Sex and Feminism

A few keywords discussed in class in layman’s terms with some of that analysis thrown in:

·         Docile bodies- Peoples’ lives and bodies that are constantly changing due to external forces that subject them to transformation, and what popular culture calls ‘improvement’. In the Bordo piece she explains that women are these docile bodies. Bordo states that popular culture has this, “ever changing, homogenizing elusive ideal of femininity.” Plainly she is stating that pop culture keeps changing what we think the perfect woman should look, and act like. This ideal woman is ever elusive, or consistently out of our reach. This ideal woman could only be achieved in Shangri-La. This idea is perpetuated by these tabloid smut magazines. These magazines are consistently displaying emaciated women sprawled across their covers in provocative positions; with headlines screaming all the latest gossip, sex tips, advice about what your man wants, and this month’s fad diet.

These magazines come out with a new issue, with a new girl, a new diet, and a new image every month. Almost all of these magazines are aimed at women (men may read them, but this is because of the photo-shopped beauty on the front). These magazines are very influential, and with each new issue they take these docile bodies (women), and give them new “ideals of femininity.”

               

·         Inter-textuality- it is a complex interplay between texts, or the shaping of texts’ meanings by other texts. So an example, say I was watching a show and knew that it took place in Minnesota; the director might add three feet of snow, people out in ski jackets, and some guy saying “Oh you betcha’ don’t cha know.” Inter-textuality draws relationships between what’s going on, and painting this stereotypical picture in our minds by drawing from other texts and their meanings. We get these meanings from everyday life and what we have learned to associate with these things. In the Bordo piece the inter-textuality between pop culture and the pictures on the covers and in the magazines tells us what is cool.

I’m not going to ramble on like last time with this one, so I’ll leave it at this. The two terms described above are vital to our culture now; the main take away is term docile bodies. Being a docile body can be harmful to your health, and in all reality not that attractive.