BODY PRACTICES OF WOMEN IN THE LIGHT OF FEMINIST DEBATES

2018 ◽  
pp. 129-156 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Female Body ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Regulation ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Phenomenological Tradition ◽  
Academic Feminism ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
Body Practices

The paper provides an analysis of the structuralist and phenomenological traditions in interpretation of female body practices. The structuralist intellectual tradition bases its methodology on concepts from social anthropology and philosophy that see the body as ‘ordered’ by social institutions. Structuralist approaches within academic feminism are focused on critical study of the social regulation of female bodies with respect to reproduction and sexualisation (health and beauty practices). The author focuses on the dominant physical ideal of femininity and the means for body pedagogics that have been constructed by patriarchal authority. In contrast to theories of the ordered body, the phenomenological tradition is focused on the “lived” body, embodied experience, and the personal motivation and values attached to body practices. This tradition has been influenced by a variety of schools of thought including philosophical anthropology, phenomenology and action theories in sociology. Within academic feminism, there are at least three phenomenologically oriented strategies of interpretation of female body practices. The first one is centred around women’s individual situation and bodily socialization; the second one studies interrelation between body practices and the sense of the self; and the third one postulates the potential of body practices to destabilize the dominant ideals of femininity and thus provides a theoretical basis for feminist activism. The phenomenological tradition primarily analyses the motivational, symbolic and value-based components of body practices as they interact with women’s corporeality and sense of self. In general, both structuralist and phenomenological traditions complement each other by focusing on different levels of analysis of female embodiment.

scholarly journals Human-Friendly Design of Virtual System “female Body-dress”

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengna Guo ◽  
Victor E. Kuzmichev ◽  
Dominique C. Adolphe
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation System ◽  
Female Body ◽  
The Body ◽  
Virtual Technology ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Mechanical Approach ◽  
Virtual System ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
3D Shapes ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Recently, the development efforts focused on the computer simulation of garments, which depend on the material's physico-mechanical properties. It intends to achieve the best possible and realistic simulations of garments, which are available for pressure prediction. In this manner, 3D garment virtual technology improvements allow the visualization of pressure areas with values where the fabric might be too tight against the body. Although the purposes of simulation graphics were acceptable, the accuracy for apparel shaping is not enough to meet the needs of Virtual Prototyping and CAD utilization especially while the fabric properties system design was inadequate. Moreover, the existing pressure simulation is intended to simply predict the pressure index or how the textile deformation extend, which are deficient in real human's perception. In this research, the 3D shapes belonging to typical female bodies and dresses made of different fabrics were obtained by 3D body scanners (ScanWorX and TELMAT). Through reconstruction for the 3D torso shapes, the volumetric eases between body and dress were calculated by means of a software Rhinoceros. A new approach for the selection of textile properties based on the Kawabata Evaluation System (KES) was proposed to investigate its relations with dress shaping and pressure comfort. Finally, fabric properties tested by the KES-F system were compared with volumetric eases, objective pressure indexes and subjective comfort scores to reveal the relations how the fabric properties have impacts on dress outside shaping and inside pressure comfort of a female body. In this manner, the human-friendly CAD instead of mechanical approach existing before has been presented as a new approach to promote the construction of a realistic system for the 3D simulation optimization.

Not so hysterical now? Psychotherapy, menopause, and hysterectomy

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-252
Author(s):  
Sarah Benamer
Keyword(s):  
Female Body ◽  
Psychoanalytic Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
First Century ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Gynaecological Surgery ◽  
Bodily Experience ◽  
Menstrual Cycles ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
The Mind

In the context of the body, the essentially female; wombs, menstrual cycles, and concurrent hormones, have seen women ascribed madness, insatiability, untrustworthiness, and danger. Female bodies have been identified in selective parts, considered in abstract, or envisaged as having overwhelming power over the mind. “Hysteria”, the problematic neurosis of uterine origin was at the heart of early psychoanalysis. This diagnosis enshrines a slippage from the physical to the fantastical, and ultimately to the denial of the lived reality of women’s and girl’s bodies. In apparent collusion with patriarchy the neglect of some female bodily experience is perpetuated in contemporary psychoanalytic theory. Nowhere is this more evident than around menopause and hysterectomy (as experienced by either client or therapist). There has been little or no exploration of how practitioners might best support clients for whom menopause is significant, or how we might facilitate women before or after gynaecological surgery. It is as if removal and psychological loss of the same female body parts that our forebears used to so neatly differentiate, diagnose, and pathologise women are now not of note. I am interested as to how we as psychotherapists reclaim female body narratives from this outdated theoretical paradigm to best serve clients experiencing menopause, gynaecological surgery, and mid life in the twenty-first century.

