Friday, January 22, 2010

Body Outlaws


Body image is the way one sees their body in their mind. When we look in the mirror at our bodies, our self body image takes over and instead of seeing our bodies for how beautiful they are, usually we only find the flaws. That is why body image is incredibly important to study is because so many people struggle with it, regardless of gender. Our society is not a very accepting one and hopefully the more educated we become, the more forgiving we will be.
According to Amelia (Amy) Richards, there are three distinct waves of feminism. The first one occurred in the late-eighteenth/early-nineteenth century attempted to establish women’s rights as citizens, mainly the right to vote. The second wave came about in the 1960s and 70s where women wanted to be treated more fairly, that equal to men. This third wave of feminism focuses more on the media and body image and trying to break free of the ideal body type.
The standards of beauty have changed vastly throughout the centuries. When our founding sisters were organizing the first wave of feminism, the style was to wear lots of petticoats and to be reserved. A fuller figure on women was perceived as beautiful, and only recently has the waif look become predominant.
According to Ophira Edut, a body outlaw is “a rebel with a cause, willing to step outside my comfort zone to expose people to a body type that had practically disappeared from the cultural imagination (Edut, 2003). The first person that comes to mind when I think of a body outlaw is Kim Kardashian. She is known for her curves, which are unheard of in Hollywood, but she has embraced them. The sad part though, is she has lost weight and has been advertising the fact that she was overweight, when really she was very healthy looking.

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