Trevor Mueller
“The body is a negotiation with images, but it is also a negotiation with pleasures, pains, other bodies, space, visibility, and medical practice; no single event in this field can act as a general ground for determining the status of the body” (Bray 1998:43). By using this quote, I mean that bodies are symbols of images seen elsewhere. Icons of more desirable objects and/or images viewed from another source outside of social interaction with other people. Sometimes conscious - sometimes unconscious - in origin, the idea is planted that an imperfection exists and that idea spreads like a cancer throughout, corrupting until it damages an irreversible amount of space. Does this idea determine what a body should look like?
Television is a source of social stratification that reaches a huge demographic throughout the world. The images and symbolic representations incorporated within its content is highly influential, especially to younger audiences, and continues to be an influence throughout an individual’s lifetime (“Electric Snow” 1999). A lack of knowledge of subconscious thinking could be a reason that most people – specifically Americans, in the instance of this paper – are not aware of how large of an influence images and messages from television can be on them. Arguably, there are many problems produced by television’s content, especially on younger audiences, and the messages it presents through images, symbols, and icons to these audiences. Almost everyone watches television, but what people get out of its programming is almost always different (“Electric Snow” 1999).
College students spend an amount of time in front of the television, “vegging” between classes and socializing with friends during commercials. Some programs are watched religiously – sporting events, popular television programs, infomercials, music television, and local community television – and influence the way students look, act, and socialize with their peers and the other people they interact with during their years at a university. The transitional period from high school student/young adult to college student/adult is a period of time when most people find themselves – discover who they really are - on an internal level, and this determines the person that they will be for the rest of their lives. Arguably, this is a highly influential point in an individual’s life because of the ramifications that actions can have on their future and the future of those around them. Social stratification is not only a form of societal/cultural education that derives from peers and adults, but also from outside social influences such as media resources; television is such a source of influence.
Women are argued to live in a “man’s world”. This world in which women have to strive for freedoms and rights on a social level can only naturally be oppressed by the opposite gender, which is that of the male. This presents a social situation that creates an opportunity for females to be taken advantage of by their male counterparts, both socially and physically, in a world where they have little to no control over the images and messages they are bombarded with; images and messages that originate from the minds and desires of men. Because of this social situation, women find themselves altering their attitudes and appearances to fit that of which they believe men would appreciate, desire, and respect. To discover what men desire/respect/appreciate, women turn to media resources – resources controlled by men – to discover what they can do to become those “objects” and what those “objects” are in the first place; objects that men desire, respect, and appreciate.
For the sake of argument, this paper will only address the influences that television plays on American college-aged women, and how it affects their lives according to body composition, and over-all appearance. This influence, or social stratification, is a primary concern for modern feminists in American society. Also, with television having negative influences within its imagery and messages – these being misinterpreted by audiences to commit acts of self-mutilation, violence, and corruption – it is argued that television itself is a negative social stratifier in modern American society. Who controls these media images and messages being displayed on television, and why are they so influential to audiences? What can be done to prevent negative influences on modern American college-aged women, and what are these negative influences? How does television play the role of social stratifier with trend setting and educating young women?
“The law that orders our society is the exclusive valorization of men’s needs/desires, of exchanges among men” (Irigaray 1997: 174). The modern feminist will argue that American society is controlled and operated by men. Because of this fact, it can be argued that men decide what is socially correct/incorrect and/or socially acceptable/unacceptable – in this instance, pertaining to television programming. Therefore, women – as a gender controlled by men – must obey the dictates of their rule or rebel against it, thus becoming social outcasts. Because some women do not wish to become social outcasts, they are more willing to alter their appearance to suit that which men respect and/or desire. Thus, within a patriarchy, the “economy…of desire…is man’s business” (Irigaray 1997: 179).