‘One is not born, but rather becomes, a Korean woman’: Gender politics of female bodies in Korean weight-loss reality TV shows

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (8) ◽  
pp. 1005-1019
Author(s):  
Yoonso Choi
Keyword(s):  
Weight Loss ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Reality Television ◽  
Gender Politics ◽  
The Body ◽  
Television Shows ◽  
Tv Shows ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
Good Habit ◽  
Body Care

This study examines gender politics from a feminist perspective by analysing significant discourses on body care, which are regenerated through female-targeted Korean weight-loss reality television shows. Three key discourses have implicitly reinforced gender politics within Korean culture. First, weight-loss reality television shows tend to expand the abnormal category of the Korean female body by only focusing on ordinary females, regardless of body size. Second, Korean female body care has been affected by the idea of ‘saving face’, which is regarded as a unique historical national characteristic. Lastly, these diet television shows create a significant discourse called ‘diet pornography’ by emphasizing ‘after’ diet results, such as toned and idealized body shapes, while minimizing the ‘before’ diet, such as the harsh processes and desperate efforts of the ordinary participants. The body-care discourses represented in Korean weight-loss reality television shows play a significant role in defining the gender politics that reinforce the idea that Korean females must modify their bodies as a duty and good habit.

scholarly journals Development and initial psychometric evaluation of the Body Image Matrix of Thinness and Muscularity – Female Bodies

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Beate Steinfeld ◽  
Andrea S. Hartmann ◽  
Manuel Waldorf ◽  
Silja Vocks
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Convergent Validity ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
The Body ◽  
Retest Reliability ◽  
Figure Rating Scale ◽  
Body Ideal ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
Test Retest Reliability

Abstract Background Despite evidence that thinness and muscularity are part of the female body ideal, there is not yet a reliable figure rating scale measuring the body image of women which includes both of these dimensions. To overcome this shortcoming, the Body Image Matrix of Thinness and Muscularity - Female Bodies (BIMTM-FB) was developed. Methods The objective of this study is to analyze the psychometric properties of this measure. N = 607 non-clinical women and N = 32 women with eating disorders answered the BIMTM-FB as well as instruments assessing eating disorder symptoms and body image disturbance in order to test the convergent validity of the BIMTM-FB. To assess test-retest reliability, a two-week interval was determined. Results The results indicated that the body-fat dimension of the BIMTM-FB correlates significantly with the Contour Drawing Rating-Scale, the Drive for Leanness Scale (DLS) and the Body Appreciation Scale, while the muscularity dimension of the BIMTM-FB was significantly associated with the DLS and the Drive for Muscularity Scale, proving the convergent validity of the BIMTM-FB. High coefficients of test-retest reliability were found. Moreover, the BIMTM-FB differentiated between the clinical sample and the non-clinical controls. Conclusions The BIMTM-FB is a figure rating scale assessing both thinness and muscularity as part of the female body ideal. Due to its high reliability and validity, the BIMTM-FB can be recommended in research and practice.

scholarly journals Shaping Girls: Analyzing Animated Female Body Shapes

Animation ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-36
Author(s):  
Rebecca Rowe
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Female Body ◽  
The Body ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Young Girls ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
Inverted Triangle ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Body Shapes

The debate over whether television and film affect girls’ body image has been contentious. Researchers argue that film and television negatively affect, only partially affect, or do not affect girls’ body image. These studies have one common limitation: they approach animated female bodies as if they are the same because they are, mostly, thin. In this project, the author seeks to extend and complicate this existing scholarship by analyzing bodies in 67 films produced by several American animation studios from 1989 through 2016. In this study, she classifies 239 female characters as one of four body types: Hourglass, Pear, Rectangle, or Inverted Triangle. Her argument is two-fold: (1) over the last 30 years, there has been a shift from a singular dominant shape (Hourglass) to the dominance of several body shapes (especially Pear and Rectangle); and (2) young girls may be affected by characters their own age who have been largely ignored in studies thus far. The author argues that young girls see diverse images of bodies rather than the singular image that scholars study. Girls’ body image may be affected by animation, but animated images are so diverse that this effect may be difficult to determine. A more nuanced understanding of the body shapes animation utilizes may allow researchers to study the more complex messages that girls do or do not internalize.

Men’s Hunger, Food Consumption, and Preferences for Female Body Types

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 495-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Guéguen
Keyword(s):  
Food Consumption ◽  
Female Body ◽  
The Body ◽  
Slender Body ◽  
Mediation Effect ◽  
Point Scale ◽  
Body Type ◽  
Experimental Conditions

Nelson and Morrison (2005 , study 3) reported that men who feel hungry preferred heavier women. The present study replicates these results by using real photographs of women and examines the mediation effect of hunger scores. Men were solicited while entering or leaving a restaurant and asked to report their hunger on a 10-point scale. Afterwards, they were presented with three photographs of a woman in a bikini: One with a slim body type, one with a slender body type, and one with a slightly chubby body. The participants were asked to indicate their preference. Results showed that the participants entering the restaurant preferred the chubby body type more while satiated men preferred the thinner or slender body types. It was also found that the relation between experimental conditions and the choices of the body type was mediated by men’s hunger scores.

