and possibly even ugly and pathetic). I think our soceity is showing signs of advancement in accepting body images with commercials such as dove soap that show body images of women of all sizes and ages, and not just the classic model. However, with the recent craze of stars such as Lindsay Lohan and Jennifer Aniston looking sickly skinny, it makes one wonder how much gains we have made as a society. Granted it may only be a handful of stars, but they get so much publicity that a child may feel compelled to take the same drastic measures to get some attention. Although, these magazines now are stressing how ugly and unhealthy these lifestyles are, which is a step foward. I also think that with the push in America to be more healthy, people may start aspire for a body in the middle of the two roads to achieve healthiness. It's obviously a debate that's been going on for years, and it's hard to pin-point where it's going.
ReplyDeleteSusan Bordo's argument is not dated. However, more often in commercials we are seeing regular and overweight women advertising a product they used that made them slim and sexy. They show the before pictures and we see how slim they are now. This appeals to the average woman because it shows that regular people can potentially become the ideal skinny woman by using whatever product is being advertised. This is more common now than just a skinny model eating dessert food.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of how women are looked at based on what they eat is Jessica Simpson. When she lost weight and became super slim for her role in the Dukes of Hazzard, she was praised by the media being called hot and sexy. However, since she has recently gained weight, the media has been ripping her to shreds. This hardly happens with men in the media and if it does it is not done to this extent. This exemplifies Bordo's argument that women are seen as people who should watch everything they eat but men can eat whatever they want whenever they want.
Susan Bordo's writing was pretty interesting. You never really think much about how people, and women specifically, are compared to food to give the appeal of appearance. I think that Susan's quote that, "Today, all we experience as meaningful as appearances" is a little extreme and takes the argument a little too far. Not EVERTHING that we as people experience is through appearance, however a lot of it is. I also thought of the King of Queens show off the top of my head just as Brandon did. After completing a brief youtube search, I found some yogurt commercials as well as a few for some healthful granola bars. In each commercial, women were portrayed eating very small bites and they almost always have most of the food left. This ties in with the appearance that Bordo talks about. Another commercial is the Philadelphia cream cheese commercials, with the women on clouds eating bagels filled with cream cheese (once again most of the bagel is left and they are simply nibbling on it. Also, in all of these commercials, the woman is always fashionable, appears healthy, and is skinny.
ReplyDeleteSusan Bordo makes some interesting and valid points in her article, which by the way isn't dated. She looked at women's relationship with food and subjectivity in advertising which very much relates to today's society. Too many times we see commercials about women advertising pills or drinks to lose weight, or we see sitcoms (like those stated above) like Family Guy, and King of the Hills where the husband is overweight and the wife is skinny and petite. I do believe advertisements affect how people eat, some people base their diet and entire food consumption by what they've seen advertised on television.
ReplyDeleteOne contemporary example is the Slim Quick commercials. Here, there's an animated sort of cartoon couple. The woman is overweight and the male is skinny. The woman states that her husband can eat whatever and still wont gain weight and yet she drinks water and gains weight. This is supposed to be a powder weight-lose product that is to be mixed into a water bottle. The goal is to deal with women and control stress and hormones that's linked to weight gain. I'm not going to lie, I actually bought a pack over the summer, and no it doesn't work.
In this excerpt from Susan Bordo, there are many topics covered relating to women and their eating habits. In the first section, with the example of the young girls, it seems that this ad was targeted toward the younger generation leading them to believe the thinner the better and the best way to do that is by taking a pill. She also later makes a point to show the difference between what is acceptable dinning habits of women and men. It is considered manly if men eat large portions several times a day. She uses the example of the Victorian women to show their femininetyand how those same habits today make an attractive woman.
ReplyDeleteALso, it was interesting to disect some ads and see how they specifically market to men and woman, not only in terms of weight loss but also, emotion and sex. Ads such as the ones from SLim-Fast are meant to improve someones lifestyle and the example of Haagen-Daz was meant to target the emotional aspect of womens eating habits. It was supposed to show that men have a yearning for comfort foods as well and must indulge once in a while.
