The Importance Of The Body In Today's Society

Today, the body plays a significant role in the lives of both male and female. Similarly, Foucault treats the body as if it were one. That is, “the disciplinary practices Foucault describes are tied to peculiarly modern forms of the army, the school, the hospital, the prison, and the manufactory: the aim of these disciplines is to increase the utility of the body, to augment its forces” (Bartky 2014, 93). Considering this, one can draw a conclusion from the importance of gender roles in today’s society. We can also examine the roles of women’s body in the music and pornographic industry. For instance, in music videos the female sexuality is emphasized in order to be sold or make on the top 100 list. While viewing a music video with a male

Barbie symbolizes the ideology of the ideal female body in today’s society. By all means, author Erica Rand characterizes Mattel’s Barbie products as an exemplar of successive hegemonic discourse due to the fact that Barbie’s ideal beauty is not only unhealthy, but yet damaging. Meanwhile, Barbie’s has an unrealistic body type and a rigid beauty, Barbie can be harmful to girls. Nevertheless, “Barbie is not scaled to human measurements,” but yet Barbie sends a message to all young girls that, you can become anything you want in life—as long as you look like this: very tall, thin, Caucasian, and beautiful. Again, this affects society in numerous ways and young girls who do not fit Barbie’s image, continues to struggle with low self-esteem and eating problems. Again, this is one of Mattel’s “‘hegemonic smarts’ and during the 1960’s Mattel continued to maintain “itself as the hegemonic agent in ‘moving equilibrium’ with Barbie consumers, the people it needs to maintain its own position as the fashion doll powerhouse” (Rand 1995, 37). As a result, exposing girls to Barbie at a very young age not only lowers one’s body esteem, but also promotes one’s mind for a greater desire for a thinner body shape. This implies that, even if dolls cease to function as an inspirational role model for older girls, early exposure to Barbie may damage girls’ body image, which would contribute to an increased risk of eating problems and weight