Morphological Freedom and Medicine: Constructing the Posthuman Body

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luna Dolezal
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
Cosmetic Surgery ◽  
The Body ◽  
Popular Imagination ◽  
Gender Reassignment ◽  
Common Parlance ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Body Practices ◽  
Health Function ◽  
At Will

The notion that the body can be changed at will in order to meet the desires and designs of its ‘owner’ is one that has captured the popular imagination and underpins contemporary medical practices such as cosmetic surgery and gender reassignment. In fact, describing the body as ‘malleable’ or ‘plastic’ has entered common parlance and dictates common-sense ideas of how we understand the human body in late-capitalist consumer societies in the wake of commercial biotechnologies that work to modify the body aesthetically and otherwise. If we are not satisfied with some aspect of our physicality – in terms of health, function or aesthetics – we can engage with a whole variety of self-care body practices – fashion, diet, exercise, cosmetics, medicine, surgery, laser – in order to ‘correct’, reshape or restyle the body. In addition, as technology has advanced and elective cosmetic surgery has unapologetically entered the mainstream, the notion of the malleable body has become intrinsically linked to the practices and discourses of biomedicine and, furthermore, has become a significant means to assert and affirm identity.

‘Good enough for a spot of lippy anyway’: Rape and the Body Politic in My Brother Tom

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 358-373
Author(s):  
Louise Wilks
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sexual Violation ◽  
Female Protagonist ◽  
British Cinema ◽  
Hollywood Movies ◽  
Contemporary Cinema ◽  
Rape Narratives

The representation of rape continues to be one of the most highly charged issues in contemporary cinema, and whilst many discussions of this topic focus on Hollywood movies, sexual violation is also a pervasive topic in British cinema. This article examines the portrayal of a female's rape in the British feature My Brother Tom (2001), a powerful and often troubling text in which the sexual violation of the teenage female protagonist functions as a catalyst for the events that comprise the plot, as is often the case in rape narratives. The article provides an overview of some of the key feminist academic discussions and debates that cinematic depictions of rape have prompted, before closely analysing My Brother Tom's rape scene in relation to such discourses. The article argues that the rape scene is neither explicit nor sensationalised, and that by having the camera focus on Jessica's bewildered reactions, it positions the audience with her, and powerfully but discreetly portrays the grave nature of sexual abuse. The article then moves on to examine the portrayal of sexual violation in My Brother Tom as a whole, considering the cultural inscriptions etched on the female body within its account of rape, before concluding with a discussion of the film's depiction of Jessica's ensuing methods of bodily self-inscription as she attempts to disassociate her body from its sexual violation.

‘I saw a knock-out’: Fatness, (In)visibility, and Desire in Shallow Hal

Somatechnics ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie Wykes
Keyword(s):  
Female Body ◽  
Fat Body ◽  
Western Culture ◽  
Embodied Experience ◽  
Knock Out ◽  
Dominant Meaning ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
Fat Bodies ◽  
Sexual Body

When the Farrelly brothers' movie Shallow Hal (2001) was released, one reviewer suggested that the film ‘might have been more honest if [it] had simply made Hal have a thing about fat women’ ( Kerr 2002 : 44). In this paper, I argue that Kerr hits the mark but misses the point. While the film's treatment of fat is undoubtedly problematic, I propose a ‘queer’ reading of the film, borrowing the idea of ‘double coding’ to show a text about desire for fat (female) bodies. I am not, however, seeking to position Shallow Hal as a fat-positive text; rather, I use it as a starting point to explore the legibility of the fat female body as a sexual body. In contemporary mainstream Western culture, fat is regarded as the antithesis of desire. This meaning is so deeply ingrained that representations of fat women as sexual are typically framed as a joke because desire for fat bodies is unimaginable; this is the logic by which Shallow Hal operates. The dominant meaning of fatness precludes recognition of the fat body as a sexual body. What is at issue is therefore not simply the lack of certain images, but a question of intelligibility: if the meaning of fat is antithetical to desire, how can the desire for – and of – fat bodies be intelligible as desire? This question goes beyond the realm of representation and into the embodied experience of fat sexuality.

Updating long-held assumptions about fat stigma: For women, body shape plays a critical role

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaimie Krems ◽  
Steven L. Neuberg
Keyword(s):  
Body Shape ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
The Body ◽  
Theoretical Assumption ◽  
Obesity Stigma ◽  
Obese Female ◽  
Three Samples ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
Different Parts ◽  
Fat Stigma

Heavier bodies—particularly female bodies—are stigmatized. Such fat stigma is pervasive, painful to experience, and may even facilitate weight gain, thereby perpetuating the obesity-stigma cycle. Leveraging research on functionally distinct forms of fat (deposited on different parts of the body), we propose that body shape plays an important but largely underappreciated role in fat stigma, above and beyond fat amount. Across three samples varying in participant ethnicity (White and Black Americans) and nation (U.S., India), patterns of fat stigma reveal that, as hypothesized, participants differently stigmatized equally-overweight or -obese female targets as a function of target shape, sometimes even more strongly stigmatizing targets with less rather than more body mass. Such findings suggest value in updating our understanding of fat stigma to include body shape and in querying a predominating, but often implicit, theoretical assumption that people simply view all fat as bad (and more fat as worse).

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