Policing of Women's Bodies

The policing of women's bodies has been a long-standing issue in our society. I believe policing of women’s bodies started with the way woman have been portrayed as inferior from the beginning. Sayings such as a woman should stand behind her man, support her man, do this and that for her man reiterates this inferiority. Seldomly do we hear a woman is her husband’s equal because in our society a woman is not equal to any man. But it is this picture of inferiority that has been ingrained in to the minds of the majority that put woman in a position to be the subject of constant policing. Woman have become an object of analysis; her body is always open for discussion. Please keep in mind women were not given the right to vote until 1920 that is a century and then some after the United States declared its independence from Britain. This point also highlights the severity of the issue, women have not been treated as equal for a very long time. Even with the right to vote, the playing field has not been evened out. How can it be when your opponent has had nearly 150-year start? That is why we have the ever present male gaze it is well established, well-oiled machine.

Source:http://www.siyawoman.com/anti-body-shaming/

Woman are valued by how well they can upkeep the standards set by society. And by “society” I’m referring to straight, wealthy, white males that own the mass media. The picture above clearly illustrates the constant comments that are said to women too often regarding their bodies.  An article on the website everyday feminism deals with a very intimate example of body policing. The post is a comic strip that touches on how men feel woman should groom themselves. Woman are constantly criticized for their appearance, decisions that they make about their sexuality, and decisions on reproductive care.

Many companies have attempted to create a conversation about body positivity such as Dove. I included the video below of Dove’s video in support of their Real Beauty promotion. Cathleen Meredith initiated Fat Girls Dance, and she shares people were surprised that at her size that she could dance so well with so much energy. The video discusses the  stigma around describing women as fat and the importance of self-love and acceptance.

             Source:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-owM4crSd4Q

While this is an incredibly inspiring video, and Dove’s initiative is admirable it is disappointing that shortly after this video is released another video was released and as a representative of Dove stated it really “missed the mark” and then some.  The video shows a Black woman lift her shirt and then a white woman appears. The advertisement was clearly distasteful.  But the release of this second ad is very telling of the companies real outlook. First it shows the lack of diversity in this company. How can you really care about Catherine’s journey to body positivity if you have no one on your team that looks anything like her? If Catherine was helping to make decisions at Dove this ad would not have seen the light of day. In the first video of Cathleen they 

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/
oct/10/i-am-
woman-racist-dove-ad-not-a-victim#img-1

brought in Shonda Rhimes to tell her story with care. When Dove was given the opportunity without a token Black celeb to be the voice of reason they “missed the mark.” Perhaps companies like Dove and so many others are not as committed to these issues as they appear to be. Accurate representation in the media and in places where decisions are being made is necessary.

I’m not the only one that takes an issue with Dove’s Real Beauty campaign in a recent article in bitch media this issue was also addressed. The video discussed in the article was of two sketches being done one based on the woman’s description of herself and the other on the stranger's description of the woman. The stranger’s sketch showed the woman how beautiful she looked to the stranger.

It’s a nice notion that even on a woman’s worse days perhaps she do not look as bad to those that does not know her. Here is Lindsay King-Miller's thoughts on the  ad.

The ad’s statement was ostensibly heartwarming, but it didn’t sit right with me. Everyone in it was thin and able-bodied, and almost everyone was white—hardly a dramatic reversal of conventional beauty standards. And the viral advertisement reminded women that being found beautiful by other people was more important than what they thought of themselves. 

You can check out the rest of her article here.

Lindsay, my sentiments exactly!

But seriously this ad is problematic for several reasons. Why does the stranger’s opinion even matter? We are instilling in our young women to seek approval from others, and once again placing females as an object of analysis. This ad does not make any woman feel powerful after watching but reinforces the idea that women are inferior. I wait  for the day where no woman feels that someone else’s consent is necessary  to love the skin that she is in. 

Work Cited

https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/pretty-unnecessary-beauty-body-positivity

https://www.bitchmedia.org/post/heres-what-bothers-me-about-the-new-dove-ad

Berger, John. “3.” Ways of Seeing, British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 2008, pp. 36–64.
Bell Hooks. In Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, 1992: 115-131.