I don't agree that women hate themselves and I actually don't think that that statement is supported by your conclusion. I think that, contrarily, there is not enough regard for women by themselves or society for them to even manifest the kind of hatred that would result in bodily dysfunction. I think it is that lack of regard that makes it so difficult to get in tune with the sexual processes that make us whole and it is that same lack of regard that isolates us in our feelings of failure from non-performance. I do agree that there is a connection between sexual performance and standards of feminine beauty, after all; The assumed role of women, that of being on the sex stage, is to provide the "audience" with something that is visually stimulating as well as physically stimulating. But, I don't think that a hatred can even develop to the extent that you're proposing when there is a general conditioning that men do come first, and as a result, they do. The hatred is more ideological than a real judgment of self-worth.
That said, I appreciate your article because it takes the routine (and at this point, hackneyed) criticism of societal standards of beauty and forms a critical theory of how those pressures affect us when they extend to the most intimate part of our lives. As it turns out, it's not about focusing on our inside or outside, but finding the intertextuality of the two that makes us whole and regard ourselves as worthy and capable individuals. (Oh yes, and have orgasms.) -M
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I don't agree that women hate themselves and I actually don't think that that statement is supported by your conclusion. I think that, contrarily, there is not enough regard for women by themselves or society for them to even manifest the kind of hatred that would result in bodily dysfunction. I think it is that lack of regard that makes it so difficult to get in tune with the sexual processes that make us whole and it is that same lack of regard that isolates us in our feelings of failure from non-performance. I do agree that there is a connection between sexual performance and standards of feminine beauty, after all; The assumed role of women, that of being on the sex stage, is to provide the "audience" with something that is visually stimulating as well as physically stimulating. But, I don't think that a hatred can even develop to the extent that you're proposing when there is a general conditioning that men do come first, and as a result, they do. The hatred is more ideological than a real judgment of self-worth.
That said, I appreciate your article because it takes the routine (and at this point, hackneyed) criticism of societal standards of beauty and forms a critical theory of how those pressures affect us when they extend to the most intimate part of our lives. As it turns out, it's not about focusing on our inside or outside, but finding the intertextuality of the two that makes us whole and regard ourselves as worthy and capable individuals. (Oh yes, and have orgasms.) -M
September 24, 2009 - 2:09pmThis Comment
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