ath ial

higher rate of eating disorders
and cosmetic surgery. In
accomplishing equality of
the sexes women of western
society today are no longer
battling for ownership over
themselves and their bodies,
rather, we are fighting for our
femininity and the value for
what it means to be a woman.
In destroying previously
held ideals that women are
weaker emotionally and
physically, women have
overcome this stereotype and
pursued careers which allow
them to prove we are just as
intellectual and strong as the
opposite gender. Our physical
abilities and emotional
weakness no longer dictate
where we go or what we
do in society; we have won
the right to choose whether
we wish to wear pants or a
skirt. However, the decision
to embrace an ideal that is
defies all stereotypes and thus
becomes less “womanly” in
our everyday course of action
allows for ladies of today’s
society to deconstruct our
own femininity, starting with
appearance.

Acclaimed author Naomi
Wolf, who is known for
her controversial political
stance on third wave
feminism, argues that the
general idea of the beauty
industry is a strategically

designed plan to give

women an ideal they can
never reach. She calls this the
“iron maiden” which is used
to punish women physically
and psychologically for their
failure to achieve and conform
to the idealistic standard of
women’s physical appearance.
In her book The Beauty Myth,
Wolf deconstructs beauty as a
normative value and argues:

“The more legal and
material hindrances women
have broken through, the
more strictly and heavily
and cruelly images of female
beauty have come to weigh
upon us.... More women have
more money and power and
scope and legal recognition
than we have ever had before;
but in terms of how we feel
about ourselves physically,
we may actually be worse

 

off than our un-liberated
grandmothers.”

Out innate desire to be
beautiful means that women
all over the world will be
working to achieve this goal
of the “thin is in” mentality
created and consumed by
society. It is a question of
power and control; to be slim
means we have the choice
to manipulate our bodies
and use them at our own
discretion without judgments
or pressures from men. The
evolution of the female figure
has now transformed into a
battle of women against our
own womanliness; we ward
off our curves and use any
means necessary to appear
naturally petite and slender. It
is not a question of whether
or not this cultured ideal is
developed by men to oppress
women, any guy you ask will
say he loves large breasts and
a full booty; it is a universal
problem that women have
bought into and use to feel
as if they are an empowered
female in society.

Our feminist approach
therefore has nothing to
do with being the weaker
sex; we have conquered the

workplace and legalized rights

to abortion. Women have all
the same opportunities as

men, if not more. We have the

ability to choose whether or
not we wish to be the damsel

in distress, or if we want to be

the independent diva like the
women featured on HBO’s
Sex in the City. In the classic
words of Samantha, women
can “wear whatever and blow
whatever [we] want” without
being judged or punished for
it.

This poses the question

as to where this leaves women

in today’s world and how we
move forward from where
our feminist values have left
us. Pursuing a boyish bod
and becoming part of the
economic sphere has become
the obsession and desire of
millions of women in North
America; on average more
women suffer from eating
disorders than from cancer.

 

—TEAIUnE V-

In our desire to be released from the idea that women are the\weaker
sex, females today reject their curves and have developedjajstandard|
of beauty that invites masculinity. From damsels in distressit.
divas with our own agendas, | have to wonder whether the)battleyo
feminism has developed intoJa’deconstruction of our femininity.

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