This presents an interesting opposing point: what about lesbians? Lesbians should not feel the need to be accepted by men in a male dominated society, but there are still lesbians in American society that alter their appearance; does this suggest that lesbians think like men, and if so, do they count as men in a patriarchy? Because of their sex being that of a female, then physically the answer would be “no”, but socially – assuming that lesbians do think like men – then the answer could be “yes”. Gender is the way a person within a certain sex is required and/or expected to act; if a woman acts like a man in the sense that she desires women, then should this woman not also be considered a man in gender? Therefore, the economy of desire is man and lesbian’s business. For the sake of argument, however, this point will not be further explored because of the lack of information that I have pertaining to it; I did think it noteworthy, though, and an interesting point to bring up within the patriarchal section of this paper.
Appearance is the physical form that a body takes; appearance can be a social decider of where a person belongs in the social scheme of things, and what type of person they are. Clothing and hairstyles can be physical labels for people to use to associate where a person belongs, how they should act, and what they probably do with their time. Appearance is also factored into physical desire; in a patriarchal society, women sometimes feel the need to make themselves physically desirable to men. Women can then, arguably, be considered commodities in this patriarchal society; objectifiable and exchangeable. However, a competition is then formed amongst women in an attempt to gain the attention from men that they want/need.
There is a“…deep polygamous tendency, which exists among all men, [that] always makes the number of available women seem insufficient. …Even if there were as many women as men, these women would not all be equally desirable…and that, by definition…, the most desirable women must form a minority” (Irigaray 1997: 174); this exists because men compare women to other women. In order to become equivalent to other more attractive women, less attractive women must alter their appearance to appeal to men. “Participation in society requires that the body submit itself to [a speculation] that transforms it into a value-bearing object…a woman is divided into two irreconcilable ‘bodies’: her ‘natural’ body and her socially valued body, which is a…mimetic of masculine values” (Irigaray 1997: 180). Everyone wants to be needed and/or desired in some way, but others are more willing to alter their appearance to gain that state of being; to counteract this, other people - who are less willing to alter their appearance – must alter themselves in some way to compete with those who are changing themselves physically to appear more attractive and desirable. A body must increase its social value within a society in order to maintain a level in a society where its value is in a constant state of flux. But then the question becomes, what is a catalyst for this change in the first place?
“I
see the girls on TV, and I know that they are what men want…what they want me
to be; I become that, so that I can be equally as loved” (Vicki interview 2001[1]). My marketing teacher in high school – Mr.
David Raft - once told me that every advertisement on television was geared to
appeal to women; this is due to the fact that women ultimately make the
decisions in a household. Advertisers
manipulate images and messages to appeal to what they believe the viewer wants
to see; they make associations between images that audiences would not normally
make, unless informed about them prior to actually viewing the material. A truck commercial with the product driving
off-road through mud puddles portrays an image designed for male audiences,
which is the demographic that the marketers are trying to appeal to, while on
the side of the image is a list of safety features; this is to appeal to the
women. “A network's ‘product’ is not actually the shows, but the viewers:
networks ‘sell’ viewers to advertisers” (“Electric Snow” 1999). Therefore, every show in television is not
geared towards entertainment of the masses, but is an attempt to sell products
to them.
Advertisements inform
audiences about what products are available, but do not necessarily persuade
viewers to purchase these products; this is left up to the bombardment of
product lines and the social stratification of other television
programming. “When I see Britney Spears
wearing a shirt on TV, I think, ‘would I look as good in that as she does? Where can I get one to try it on?’” (Nicole
interview 2001[2]). M-TV plays a huge role in social
stratification by being one of the leading television “trend-setters” on the
air. Musical artists appearing on the
shows – or simply in their own music videos – wear name-brand clothing and have
“attractive” hair styles and make-up; this alters their appearance to become
that which American society has defined as attractive and desirable. The programs on M-TV, as well as other music
television channels, depict famous, successful, and beautiful people running
around wearing a style of clothing or brand of shoe that viewers associate with
success and beauty; thus, viewers are enticed to purchase this brand of shoe or
type of clothing to become like the people they see on television. They also alter their hairstyle and/or
type/amount of make-up they wear, thereby altering their over-all
appearance.
