Tyrannization Of Body Size

Bordo demonstrates how preoccupation with body size is a gendered problem. For, the current ideal of what body type is "attractive" is one that disproportionately tyrannizes women. "Bulging flesh and flab" are labelled as women's enemy, and the scale is a defining aspect of self-worth (189). This generates a "tyranny of slenderness" which informs an image of hegemonic femininity (185). In consideration of this, "overweight" bodies demonstrate a "resistance to cultural norms," making them deviants in a culture that has normalized the slender body (202). Thus, body type has become a source of either discrimination or privilege, one that influences the manner in which the individual experiences their environment. Even more, it influences the …show more content…
Of course, slender models are still idealized, but the rise of 'Instagram culture' has influenced a widespread coveting of this body type. Nevertheless, I think the process of transmitting these norms is very much the same. For, as Bordo shows, the media as an institution has always controlled our views of what is in vogue. From movies to gym advertisements, the messages conveyed work to redefine the image of ideal femininity. With the rise of social media, this process is only intensified. In seeing the "Fatbuster Diet Tea" ad included in the text, I was reminded of the diet teas promoted all over Instagram by personalities who claim they lost 7 pounds a week after drinking it. The media infiltrates women's self-perceptions, pushing them to purchase corsets that squish in their waist and diet plans that promise to shed unfavorable body fat. In the same way that the slender body was a power symbol, those who showcase this new body type are rewarded with millions of social media followers. Preoccupations with the "ideal" body are only