Essay on The Ideal Female and the Oppression of Women

The Ideal Female and the Oppression of Women By having an impossible ideal female look, society is beating us as women. We have no time to come up in world through politics, business, or any other power related structure because we’re spending all of our time trying to maintain, or achieve this beauty. The ideal woman is ever-changing. Different features and different characteristics are valued at different times and throughout different cultures. And each time the ideals change, or one changes the culture they live in, a woman must change too because if she’s not the ideal beauty, then she is less of a woman. For instance, in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s case, she was beautiful, tall, and light skinned in the Puerto Rican culture, but in the†¦show more content†¦It excludes most minorities, anyone with disabilities, anyone out of the age range of sixteen to twenty five, and many from within that age range. One thing from the articles that caught my attention was in â€Å"The Body Politic†. She was in the store getting weighed and the man was applauding her for having the lowest amount of body fat, all the while she was dying of anorexia. It’s such a very sad thing. That one event summarizes how in general society feels. It would rather have us nearing death, than god forbid, look unattractive. It would rather us spend every minute having â€Å"self-control† and keeping that food out of our bodies, rather than have one ounce of fat on us. Another area that I found interesting was in Body Image and The Beauty Ideal. At the top of page 103 it talks about how oftentimes, afros, braids, and dreads are prohibited in the work place. This is something I’ve heard about, but never connected to until I read that. The occurrence that I know of, happened to a black man about six months ago at the Mesa Police department. He had just put cornrows in his hair that looked very clean and professional, but they made him take them out for whatever reason- I suppose for control or fear of the unknown. Although I’ve had some personal experience with the way people look at me because I have dreads, like I’m not as good as I would be with straight hair, I can only imagine the difficulties black women have. They have to overcome racial issues in everydayShow MoreRelatedBeauty And The Beast Of Advertisement1542 Words   |  7 Pageswho one is. Women have always been victims of repression because men comfort themselves wi th the thought that women need looking after. Today, female oppression still exists, and is worse than ever, mostly because females have grown unaware of it - repression has grown as part of the women identity and is shaping the female gender in ways individuals can’t differentiate. The destruction of the female character has been silently shaped by men’s desires and the diminishing view of the female characterRead MoreGender Inequality And Idealized Beauty Standards1688 Words   |  7 Pagesgender inequality, women tend to be shown as inferior to men and specific occupations have been assigned gender roles. I agree with Naomi Wolf that gender inequality places more demands on both males and females and is a form of oppression, and her beliefs regarding ideal beauty. Wolf’s ideas surrounding gender inequality relate to Nietzsche s theory regarding master and slave morality and man’s struggle to be a free spirit because those who adhere to society s dict ates on ideal beauty also haveRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem Aint I A Woman 1079 Words   |  5 Pageslives of Black women in America from Slavery to the present and their relation to feminism. Hooks felt that there was an absence of books about the African American woman that were available. While there were books about individual African American women and their experiences in the oppressive American system, she believed that those women’s stories could not be generalized for all African American women. It was necessary to have a book at this time that acknowledged not black women and the two typesRead MoreAnalysis Of Anita Desai s Fasting Feasting1420 Words   |  6 PagesIn literature the image of women in fiction has undergone a change during the last four decades. Women writers have considerably moved away from traditional portrayals of enduring self-sacrificing women, towards conflicts, female characters searching for identity, no longer characterized simply in terms of their victimized status. One such prominent Indian author, whose writing addresses issues focusing on the condition of women in India, is Anita Desai. Desai’s novels chiefly center around the representationsRead MoreSince The Beginning Of Time, There Was Always An Imbalance1279 Words   |  6 Pagesstereotypical society, women would be the ones who were not recognized for not putting in as much work as men do. The reason for this was because it was always the men who went out to work and women who stayed home all day. In other words, women did and still do not share the same equal rights as men. More specifically, why men get paid more than women do, even when working similar jobs. In some cases, women don’t get hired for certain jobs because some employers underestimate women and their abilityRead MoreThe Feminist Message : Edith Wharton, Sojourner Truth, And Kate Chopin1184 Words   |  5 PagesPrior to the late 19th and early 20th century, women were often criticized for deviating from wha t society deemed as normal. Women authors, as an attempt to avoid judgemental comments, often changed their name to resemble a male’s in order to get their books published. As a result of this action, many Americans were beginning to witness what females had to offer in the world of literature through their ideals of Feminism. Three authors who supported the Feminist message are Edith Wharton, SojournerRead MoreThe Media And The Ideology Of Men887 Words   |  4 PagesModern society has made it nearly possible to be satisfied with one’s own appearance and success, especially for women. Many conform to the belief that women are not obligated to comply with traditional household duties, when in reality, this is being masked under a scheming interpretation placed by the media. The media and the ideology of men plays a dominant role in setting expectations and standards that a woman is held responsible to comply with. In â€Å"Mixed Messages†, the relevance of gend er rolesRead MoreGender Roles : The Media And The Ideology Of Men891 Words   |  4 PagesGrowing up in modern society has made it nearly possible to be satisfied with one’s own appearance and success, especially for women. Many conform to the belief that women are not oppressed nor obligated to comply with traditional household duties, when in reality, this is being masked under a scheming interpretation placed by the media. The media and the ideology of men plays a dominant role in setting expectations and standards that a woman shouldn’t be responsible to hold. In â€Å"Mixed Messages†Read MoreDaphne Du Maurier ´s Rebecca: A 1920s Rebel1445 Words   |  6 PagesDaphne Du Maurier felt the restraints 1920s society placed on her with idealizing domestic women. By using Rebecca as the backbone within her novel and counteracting such a strong character with the weak narrator, Du Maurier displays that oppression can only be destroyed with rebellion. In Re becca, Daphne Du Maurier uses the contrast of female personas to emphasize the 1920s society’s malevolence towards women and justify their right to break out of patriarchal submission in order to be distinguishedRead More Female Rebellion In Aurora Leigh and The Lady in the Looking-Glass724 Words   |  3 PagesFemale Rebellion In Aurora Leigh and The Lady in the Looking-Glass   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Women of both the ages of Victorian and early Modernism were restricted from education at universities or the financial independence of professionalism. In both ages, women writers often rebelled against perceived female expectations as a result of their oppression. To lead a solitary life as a subservient wife and mother was not satisfactory for writers like Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Virginia Woolf. One of the