Summary/Analysis of four articles from the class text (Kesselman).

"Time To Eat"

A poem describes eating disorders that a girl has suffered during her teen age. She had brown eyes, blonde and curly hair. The influences of media and peer pressures changed her thoughts on her nice, attractive body image. Being thin is the only way of getting accepted by the crowd. She started to refuse food. At the dining table, food is her enemy. Nothing her mom said or did could change her thoughts of being thin. She got smaller and thinner as days went by. Until one day she was taken to the doctor. With the doctor's help, she recovered. She finally waked up and came out from the nightmare. She is hungry now. And it's time for her to eat again.

As an eating disorder victim recovered, Donna Marquardt found out that the message sent by media that is "Being thin can bring you all the success in the society" was wrong. By believing the message, Donna starved herself so that she can be thin. But instead of getting popular, she was refused by all of her friends and left alone. Only her parents were there to help her get through the hard time. Beside telling her experienced, I think Donna is a feminist because she spoke up for the women who are mostly depend on teens magazine to obtain their body image. According to her experienced, the message sent by the magazines are not necessary true. When they say "Being thin", the question you ask yourself is "how thin". Be sure that you are not go beyond the wall where "too thin" can really hurt you in all faces, even dealth.

 

"Homage to My Hips"

" These hips are big hips
they need space to
move around in.
They don't fit into little
petty places.  these hips 
are free hips.
They don't like to be held back.
These hips have never been enslaved,
they go where they want to go
they do what they want to do.
These hips are mighty hips.
These hips are magic hips.
I have known them
to put a spell on a man and
spin him like a top! "

She has big hips that are not very desirable for women in today's society. But these big hips don't stop what she believes and what she likes. In today's world, an ideal body image is a thin figure that created by the media. IT seem like there are a lot of young women believe that these ideal images will help them succeed in this society. According to Lucille, even though her big hips don't match the ideal image accepted by most perople, her hips are free to move and have never been enslaves and they can go everywhere and do whatever she wants. And that is what made Lucille different from the others.

 

"Women's Oprression and the Obsession with thinness"

Many women in the U.S. today are engaged in a constant battle against their body figures. The culture and the society tell the women that being thin is the way to be happy, having a good body figure is how you can success, be loved and get approved by the society. The society also tells women that fat women are not favorable and will fail to success. All these pressures and ridiculous reasons force women to have a lot of unnecessary burdens. The author also mentions that women pursue the image of beauty for two reasons: we are told that being thin is good for our health, and to avoid being social outcasts or discriminated. But somehow thinness is not easy to have for some women. They would try so hard losing weight, trying to be so called "happy" and get accepted by the society. But after they work so hard trying to reach the goal but still fail, it leads to some kind of oppression within women's bodies because they feel they are failures. And when the oppression gets stronger, some physical or psychological disorders such as eating disorders will happen. This is very sad. And this needs to be stopped. Fat women are still human; they have their basic right to live freely. They have the rights to enjoy their lives and be happy like the rest of us could. The author mentions some alternatives and solutions to this problem: we mustn't let fashion run our lives, we need to educate ourselves and others that our standard of beauty is not appropriate for the majority of us, and trying too hard to achieve goal is unhealthy to your body and may be dangerous. Most important of all, everybody has a right to be treated as equals, and everybody has a right not worrying about not being approved by men. Everybody should keep all these in mind.

 

"Arroz Con Pollo vs. Slim-Fast"

In this article, the author describes the cultural differences between U.S. and Latino countries. To American women, thinness is an essential part of beauty. But in Latino countries, people have a different impression to thinness. Being thin is not desirable and has negative meanings such as weakness or in skinny. People will ask is you are sick if you look too thin. In Latina's minds, putting weights on your bones is necessary for many reasons. It gives you the ability to carry the burdens of being a woman. It gives you the strength to deal with husband and having children. Another reason is that you won't be able to know what will happen tomorrow, so why don't we enjoy what we can enjoy today? In their minds, thin is not sexy. It is unhealthy. You have to have a good size of hips so you are able to carry children and manage whatever your husband in stores for you. The author mentions that there are more and more new Latino immigrants coming into the U.S. today that are facing cultural shocks. What is pretty and good back at home isn't pretty or good anymore in the U.S. New immigrants want to belong; they want to " fit in;" they are forced to lose weight in order to fit in the American standard. And they are forced to give up what they really like deep in their hearts. In the world of female beauty and image, I think there is no rights and wrongs. And there should not be any standards, either. Everybody has different weights, just like everybody has different heights and strengths. When the way you try to lose way is inappropriate or exceed your body strength, it can hurt your health really bad.

Citation:

1) Donna, Marquardt. 1999. "Time To Eat." In Kesselman et al. Women: Images and Realities: A Multicultural Anthology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. P. 122.

2) Lucille, Clifton. 1999. "Homage To My Hips." In Kesselman et al. Women: Images and Realities: A Multicultural Anthology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. P. 130.

3) Siebecker, July. 1999. " Women's Oppression and the Obsession with Thinness." Women: Images and Realities: A Multicultural Anthology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. Pp.123-8.

4) Delgado, Linda. 1999. " Arroz Con Pollo vs. Slim-Fast." In Kesselman et al. Women: Images and Realities: A Multicultural Anthology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. Pp.128-9.