In todays society, a persons body image is of utmost importance. Especially for women. It is easiest to see in Hollywood because if an actress gains a few pounds it does not go un-noticed but if a man gains some weight no one raises an eyebrow. Women are under so much pressure from the media and peers to look perfect that most will do whatever it takes to look that way. Bordo's analysis of the womens psyche related to food in my opinion was spot on. We are under so much pressure and there seems to be no end in sight.
i do not believe that Susan Bordo's argument is dated. i believe that society still struggles with the type of images that people are supposed to uphold and it is represented by the foods they eat. Flipping through a few magazines, watching commercials or searching google, the gender roles are still similar. They are shown with the women mainly eating healthier and the men eating a bit more meat and grease. Stating that women need to maintain a healthy and more attractive body and men can eat whatever they want. This becomes interesting to me that even though advertisements are exaggerated they still hold must truth to reality. It becomes frustrating to me as well because i am the oldest of 4 and have a younger sister who sees Barbie and princesses and already has a set thought of how life should turn out. funny how advertisement and entertainment can have such a large and negative impact on people.
ReplyDeleteI highly doubt that there will be come a time in modern American culture where this argument becomes obsolete. It has been this way for quite some time, and changing a culture’s ideas and perceptions of beauty would take some time. Women are still depicted as ideally eating small and healthy portions on television, in movies, and in commercials and women who eat large amounts or voraciously are classified as boyish or “one of the guys.” I particularly liked that Bord addresses the counter argument on page 103 when she says “Sometimes when I am analyzing and interpreting advertisements and commercials in class, students accuse me of kind of paranoia about the significance of these representations as carriers and reproducers of culture.” Bord goes on to say that her students “insist these are just images, not “real life”’ any fool knows that advertisers manipulate reality in the service of selling their products.” When I first read this I was in complete agreement with the student’s side of the argument; That advertisers are just trying to sell their goods and they do not have some crazed cultural agenda and that we, as intelligent individuals, should not be drawn in. However, we are all only human and when this is all we grow up seeing all around us, it becomes a part of who we are and what we view as beautiful, regardless of if this is what was originally intended.
ReplyDeleteI find this type of discussion intensely interesting because I think it is somewhat of a double-edged sword. Obviously it is not healthy to any woman’s self esteem to constantly be told that to be skinny and toned is the only way you can be viewed as beautiful. However, if we argue against this, are we saying that it is okay to eat unhealthy food and in large portions that could, and probably will, make us overweight? Clearly there needs to be a line drawn, and there must be moderation on both sides.
I like how Susan Bordo talks about how each generation, young women are finding new ways to be apart of the feminine arts by controlling their weight with the use of diet pills. She mentions a commercial ad of a woman who are not eating much but are described as "cool" because of her slenderness. In another ad, the speaker displays obsessiveness for for food. in comparison to the first ad, this women is eating anything she wants without thinking of the consequence.
ReplyDeleteOne topic Bordo mentions in relation to food is ethnicity and culture. She says there is a big contrast between "white women's obsessive relations with food and a more accepting attitude toward women's appetites within African American communities."
I think her article is dated because people do still struggle with eating problems, particuraly women. I think that society does base alot of their eating habits on race, culure, commercials, and other types of advertisements. Gender also plays a major role because men are portrayed to always have the appetites and women are seen as those who want to eat right and stay in an ideal shape.
I do not think Susan Bordo argument is dated. Women are constantly dieting and trying to curb their food cravings. I agree with Bordo's point she makes early on in her essay, women want to have a casual relationship with food. Every women wants to feel as though it's not a big deal when food is consumed, but society knows that women are constantly counting calories, trying to determine if they have enough space for a sliver of dessert. On page 104, Bordo quotes "If I'm not eating dessert, I'm talking about it. If I'm not talking about it, I'm eating it. And I'm always thinking about it... It's just always on my mind." I think this hits the nail on the he as to women's obsession with food and constantly stressing themselves to be thin.