Television icons
appear in other places than just music television; many shows on the WB network
– for example - feature young college-aged actors and actresses that are
considered to be attractive, and therefore, influential. In the case of the male audience, “the
maternal body as the primary ground that is lost in the acquisition of language
is already a fantasized object” (Bray 1998: 42). Women, then, become a fantasized object to men, specifically the
women seen on television. It is argued
that a distorted body image is something that is common to most women; this
distorted image comes from the bombardment of female figures as seen on
television – figures that women believe men desire. “Many of the arguments surrounding the issue of body image in
popular feminism directly or indirectly locate media representations of thin
femininity as the etiology of anorexia and bulimia…television and fashion
advertisements are held responsible for the increase in anorexia in the past
two decades” (Bray 1998: 51).
A student from Western Michigan University
that I interviewed told me about her problem with eating disorders, and
described to me her room back home. On
one wall, she has hanging pictures of “cute male actors” from popular movies
and/or television programs; on the other wall opposite the “male wall”, she has
her mirror, which is surrounded by pictures of female actresses from popular
movies and/or television programs. She
fantasizes about the men on the other side of her room, and looks at the
pictures of the women who get them on television, and then looks at herself and
realizes that she is “fat, disgusting, and not attractive enough to ever have a
chance at getting with any one of [the men]” (Jessica interview 2001[3]). Jessica has been binging and purging
everyday since early high school, and still does not believe that she has a
problem. She claims to feel empowered
by the act of throwing up food, because she sees it as an act of control, even
though she admits to not being able to stop doing it. The act of vomiting has become almost a fetish to her; she is no
longer really concerned with her body weight and over-all composition, but more
with the fact and/or idea that she will become more attractive if she continues
the activity of self-starvation and purging.
Even though she is in counseling, Jessica refuses to believe that a
problem exists and questions whether or not going to sessions is even worth her
time.
“The ‘anorexic’ practice of self-starvation
is frequently diagnosed as a corporeal response to the incorporation of, and
living out of, phallocentric representations.
Women are, it is argued, at risk: phallocentric representations
contaminate women with potentially fatal body images” (Bray 1998: 46). Athletes are no exception to the rule, and
in fact are some of the most influential – as well as the most respected –
people on television. No other athletes
are as respected as those that participate in the Olympic games, and women are
most known for events such as gymnastics and figure skating. According to Little Girls in Pretty Boxes
– a study of the making and breaking of elite gymnasts and figure skaters – the
1976 U.S. Olympic gymnasts were on average seventeen and a half years old,
stood 5 feet 3 ½ inches and weighed 106 pounds; comparatively, by 1992 the
average U.S. Olympic gymnast was 16 years old, stood 4 feet 9 inches and
weighed 83 pounds. An emphasis exists
on body image and composition in sporting events, especially those featuring
women athletes, to maintain a physical appearance that looks both healthy and
competitive. This emphasis is pushed by
coaches, parents, and judges, as well as the athlete’s own desire to become
successful.
A British Nike advertisement appearing in
Vogue during spring of 1994 displayed six half-naked women, each physically fit
and one holding a naked baby; the copy read: “It’s not the shape you are, it’s
the shape you’re in that matters” (Heywood 1996:10). This adoption of feminist rhetoric suggests disruption of the
gender status quo, while reaffirming it; it is also characteristic of
“sophisticated advertisements today” (Heywood 1996). The advertisement does not show a product – in the traditional sense
of having models wearing merchandise – but instead is attempting to sell an
image though association. This is
similar to seeing a woman in a bikini standing next to a sports vehicle; the
marketers are attempting to associate the beautiful woman with the beautiful
car, and hope that male consumers will buy the car with the hopes of getting
the woman. This is common of
advertisements in media today, and is known to marketers as “product
association”; the meaning of the sale is transformed by the images that are
bombarding the audience.
