Sex And Gender In Susan Bordo's 'Hunger As Ideology'

A person can be identified by many different characteristics such as, age, ethnicity, sex and gender. Although many people see sex and gender as meaning the same thing, they are very different. Sex is the anatomy of an individual 's reproductive system which refers to the biological and physiological characteristics of a male or female, while gender refers to masculine or feminine and the behaviors, roles, expectations and activities in society. The majority of people conform to gender roles very early on, but sometimes the line blurs between femininity and masculinity. Susan Bordo is an author who points out the cultural stereotypes about gender in her piece “Hunger as Ideology”. In this piece she analyzes advertisements from the Victorian

As I analyze a contemporary ad it is evident that Bordo’s theories are still valid today.

In Bordo’s essay “Hunger As Ideology”, she has her students bring in different examples (advertisements) that are shown to violate traditional gender-dualities and the ideological messages carried in them. By doing this task with her students she she hopes to boost her points about the negative portrayal and subliminal messages about gender identification and see if any progress has been made. In an Ebony magazine advertisement it shows an African-American woman teaching a young African American teenager who is in foster care or adopted how to cook in the kitchen. With the apples and dough on the countertop I 'm assuming they’re baking an apple pie. As the woman takes the pie out of the oven they realize it 's burnt and she cools it down. Both the woman and teenager show a disappointed expression. Looking at the woman 's apparel she seems to be a middle age person who has reached some sort of success, middle class and

In making this comment Bordo urges us to believe that decades ago this is how the different sexes had different titles. Throughout the years of history, men were known to be the “dominant” sex. Today, that criticism is no longer as strict and severe as it once was. In today’s society women are embodied more than ever. Noticing that there isn’t a male shown in this ad the woman appears to be very independent. By the way she is dressed it seems like she must of just got home from work to get right into the kitchen to cook. Because there isn 't a father figure in this advertisement, instead of showing a loving happy family who is cooking together it represents that “there will be a conspicuously absent wife or mother who, it is implied, is normally responsible for the daily labor of food preparation and service” (Bordo). According to Bordo, “At the start of the 1990s, popular representations almost never depict a man preparing food as an everyday activity, routinely performed in the unpaid service of others”. Men are only shown serving food usually in the role of a butler or waiter. Bordo explains that a male cooking in the kitchen with his child would be looked at as a “special moment” for them. Women being looked at as the “caregivers” of the household and the cultural stereotypes goes hand in hand with the aspects of gender roles and Bordo’s analysis which proves that her theories are still valid