No middle ground

No Middle Ground

Women in American society are faced with a dilemma: they can be thin or they can be fat. There seems to be a middle area implied in that statement; women should be able to have a female body that looks female without being overweight. Women's magazines are the ones that show the extraordinarily underweight models. Men's magazines show women that are shaped like women; this should imply that women with figures are the ones to be considered attractive.

Shouldn't it?

"Bodies that were not too fat nor too thin� bodies of moderate, typical, or average size� had become, in the eyes of men and women, associated with the meanings given them by the pornographic camera." (1)

Unfortunately, this is not the case. The middle ground is the area of pornography. A woman who has a definite figure will be the object of jokes and sexual innuendos. If she is in business, she will often not be taken seriously ("She slept her way to the top,") despite the quality of work she puts out. In television, women with full figures (many times the result of implant surgery) are the beautiful ditzes, who, even if they are supposed to be intelligent, have to be rescued by their male co-star (after getting themselves into the most ridiculous situations imaginable. That's supposed to be intelligent?)

Of course, the problems with having a figure don't start with adulthood. In high school and junior high, girls who have figures that look like those associated with pornography will experience everything from flirting to assault. The shyest girl in the world, if she has a womanly figure, may be called a slut. (2) Such harassment is often beyond the capabilities of teachers to control, particularly when local attitudes are working against them. (See the story of the "Spur Posse" in Reviving Ophelia, p.70.)

"The anorexic body is sexually safer to inhabit than the pornographic." (3)

The fear of harassment and assault contributes to the confusion surrounding sex in our culture. There are messages from parents and teachers ("Don't") conflicting with messages from popular culture ("Do") and values that range from the prudish to the obscene. Culture rarely deals with consequences and figures of authority don't fill the gap with knowledge. Underlying all these messages is fear: fear of getting pregnant, fear of being called a slut (or a prude), fear of AIDS.

Many girls, when looking for ways to deal with confusion, will simply want to put off the decision. By keeping thin, girls avoid the 'slut' moniker and feel they can mitigate the harassment that many of them see every day.

"Among the major elements of the aesthetics of pornography are the 'fat' parts of the female body: buttocks, abdomen, hips, breast, and thighs. . . If women were going to be able to go out into the workplace, they needed representations of their bodies that could compete with, and 'answer,' the messages of pornography. They needed a new ideal body that they could carry in their minds� an ideal the attainment of which could hold at bay men's lust and leers." (4)

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(1)Wooley, O. Wayne. "...And Man Created 'Woman': Representations of Women's Bodies in Western Culture." Feminist Perspectives on Eating Disorders. Fallon, Patricia, et al., eds. (New York: The Guilford Press, 1994) p. 43.

(2)Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls (USA: Ballantine Books, 1994) p. 70-71.

(3)Wolf, Naomi. "Hunger." Feminist Perspectives on Eating Disorders. Fallon, Patricia, et al., eds. (New York: The Guilford Press, 1994) p. 101.

(4)Wooley, 42.

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	Women in American society are faced with a dilemma: they can be thin or they can be fat. There seems to be a middle area implied in that statement; women should be able to have a female body that looks female without being overweight. Women's magazines are the ones that show the extraordinarily underweight models. Men's magazines show women that are shaped like women; this should imply that women with figures are the ones to be considered attractive. Shouldn't it?
"Bodies that were not too fat nor too thin� bodies of moderate, typical, or average size� had become, in the eyes of men and women, associated with the meanings given them by the pornographic camera." (1)	Unfortunately, this is not the case. The middle ground is the area of pornography. A woman who has a definite figure will be the object of jokes and sexual innuendos. If she is in business, she will often not be taken seriously ("She slept her way to the top,") despite the quality of work she puts out. In television, women with full figures (many times the result of implant surgery) are the beautiful ditzes, who, even if they are supposed to be intelligent, have to be rescued by their male co-star (after getting themselves into the most ridiculous situations imaginable. That's supposed to be intelligent?) Of course, the problems with having a figure don't start with adulthood. In high school and junior high, girls who have figures that look like those associated with pornography will experience everything from flirting to assault. The shyest girl in the world, if she has a womanly figure, may be called a slut. (2) Such harassment is often beyond the capabilities of teachers to control, particularly when local attitudes are working against them. (See the story of the "Spur Posse" in Reviving Ophelia, p.70.)
"The anorexic body is sexually safer to inhabit than the pornographic." (3)	The fear of harassment and assault contributes to the confusion surrounding sex in our culture. There are messages from parents and teachers ("Don't") conflicting with messages from popular culture ("Do") and values that range from the prudish to the obscene. Culture rarely deals with consequences and figures of authority don't fill the gap with knowledge. Underlying all these messages is fear: fear of getting pregnant, fear of being called a slut (or a prude), fear of AIDS. Many girls, when looking for ways to deal with confusion, will simply want to put off the decision. By keeping thin, girls avoid the 'slut' moniker and feel they can mitigate the harassment that many of them see every day.
"Among the major elements of the aesthetics of pornography are the 'fat' parts of the female body: buttocks, abdomen, hips, breast, and thighs. . . If women were going to be able to go out into the workplace, they needed representations of their bodies that could compete with, and 'answer,' the messages of pornography. They needed a new ideal body that they could carry in their minds� an ideal the attainment of which could hold at bay men's lust and leers." (4)