Post 4: Policing Women's Bodies

Societies have a long withstanding history of attempting to and succeeding in policing women's bodies. There is a sense of entitlement and ownership of the female body that infests the male mentality and that in turn influences the way they perceive and treat women. In patriarchal societies, that dominating male point of view is reinforced through the media and politics.

c: thesassologist

Legislative laws policing women's bodies are rampant in our society. It must be stressed that most of these lawmakers are white male men who have no only demonstrated lack of knowledge but are unabashedly sexist. A particular favorite regulation is that of women's reproductive rights. It's a thriving mentality that women's bodies only serve as reproductive vessels. And so, abortion laws are constantly being limited on a state level under the guise of religious beliefs or being champions for human life. Politically, the narrative continues to be predominantly white men are making life changing decisions on women's bodies and reproductive rights without their consent. Yet again restricting women from being allowed to have complete ownership over their own bodies. Abortion rights was about, "...the right to have sex, play God, to bring life into the world. This freaked people out." (Nelson16 ). 

c: onsizzle

There is a lot of coding when it comes to women and the the clothing they choose to wear. If your style is more towards the conservative, you're boring and a prude. But at the same time you're considered respectable and someone a man should take seriously. However, If you wear revealing clothing you are written off as lacking intelligence and being sexually promiscuous (a slut), someone a man could never and should never consider committing to. It's perfectly acceptable to have a sexual relationship, in fact that's all she is good for, but never anything more than that. Society encourages the mentality that how a woman dresses defines her personality and, most importantly, her worth. It's a no win situation.

In more dangerous situations involving rape, their lack of clothing suggests they were "asking" for it. A dangerously misogynistic narrative that completely removes responsibility from a male rapist and places the blame solely on the female victim. The message is not "don't rape", it's "don't invite rapists with your body". A symptom of rape culture. 

The media reinforces the policing of female bodies in many ways. They present images of women who fit these toxic perceptions of women based on their clothing. They become familiar tropes in films, television shows, and even in our news that are reinforced to viewers repeatedly. Magazines will market women solely on their looks, encouraging the idea that their appearance will define who they are and what they achieve. If you want that boy you have a crush on to notice you, dress this way, wear your makeup this way. If you want to get that job, style your hair this way, wear this outfit. It's a psychological form of brainwashing that's effective in making women internalize these beliefs and magazines are, "...all most women have as a window on their own mass sensibility." (Wolf 70).

Media also has a way of stigmatizing women's sexuality. Owning it and being open about it labels you a whore, it's rarely portrayed as a positive quality that should be encouraged and applauded. The sexuality open women is morally ambiguous, lacking virtue. Thus she's often shown as being "bitchy", a bully, with masculine traits who takes what she wants no matter who she hurts in the process. High School stories are notorious for sharing this narrative. The virginal quiet girl who dresses conservatively is the one viewers should root for, the heroine whose lack of sexuality makes her worthy of owning the story. In horror films in particular, the promiscuous girl is notoriously one of the first to get murdered, like she's being punished for openly enjoying sex.

Media, in particular social media, has also been an easily accessible platform for bringing awareness to these issues and combating the policing of women's bodies on a mass level. 

Works Cited

Nelson, Jennifer. Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement. 2003.

Wolf, Naomi. "Culture". The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. 1991.