Women studies are political as it helps women and men understand their personal experience or decisions are implicated in power relations and subjects to constraints. Shaving body hair will be used as an example to explain the concept of “the personal is political”. This paper will first discuss what is personal is political and explain why shaving body hair is personal. Then, discuss the women’s hair removal history followed by reasons why women shaved their body hair and finally explain how shaving body hair becomes political.
“The personal is political” was a common slogan of the feminist movement in the late 1960s. The word “political” refers to the power relations instead of electoral politics. Thus, “the personal is political” emphasized
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As we have discussed before, shaving body hair becomes a beauty standard. According to Mulvevy, the way we see beauty is from a masculine point of view and in terms of men’s attitudes (Mulvey, 1999). We see beauty through the male gaze. “To gaze” implies more than to look at, it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of gaze (Schroeder & Borgerson, 1998). Body hair is often linked to feminism. Some feminists argue that if you shave your body hair, you are a slave to the patriarchy. To shave or not to shave is a personal preference. Yet, body hair is considered as a powerful weapon in fighting against patriarchal standards of female beauty and removing body hair is still associated with internalizing misogynist ideals of femininity. Does it means that no matter you shave or not it is not a personal matter but instead, it is a political …show more content…
Women have to complete a genital test in order to be qualified as a female to participate in sport competitions while men do not have to do so. This is because the genital test can assure men do not enter women’s competitions and maintain its fairness as men are being assumed to have advantages of size and strength over women. Sports such as basketball, gymnastics and figure skating are manipulated and often portray women as inferior in sports. For example, women in figure skating are not allowed to do more than one triple jump in their required program while men can do
“Shaving” is a short story about a teenage boy who shaves his dying father. Throughout this story, there are many lines of dialogue, and although they may seem simple at first, most of them have a profound deeper meaning. For example, near the beginning of the book, where his father stays to Barry that “You could have used electric razor, I expected that.” Barry replies by saying that “You wouldn’t like it, you’ll get a closer shave this way.” In this quote, what they talk about on the surface is fairly obvious, the quality of the shave ad the razor. However, beneath the surface of this quote lies a much deeper meaning. Barry uses a real razor instead of an electric one, which shows not only his confidence in shaving skills, but also the fact that he has taken the family matters into his own hands, as to put his father into such danger like that, as
The existing literature on ethnic and racial studies among African-Americans has focused on issues pertaining to beauty and body politics especially on natural hair. Spellers and Moffitt assert that the body politics that one assumes, guides how one relates to a particular political ideology in a particular society. Black natural hair is considered as a way by which the true identity of African women can be understood (Jacobs-Huey). It is a symbol of power among black women; it influences how people are treated by others.
It goes without saying that a person's gender, racial and social origins influence their participation in sports. Particular races and genders often dominate certain sports. African Americans, for example, tend to dominate football and basketball, while Caucasians tend to dominate ice hockey. The same holds true for gender as well. Football is an entirely male dominated sport, while horseback riding, gymnastics and figure skating are much more female oriented. How and why did these divisions come about? Determining the origin of gender goes beyond the scope of this paper, however one can speculate about how gender classifications and stereotypes affect one's role in the sports arena.
Title IX was passed in 1972 and according to the Women’s Sports Foundation, as of 2011, women make up 38-42 percent of all sport and physical activity participants. Yet, research shows that women receive only 6-8 percent of the total sports coverage. A double standard is defined as a set of principles that allows greater freedom to one person or group than to another. (dictionary.com) In athletics, women are judged more on their appearances and their non-sport related activities, than their male counterparts who are judged primarily on their skills and performances. Female athletes are scrutinized based on their appearances more than their skills and athletic performances in the media.
There is so much controversy in the society that we live in, it has resulted in an absolute mess. Certain topics as in gender or men and women’s bodies, is so controversial to the point that it has caused a misrepresentation of both men and women. Both Jean Kilbourne and Allan G. Johnson form their own opinions in their articles “Two Ways A Woman Can Get Hurt” and “Why Do We Make So Much of Gender” that comment on society as a whole, while expanding on the concept of why gender is so important for a fully functioning society. Although, both Kilbourne and Johnson have differentiating opinions to gender, they both come to the conclusion that gender is a key factor to explain our society and the social change in it. We live in a society where
Within todays sporting community, certain aspects of sport and its practices promote and construct ideas that sport in general is a male dominated. Sports media often provides an unequal representation of genders. Women athletes are regularly perceived as mediocre in comparison to their male equivalents (Lenskyj, 1998). Achievement in sport is generally established through displays of strength, speed and endurance, men usually set the standards in these areas, consequently woman rarely reach the level set by top male athletes. Due to this, the media significantly shows bias towards male sports while we are ill-informed about the achievements in the female sporting community. On the occasion that a female athlete does make some form of an appearance in the media, images and videos used will usually portray the female in sexually objectified ways (Daniels & Wartena, 2011). This depiction of female athletes can cause males to take focus solely on the sexual assets of the athlete in preference to to their sporting abilities (Daniels & Wartena, 2011). Sexualisation of sportswoman in the media is a prevalent issue in today’s society, it can cause physical, social and mental problems among women of all ages (Lenskyj, 1998).
For most of human history, athletic competition has been regarded as an exclusively masculine affair. Women weren't aloud to watch most sporting events let alone participate in them. Not till late 19th century did women really begin participating in sporting events. Although women were permitted to participate in many sports, relatively few showed interest, for a variety of social and psychological reasons that are still poorly understood. Title IX declares: "No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal aid." Therefore sex should not deem females athletic ability as inferior in comparison to men. Women are physically, mentally, and emotionally capable of playing any sport just as men are.
