Gender Embodiment

Gender and Femininity: Female Embodiment

In media and culture, women, more so then men, have been defined or self-define in terms of their bodies. Whether this involves replicating or comparing oneself to the thin ideal presented in modern mass media (despite the looming specter of anorexia and bulimia) or altering one's body to heighten perceived sexuality, desirability, or youthfulness (through cosmetic surgery, exercise, or eating) or conforming to definitions of femininity (through fashion and cosmetics), the body has often been culturally signified [Page 142]for women as a source of power (usually sexual, aesthetic, or virginal) or shame (either sexual or non-normative). In media, the female body is frequently a source of power or shame, constructed as either sexually attractive (bombshell or vamp) or sexually dangerous (siren or femme fatale), as either a prize to be honored and protected (the fashion icon, virgin, or mother/homemaker) or an object of sexual desire (lover), conquest (damsel in distress), punishment (bad girl/whore), or excess needing discipline (bitch or fat lady). Whether threat or promise, desirable, dangerous, or shameful, a woman's presence and meaning in media, and possibly in life to the extent that media shape identity and the perceptions of others, have historically been shaped by her body. From this perspective, for women, embodiment matters.

Despite the historical centrality of the female body and feminine embodiment as a frequent source of power or shame in media representations, feminist theorists and critics, particularly as influenced by post-structuralism and new media studies, have been torn over the following questions: Does the physical female body (as spectator/gamer/media producer) still matter? Should control over the female body as promoted in the media (through, for example, plastic surgery, diet, exercise, and body adornment) remain a source of political struggle? Is sexual objectification, as inscribed in the media, a personal choice or a problematic projection for women?

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