“Anorexia transforms the social meaning of
the body. It works with two opposing
body-concepts: the ‘individual’ (masculine) body as complete in itself, the
owned instrument of the individual self or subject, used to act on an
environment external to the self and the body; and the feminine body as
alienated, incomplete and acted on, as passive/receptive object which,
paradoxically, has a simultaneously voracious potential to overwhelm. The individual (masculine) body is ‘an
active, working thing’; the feminine body is ‘a passive vehicle intended to
provide gratification’, which exists in order to be used, to be consumed”
(Macsween 1993: 248). This argues that
women are objectified by men within a patriarchy. As objects, they are expected to please men and to resemble what
men desire. It becomes less of a
conscious effort on women’s behalf to become desirable objects, but implies
more that women are like a clay that men mold into what they want women to
be. Once the men are finished with the
women, they are discarded because their use-value has become expunged. In order to increase or maintain a
use-value, women feel the need to alter their body composition and appearance.
“Self-starvation is a self-destructive attempt
to transform [her body] into an image of pure thought…[it] is a futile attempt
to become a particular higher physical and Aryan type” (Bray 1998:61). If the women seen on television programs are
what college-aged women believe to be a physical representation of this Aryan
type of woman, then the women on television become an idea more than a real
tangible person. Also, the
repercussions of self-destructive acts either are not fully realized by the
women committing them, or they simply do not care; they are more concerned with
molding themselves into – what they believe is – the perfect woman figure. These “television women” are almost
mythological in the mind’s eye of these influenced college-aged women, and become
more of a fixation than a role model.
“Touching, at fifteen, the interfering flesh that I would sacrifice until the limbs were free of blossom and subterfuge: I felt what I feel now, aligning these words – it is the same need to perfect,…” (Louise Gluck, “Dedication to Hunger”; Heywood 1996).
Television is watched sometimes religiously amongst college-aged women. Some of the images and messages it presents form an idea in some women’s heads that men desire the feminine characters on these programs - characters that usually have slender waists and hips, and look physically fit. These influenced women then attempt to alter their appearance to match that of the women on television programs in an attempt to become more desirable objects for men. This act of watching television is almost a fetish, since it is watched so frequently, and then used as a standardized tool for how a woman is expected to appear. Women become mystified with the images and messages that the programs bombard them with; some argue that it is entertaining, but most everyone agrees that it is captivating. The act of physical alteration, then, can also be considered a fetish; some women become more obsessed with the act of physical alteration than the reason why they were altering themselves in the first place. Arguably, pleasing men is a fetish past time that some college-aged women participate in by watching television programs and altering themselves to appear like the actresses on the programs. Eventually, however, some women become more obsessed with the act of physical alteration than the reasons that they were altering themselves in the first place. “I don’t remember why I do it anymore; I guess it’s because everyone used to call me fat in school…I guess they don’t call me that anymore, but I still [purge] anyway…I can’t help it” (Vanessa interview 2001[4]).
“The body is…considered as that which has been [distorted] by a masculine representational logic. At the same time, the body has been targeted as the redemptive opening for a specifically feminine site of representation” (Bray 1998: 35). Within a patriarchy, femininity is defined in masculine terms by the “ruling class”: men. However, the body is only an exterior representation of what femininity really is. Women as a gender are more than women as a sex. As long as women allow men to define what they are as a sex and as a gender, women will always be stereotyped and discriminated against – in some way – in this patriarchal society called America. Women must “make knowledges and technologies work for women rather than simply reproducing them-selves according to men’s representation of women” (Bray 1998:50). A step in the right direction includes women taking over some of the television programming.
“Lifetime” – the channel for women, by women – is considered by some to be a good first step at having femininity defined by women rather than by men; the programs – including hit shows such as “The Golden Girls”, and “Lavern and Shirley” – are not designed to show female characters that a male audience would desire, but to provide programming aimed at a female audiences. Advertisements on the station are aimed at a female demographic, depicting older women as well as pre-teens. Although not all of the programming appearing on the station would be considered “healthy” to some audiences, many feminists agree that the success of “Lifetime” comes from the strong standing of female audiences (“Electric Snow” 1999). Perhaps in the future, more television stations for women by women will come to light.