Each sex is treated differently for a naturally occurring body process. As discussed, body hair is viewed as masculine, leading to the assumption that women should be hairless and men should wear their body hair with pride. It is clear that society uses hair to label individuals as either male or female (Toerien and Wilkinson, 2003). In addition, male hair is associated with strength and power (Toerien and Wilkinson, 2003). So how come when women display body hair they are shamed, but men are encouraged to grow it? Hope (1982) elaborates that the term, “feminine, when applied to lack of body hair, implies a child-like status, as opposed to the adult status afforded men” (as cited in Toerien and Wilkinson, 2003). That being said, body hair is another way in which society ranks men as the superior gender by making women conform to the hairless normative. A study conducted by Tiggemann and Hodgson (2008), asked women why they practice hair removal. After completing a questionnaire with different statements to evaluate different factors such as normativity, sexual attractiveness, femininity and self-enhancement, they found significant support in all four types of factors for hair removal of the underarm, leg and pubic area. Additionally, they can found that one item pertaining to males preferring a hairless body, was the only one linked to two factors: normativity and sexual attractiveness. It is evident with their findings that women tend to follow the socially constructed normative for many reason, including to please men. The idea is that women have to change their bodies not only to be accepted by society, but they also do so to be accepted by men. Nonetheless, the must make is seem natural and effortless to uphold the beauty allure. In recent years, depletion of male body hair has become popular. In a study performed by Boroughs, et al. (2005), they found that men removed
It has been said that “Society has always defined for us what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman, what a man should be like and what a woman should be like, and these traditional definitions of gender roles have limited and even harmed individuals”. The theme of sexual politics comes to mind for this quote. One can define sexual politics as the relationship of the sexes, male and female regarding power. Society’s definition of this can limit an individual in their gender role and restrain a person to not be themselves.
A lady is an object, one which men attempt to dominate. A man craves to get a hold of this being beneath his command, and forever have her at his disposal. In her piece “Size Six: The Western Women’s Harem,” published in 2002, Fatema Mernissi illustrates how Eastern and Western women are subjugated by the control of men. Mernissi argues that though she may have derived from a society where a woman has to cover her face, a Western woman has to face daily atrocities far worse then ones an Eastern woman will encounter. Moreover, Mernissi’s core dogma in “Size 6: The Western Women's Harem” is that Western women are not more fortunate than women raised into harems in other societies. Additionally, she asserts that though women in the Western world are given liberties, they coincide with the unattainable ideals of what is aesthetically pleasing. Furthermore, to strengthen her argument towards her wavering audience, Mernissi’s main approach in her paper is to get the reader to relate with her issue by means of an emotional appeal, while also utilizing both the ethical and logical appeal to support her thesis.
In summary, Despite opponents argue, fans want to see thunderous dunks and incredible athleticism over the lesser abilities of females, male competitions is more intense and there is more at risk, and male driven associations produce more revenue than female driven associations. It is apparent that male and females are built differently therefore they have different abilities, females go through the same types of events and often have more on the line, and female athletics aren 't given the same recognition or praise. Then, maybe one day female will receive the same amount of pay as their male counterparts. As, Vera Nazarian once implied, “A woman is human. She is not better, wiser, stronger, more intelligent, more creative, or more responsible than a man. Likewise, she is never less. Equality is a given. A woman is human.”
During an interview with Channel 4, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said that “hair is a political thing”. Indeed, the way people wear their hair tell something about them. As the author said, if a black woman wears braids, people will have a certain image of her, as a radical, an artist, a traditional African woman and so on. It opens the debate on what society consider as beautiful. Most of the time, straight hair would be considered as beautiful and professional. In Americanah, Ifemelu has an
The use of interactionism allows us to understand how do individuals eventually create such cultural inscriptions on the body and ultimately, how their interactions shape the nature of those inscriptions. To begin with, the theory provides that individuals see themselves through the interaction with other members of society, which not only includes their friends and relatives but also the media at large. Thus, in the case of social construction of the body as explained by the authors, males are assigned their “masculine” attributes because of the ways the females act towards them and the way they are portrayed in the media at large. Conversely, the same stream of logic can be applied to the way females get their “feminine” attributes. This eventually leads to the survival of this notion despite the rise of opposing “scientific” claims since the treatment of both genders still remain the
Along with receiving support from other minority groups, they also receive support from militant anti-racist white feminists as well. An idea multiracial feminism expanded on was the phrase “Personal is Political”, which means issues that seem personal (abortion, abuse, employment, etc.). are actually political issues (Thompson, 59). Multiracial feminism made the point to expand on that phrase and, according to Anne Braden, expand it to “The Personal is Political and The Political is Personal” (Thompson, 59). This expansion of the phrase is important to the anti-racist white supporters of women of color.
Throughout history, women have remained subordinate to men. Subjected to the patriarchal system that favored male perspectives, women struggled against having considerably less freedom, rights, and having the burdens society placed on them that had so ingrained the culture. This is the standpoint the feminists took, and for almost 160 years they have been challenging the “unjust distribution of power in all human relations” starting with the struggle for equality between men and women, and linking that to “struggles for social, racial, political, environmental, and economic justice”(Besel 530 and 531). Feminism, as a complex movement with many different branches, has and will continue to be incredibly influential in changing lives. Feminist political ideology focuses on understanding and changing political philosophies for the betterment of women.