Feminism

Ideal Woman and Feminism


What could an ideal woman look and be like? The answer to this question has varied through times and the very variation of it, is significant of the relative nature of what constitutes an ideal woman. The ever changing notions about an ideal woman become a problem when the standard for the perfect becomes a form of oppression as well as a means of objectification for women. Women as objectified is one of the central points that Simone De Beauvoir makes in “The Second Sex”. The myth built about women, she says, sees them as objects, ideals existing in the realm of Plato’s world of ideas. The fact that they can be subjective and perceive themselves as subjects with the same needs and ways of being as men is denied to them.

By being characterized as “the Other” by men who consider women as immanent, women become an object to be acted upon unlike men’s transcendent nature which makes them complete and essential. That’s why women are often depicted (in fairy tales especially) as vulnerable, weak and waiting to be saved by a man thus exposing an incapability to be a subject that acts for and on its own. This is the case in many fairy tales such as “Cinderella” where the main character had to wait for the shoe to fit and a prince to save her from her miserable situation in the hands of her stepmother. Many character’s lives evolved around that of man even when they are smart and can act independently. Such is the case with Lucy’s character in “I love Lucy”. Lucy is a funny and witty female however her witty and funny qualities evolve only around her husband so much so that it is hard to imagine her outside the familial construction.

How does the norm of an ideal woman become oppressive? The response to this question is one of the central themes of Susan Bordo’s “Unbearable weight”. Bordo emphasizes the idea that bodies are plastic and change as a result of cultural social codes. She makes a close observation of anorexia (among other man – made diseases) and explains its emergence in connection with the idea of modern ideals of women. Anorexia is a disorder that emerges as a reaction to the demands of what is held as a perfect body image in modern times.

One sees the truth of this in today’s extreme efforts of young girls to remain thin ( from dieting to laxatives to drugs). Hollywood actresses, models are pressured to maintain a certain body image. Magazines constantly portray the unattainable image of women. The following story does not need any explanation on how the norm can become oppressive or even deadly:
“ Last month, a South American model, Luisel Ramos, died from heart failure minutes after stepping off the catwalk.
The 22-year-old had been told by a model agency that she could “make it big” if she lost a significant amount of weight, and for three months she was said to have eaten nothing but green leaves and drunk only Diet Coke. At the time she hit the catwalk at the Radisson Victoria Plaza in Montevideo, Uruguay, she had not eaten for two weeks, her father told police.”

Bordo, Susan. "The Body and The Reproduction of Femininity." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2240-54.