FREE ESSAY ON BARTKY'S " SKIN DEEP"

BARTKY'S " SKIN DEEP"

ESSAY #2
In our society women are often pressured and conditioned to conform to traditional
feminine standards. In the past fifty or so years women have begun to find modes of
resistance against these cultural constraints. In this essay I will cover Bartky's essay
" Skin Deep", she theorizes about the "properly feminine subject", the definition of the
body, disciplinary practices and how to resist. 
Bartky theorizes about the properly feminine subject by stating that it is to embody the
proper feminine qualities of character and behaviors. According to Bartky the properly
feminine woman must be sure to never appear sloppy or loose. The properly feminine woman
should also allow herself to physically controlled by male companions to a certain
extent. She must allow the man to lead her around almost like a dog on a leash. Bartky
talks about the properly feminine body and how every movement is to be done a certain way
in order to seem feminine. It is like when a mother tells her daughter "Don't sit with
your legs open, its not lady-like". Bartky talks about how the proper feminine body must
display itself within the proper parameters of femininity. A woman must wear clothing and
make-up that display her in a positive way. A woman should not wear clothing or make-up
that would make her look sloppy, unkept or masculine. This can be seen through out
society but especially in the sports world. Women who compete in sports are often seen as
unlady-like or non-feminine because they are active in a masculine dominated realm of
society. Most sports are traditionally seen as outside the parameters of femininity. The
idea of the properly feminine subject is an extreme example of femininity, yet it is the
example that we use most in our society. In order to conform to these concepts a woman
must train herself and her body.
Bartky talks about how the proper feminine body requires training and how our culture
implements certain disciplinary practices in order to do this training. She talks about
dieting, make up and fashions. American culture perpetuates these practices through the
mass media. One of the most powerful disciplinary practices for women in the United
States is that of dieting. "Dieting disciplines the body's hungers: appetite must be
monitored at all times and governed by an iron will." ( Bartky 18) By dieting women are
disciplining their bodies to only consume a certain amount of food. By doing this women
feel they are becoming more like the image of the perfect (properly feminine) woman. Many
women tend to over diet which leads to anorexia and women who don't diet are scorned by
society. Mass media contributes to these ideas by using images of predominantly thin
unrealistic women. After saturating the women audience with images of super-thin starlets
, television networks then proceed to show hours and hours of commercials and
infomercials on weight-loss, dieting and fitness programs. Another disciplinary practice
that is perpetuated through the media is that of skin care and make-up. " A woman's skin
must be soft, supple, hairless, and smooth: ideally, it should betray no sign of wear,
experience, age, or deep thought." ( pg 19 ) Images of proper skin care and make up can
be found more in magazines than on T.V. This is because magazines can give you page upon
page of "make-up tips" and "skin care strategies" that women should follow in order to
conform to the properly feminine standard. The overwhelming media showcase of properly
feminine subjects and disciplinary practices leads to women either conforming to these
practices or resisting them.
Bariky also talks about how and why women can and should resist these practices and
cultural constructions of the female body. Bartky lists several reasons why women should
resist these practices: 1) it is very costly and time consuming, i.e women spend hours
and hours infatuated with their physical appearance instead of spending time working on
their mental appearance 2) women are persuaded that their bodies are defective, i.e.
images in mass media tend not to reflect the average woman leading the average woman to
feel something is wrong with her 3) they lead to problems such as racism and class
oppression, i.e most of the women in these media images are white so any woman of color
who sees this often feel inferior and will try to conform 4) they lead to women feeling
alienated, i.e. women who don't conform to these beauty norms often feel like outsiders
or don't fit in with the rest 5) the construction of this body is for the appreciation of
male outsiders as well as the woman's inner self, i.e. women do this to be appreciated by
men but often is more of a beauty contest 6) the proper feminine bodies postures and
movements are seen as 
subordinate to men, i.e. it leads to women being seen as child-like to men, who are then
seen as superior. Bartky stresses that many women are becoming resisters to these
practices of proper femininity. Women body-builders and athletes are resisters, women who
take self-defense classes are resistors and lesbians are resisters. Any woman who goes
against the properly feminine subject and its disciplinary practices is a resistor.
Women athletes are definite resistors because sports especially basketball have been
anti-women for so long that women's basketball at the pro level is a slap in the face to
masculinists. Anything having to do with heavy athletic participation is seen as a
resistance to traditional cultural norms. Resistance eventually leads to cultural change.
Bartky talks about her vision for the future of the body and a new radical configuration
of this body. She talks about how the whole conventional idea of beauty will be thrown by
the waste side, people will be able to experiment with their appearance and pretty much
do whatever they want. She also says that the gender and class system will also be thrown
out and it will lead to a society in which one's image is freely chosen; true
existentialism.
In Bartky's essay "Skin Deep" she does a very good job of analyzing the current situation
of women in our society in particular women as part of the American culture. She
theorizes on "the properly feminine subject", the definition of the body, disciplinary
practices and how to resist. She also talks about a new society in the future that would
be entirely free of class and gender systems and would have none of the previous
society's beauty standards. This sound's like a good idea but realistically it would be
almost impossible for our society not to be able to classify and categorize people
through gender,class, race etc.
Bibliography
Bartky,Sandra Lee. "Skin Deep : Feminity as a Disciplinary Regime". Daring to Be Good:
Essays in Feminist Ethico-Politics. Edited by Bat-Ami Bar On and Ann Ferguson. New
York,NY : Routledge, 1998. pp.15-27.