Between our readings, class
discussions, presentations, and my own personal review of current media, I
cannot help but notice a very common and consistent theme. Society as a whole
has not evolved enough to the point of moving past the harsh policing on women’s
bodies. Whether some school administrator calls you out on what you’re wearing,
the tabloids dictate the line between what’s considered fashionable and what’s
“slutty”, a catcaller on the street harasses you, or even being nitpicked by
your own peers, it does not feel like there is any zone of safety for women to
have full agency over their bodies. While men are free to look and dress as
they see fit, women simply do not have the right to make their own decisions.
Men dictate to society the laws and “morals” that women must follow to maintain
safety, professionalism, and appropriateness. But how is “appropriate” defined?
More importantly, why aren’t women the ones who dictate what appropriate means?
With thirteen years of Catholic
school education, I can honestly say that I’ve had heavy exposure to the
policing of women’s bodies. On a daily basis I would hear things like “Pull
your skirt below your knee!” “Keep that top button on!” or better yet, “Leave
something to the guy’s imagination!” This is a Catholic school. And the Deans
of the school had no problem suggesting that the way someone might dress justifiably
dictates how they should be perceived in the public eye. Unfortunately,
comments such as these sow the seeds of patriarchy in the minds of such
impressionable lads. If we allow our figures of authority within the
educational system to make such statements, are we not perpetuating a
self-fulfilling prophecy? Without proper guidance, society is led precisely
into the patriarchal cycle that John Berger stated so many years ago, “Men look
at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only the
relations of men to women, but the relation of women to themselves.”
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| Just one example of the fetishization of the Catholic schoolgirl |
And as if to add insult to injury,
what makes society’s policing of women so effective, so damaging, is in the shaming that they are subjected to. In
certain institutions, such as both my elementary school and high school, would
go so far as to suspend female students from school, entirely on the basis of
what they were wearing. Their stated reasoning for doing so? The young women
weren’t following the “dress code;” they weren’t conducting themselves in a
manner that accurately represented the school. What they actually mean,
however, is that the women weren’t covering their female extremities from head
to toe, for fear of intent to distract fellow male peers from their studies.
Even worse, still, is how my school administrators brought religion into the
mix. With statements like “No man wants to marry a hoochie” and “You should go
home and pray”, the students were made to question their self-worth. Aside from
personal exposure to the subjugation of women’ s bodies at school, there are
plenty of examples in our society of the detrimental affects that our social patriarchal
mindset have imposed on our women and girls.
The laws, policies, and standards
put in place in our society have only gone to further reinforce rape culture. Advertising
media has only exacerbated the issue. Rather than dressing comfortably, women
are subjected to the argument of promiscuity. More than several cases of “boys will be boys” cases have occurred within the last year. In other words, many
teen rapists are off the hook from their crimes, for little more than being
young and naïve, or because the victims were quite simply “asking for it”. Our
society tries to decriminalize rape culture by putting the blame on the victims,
belittling them. As opposed to just freely dressing in whatever makes you
comfortable on any given day, women are portrayed as dressing provocatively, or
sensually, as if with some ulterior motive to get someone’s attention. While
shameful that women have to fear for their safety on a daily basis, we must
also be weary of the emotional impact of such matters.
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| The subjugation of women isn't limited to race |
As Wykes Gunther said in Conclusion: Body Messages and Body Meanings,
“The female body is a spectacle, both something to be looked at, whether real
or mediated, and to be looked through in the search for feminine identity.”
Whether or not a woman wants attention, she has been forced into the spotlight. Both psychologically and emotionally,
society is dictating to women that safety isn’t the endgame; re-evaluating your
self-worth to be more careful is. The subjugation of women is not a mutually
exclusive event. All races of women are affected across the entire spectrum of
age. Jean Kilbourne sums up society’s contradictory message to women, to be
“sensual, but not too far from innocence…somehow [women] are supposed to be
both sexy and virginal, experienced and naïve, seductive and chaste. The
disparagement of maturity is, of course, insulting and frustrating to adult
women, and the implication that little girls are seductive is dangerous to real
children.” It's about time for change. Boys need to be taught that women are
not available for their viewing/physical pleasure. Girls need to be taught that
their self-worth should not be determined by the opposite sex, and they should
turn a critical eye to advertising media, whose “images associate the products
advertised with certain socially desirable traits and convey messages
concerning the symbolic benefits accrued to those who consume the product…” and
all to make a sale (Kellner).
Works Cited
John Berger Ways of
Seeing
Wykes Gunther Conclusion:
Body Messages and Body Meanings
Jean Kilbourne Beauty
and the Beast of Advertising
Douglas Kellner Reading
Images Critically
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