The Conversation: Women's Bodies

About a month ago I read Ashley Judd's article on The Daily Beast. Her article sheds a very important light on our conversation about women's bodies. This issue that she has brought to light is not something new. It has always been there, we just don't talk about them. The topics that she writes about are the issues that I discussed in my media studies courses. We live in a society where there is a hypersexualization  of girls and women, degradation of our sexuality, and incessant objectification. We need to change our conversation about women's bodies.

It is very true that we are described and detailed, our faces and bodies analyzed and picked apart, our worth associated and ascribed based on the reduction of personhood to simple physical objectification. Our voices, our personhood, our potential, and our accomplishments are not talk about. Ashley Judd perfectly describe the conversation about women's bodies "it is also directed at (and marketed to) us, and used to define and control us."

She wrote this article when the media made nasty, gendered, and misogynistic speculations about her "puffy face." The reason why she had a "puffy face," is because she had multiple rounds of steroid when she was sick. The accusation is that her face looks puff, so she "clearly had work done," with otherwise credible reporters "identifying" what procedures she allegedly had done.

The article may stem from her "puffy face," but it is the broader picture about our conversations about women. We need to ask ourselves what is the self-righteous alleged "all knowing" stance of the media about? How does this symbolize constraints on girls and women, and encroach on our right to be simply who we are, at any given moment? How does this reflect on how we view ourselves?

http://www.missrepresentation.org/

The documentary Miss Representation, by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, and aired on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. The film explores how the media's misrepresentations of women have led to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence.

http://americathebeautifuldoc.com/atb.html

America the Beautiful, a film by Darryl Roberts, looks at Americans' obsession with beauty. If you have the chance, you should watch both of his films: America the Beautiful and America the Beautiful 2. It's pretty eye opening.

xoxo,
Kat