A Nike advertisement campaign launched in the summer of 1992 showed a woman running; the copy read: “Did you ever wish you were a boy? Did you? Did you for one moment or one breath or one heartbeat beating over all the years of your life, wish, even a little, that you could spend it as a boy? Honestly. Really. Even if you got over it.” (Heywood 1996:30). Advertisements can be very influential, as well as actors and actresses on television programs. Television is a social stratifier that can influence some college-aged women to physically alter their appearance to meet that which they believe men desire, respect, and appreciate. The characters on most television programs are these “beautiful”, “successful”, and “desirable” people; since almost everyone wishes to be desired as opposed to becoming a social outcast, they are more willing to alter themselves in sometimes dangerous and fatal ways. Women in sports are also susceptible to this form of self-mutilation. They alter themselves physically in order to appear competitive to other contestants in their events and to appeal to the judges and audience. This makes other athletes that view Olympic competitions believe that altering their appearance can make them more successful in sports and in life.
Because women live in a patriarchal society – a society ruled by men, and whose media is controlled by men – they sometimes feel the need to become that which men desire, respect, and appreciate; many women look to actresses on television, believing that the women on the small screen possess all of these qualities. The idea that an imperfection in the audience’s appearance leads them to alter themselves by getting a new hairstyle, a new clothing wardrobe, or by practicing dieting and exercise; these are healthy, until they reach a point of fetish obsession. At that point, the woman becomes more obsessed with changing her appearance than with the reasons why she was changing in the first place. Eating disorders and other forms of self-mutilation follow, sometimes proving fatal to the woman practicing them.
It is difficult to ignore all the images and messages that television programs thrust into American college-aged women’s homes and minds, but some progress is being made in the form of television stations run by women for women. With television programming geared towards women – and lacking the male influence most of the other television stations contain – the problems with misinterpretation of programming messages are becoming smaller and smaller. Still, a large percentage of women are still being influenced – even subconsciously – to alter themselves in some way in order to feel accepted by a male-dominated society. In order for women to break free from this state of being, they must learn to stratify each other and themselves and not rely on society to present them with images of femininity and gender roles; “Overcoming the image of gender would be achieved by turning to the specificity of the sexed body” (Bray 1998:41). Women must break away from the standards of society – standards where they are objectified and not seen as people, but as exchangeable objects with social and/or use-value – in order to achieve true independence from patriarchy.
With time and work, the idea of body composition being defined by images and messages that media bombards into consumer’s heads will begin to subside, and then real progress can begin to spread like a cure throughout, healing until it purifies an irreversible amount of space. The idea does not have to determine what a body should look like; that should be left up to the individual to decide. It should not be society’s place to judge and condemn, but instead, to accept and encourage; this is the concept of a community. If the body is a negotiation with images, then images are a negotiation with the body. The body is an idea, and that idea is one’s own. Society should not be able to define what a body should look like; only individuals can really do that to themselves.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
~Bray, Abigail ed.
1998. Signs: Journal of Women
in Cultures and Society University
of Chicago Press: New York. V.24, pp. 35-67.
~Heywood, Leslie. 1996. Dedication to Hunger. University of California Press: Berkeley.
~Macsween, Morag. 1993. Anorexic Bodies: A Feminist and Sociological Perspective on Anorexia Nervosa. Routledge: New York.
~Ryan, Joan. 1996. Little Girls in Pretty Boxes. Warner Books: New York.
~Schrift, Alan D. (ed). The Logic of the Gift: Toward on Ethic of Generosity. New York: Routledge. 1997. (Luce Irigaray).
~”Electronic Snow.” 1999, October. Internet Explorer: http://library.thinkquest.org/17067/welcome.html.
[1] Vicki is a student at Western Michigan University that wishes to remain anonymous; her name has been made up to protect her identity.
[2] Nicole is a student at Eastern Michigan University that wishes to remain anonymous; her name has been made up to protect her identity.
[3] Jessica is a student at Western Michigan University, and is currently in counseling for her eating disorder; she wishes to remain anonymous, and at her request her name has been made up to protect her identity. Ironically, she is also a nutrition and dietitian major.
[4] Vanessa is a student at Eastern Michigan University who weighs 100 pounds, and is 5 feet 7 inches tall. She wishes to remain anonymous, and at her request her name has been made up to protect her identity.