Marking Women Susan Sontag Analysis

Women walk a thin line regarding how society perceives their so-called “outside” vs. “inside,” with one’s beauty put on a pedestal for everyone to critique. In Deborah Tannen’s Marked Women, Allen Pace Nilsen’s Sexism in English: Embodiment in Language, and Susan Sontag’s A Woman’s Beauty: Put Down or Power Source?, the authors discuss unrealistic expectations for women’s outward appearances. Although it can be considered a source of power for some, beauty, as defined by society, results in the objectification of women who are always working to be more attractive. Further, Tannen, Nilsen and Sontag suggest how a woman’s appearance has a direct result on her professional life and other’s recognition of her power compared to men. Through the

When Susan Sontag describes her opinion on how women view their bodies, she writes, “Women are taught to see their bodies in parts, and evaluate each part separately” (Sontag 18). In order to fit the ideal mold of beauty, women are left to incessantly dissect and criticize each aspect of their bodies. Thus, as Sontag suggests, the societal constructs relating to attractiveness have created an unwinnable game of perfection for most women. Everyday, we see advertisements spread over magazines or billboards that depict that perfect model for a woman. However, the models we often see can be altered with new technologies today such as Photoshop, rendering an artificial idea of beautiful. Further, Nilsen uses a similar argument while comparing it to men: “In American culture a woman is valued for the attractiveness and sexiness of her body, while a man is valued for his physical strength and accomplishments” (Nilsen 7). Nilsen depicts the superficial nature of perceptions of women, focused on the external looks. In comparison, men are celebrated for their hard work and achievements, indicating a healthier focus on their inner qualities. Sontag suggests that “we are actually surprised when someone who is beautiful is also intelligent, talented, good” (Sontag 17), which reveals women don’t have the ability to be distinguished by their accomplishments, like men, without an influence from their outward beauty. Deborah Tannen argues that women are always “marked,” given a label for their actions and appearance. In relation to beauty, Tannen comments, “Each of the women at the conference had to make decisions about hair, clothing, makeup and accessories, and each decision carried meaning. Every style available to us was marked” (Tannen 2). While observing the women at a