ReplyDeleteI also found the parallel between women's sex drive and their cravings for food very interesting. It is culturally acceptable for women to consume small balanced meals, and it expected that women will have a controlled sexual appetite. As discussed by Bordo, commercials seem to play on this risque idea of a woman's sexual desires with food metaphors.
Susan Bordo's arguments are dead on. Society pushes figure on women and food is the first thing that comes to mind when weight is brought up. every commercial break has a commercial about weight loss or healthy foods. It is shoved in our faces, and typically the commercials are directed at women.
ReplyDeleteI feel Bordo’s accusations of gender based diets do have relevance in today’s world. As others have said, I do recognize the media displays males as overweight retards and females as the more sensible, lean, and intelligent ones. It seems odd but it is still a picture portrayed in modern society. I personally have noticed that some women who eat less appear to be intelligent or often quite feminine at times than those who eat more. However, this obviously isn’t always true but I have recognized it in the past with previous relationships. It seems then that Bordo’s assertions are not entirely dated.
ReplyDeleteKim mooney's Article taises the issue of gender steriotyping in relation to food consumption. Describesd as a criteria for creation of impression interpersonal as compared to an ideal woman who has been defined to be slander and eats less. i think this Gender steriotype is a spill over from other gender steriotypes that society has come to accomodate as " an ideal woman." Society has defined the woman to be the more emotionam but less proactive in creation of heterosexual relationships. and since women have come to terms with this sterotype they are now force to fulfill the emotional Gap while remaining in the sphare pf the defined norm. They tend to acomplish the emotional goal by looking for other means to cause the more proactibe masculine gender to act in their proactive manner to create that relationship. The norm is, women must be beoutiful to stimulate the creation of relationship. In a country that takes its ideal from the rich and famous, slim has been portrayed as the ideal and thus the rest of the country follows that norm. since knowledhe has shown that eating fats and eating much will result in the "un-slim" woman society now demonises the act of eating fot womem while the men go free.
ReplyDeleteother countries which suffer from food shortage and famine actually consider the bigger woman as the beautiful one and will not judge female eating habits or consider them as a means of creating impressions. so it is more of a cultural behavior judge women based on their eating habits
Making a very interesting argument, Susan Bordo brings up the issue of comparing the idea of women eating and men eating differently. I think that this argument isn’t dated because a lot of women will gain notice if they have ‘healthy’ appetites, or praised for their lack of one. I, however, don’t necessarily agree with her advertisement argument. I don’t think that the skinny woman eating a cheeseburger really sends the message we can eat whatever we want and not gain weight, I think it’s just a tool used to better sell their product, using someone stereotypically appealing. The attention given to Jessica Simpson lately, is a good example. Everyone knows that she is a beautiful woman, there is no doubt about that. But some people pick at people’s flaws or weaknesses, in their opinion, being her weight. Gaining more attention lately, than Barack Obama, even being mentioned in one of his interviews, It shows how some unfair standards can be set just because someone was born female.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Susan Bordo touches on some very good topics in her piece. In addition, I do not think that this article is dated, whatsoever. In fact, while I was writing on this blog I had the TV going on in the background and a commercial came up for Yogurt. The commercial had a woman talking on the phone with a friend saying that she had been indulging in strawberry cheesecake, key lime pie, raspberry mousse something or other and various desserts, meanwhile her husband is searching in the fridge for these things but cannot find them. He later figures out those were the flavors of the yogurt she was eating. This is a classic example of how women cant be eating these desserts because they are controlling what they eat, so they turn to a more healthy option. And the commercial uses words like, "indulging" relating to Bordo's point that there is a control issue that women have with food.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there is a massive problem with the way our culture defines the “perfect woman” if young women are idolizing Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, or Mary Kate Olsen who all at one point were skin and bones. We see it all over the TV and magazines, “So and So are too fat”, “Is she pregnant…. No just gaining weight”. The public is constantly picking on people and criticizing their weight, which is the most important topic that Bordo touches on in her writings.