The Systemic Obsession with the Female Body: A Personal Take

Below is an excerpt from my book, The Power of Pivot: A Female Perspective on Embracing Change, (Now available on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DRXLVB4)

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We see that women’s roles in society have been molded over thousands and thousands of years. The move from hunting and gathering to agriculture appears to have significantly impacted the roles of males and females due primarily by the simple but powerful principle of comparative advantage. For these early societies, it’s possible that many women’s talents and abilities to contribute to society in more atypical ways were squelched because they were inherently undervalued from the start, which forced them into more stereotypical roles.

Keeping with the historical perspective of The Female Condition, we can find many ancient texts and art forms emphasizing a woman’s physical attributes, such as her sexual fertility and feminine figure. For example, the ancient Egyptians had a goddess of infertility, Nephthys, who was depicted as a vulture and non-coincidently also served as the goddess of funerals. Even one of the earliest Vedic texts in the Indian culture reads, “O woe is the woman who does not carry out the provided role of a mother [birth of sons]. O woe the unmarried, woe the childless, woe the mother of daughters, the widow.” Women who were unable to get pregnant were viewed as possessed by Nirrti, a ferocious goddess.[1] Ironically enough, for all of the positive value placed on a women’s appearance and physical reproductive abilities that exists throughout history and today, many examples of the negative value placed around these ideals is not hard to come by.

The Aphrodite sculpture, created circa 100 B.C., on display in the Louvre in Paris is a fitting example of this ideal. Half-nakedly draped in a toga, she perfectly embodies the ideals of fertility and sensuality.[2] Although not necessarily inaccurate, as females are endowed with the ability to bear children of course, it is the illumination of these themes that have led to the exploitation and objectification of her body and physical capabilities for thousands of years. This logic undermines a woman’s ability to contribute to society beyond her reproductive or child-rearing abilities, contributing to a wrongful conflation of what society assumes women are capable of opposed to what they truly are capable of.

Unfortunately, this misidentification has even led to the mass exploitation of women today. Research at the American Psychological Association found that girls in media are depicted in a sexual manner more often than boys.[3] In one study on print media by Wesleyan University, it was found that, of advertisements that featured women, over 50 percent were portrayed in a sexual way.[4]

Even more, UNICEF reports that, “Approximately 15 million adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 have experienced forced sexual intercourse or sexual acts at some point in their lives,” and, “In the United States, 18 percent of girls report that by age 17 they have been victims of a sexual assault or abuse at the hands of another adolescent.”[5] History repeats itself once again, as we see today that the value society places on the female body actually seems to be counterproductive. Even more, the effects of physical objectification across cultures and societies has deeply imbedded psychological implications, where, according to the Dove Self Esteem Project, only 11 percent of girls worldwide would call themselves beautiful. It’s clear exploitation of women remains a problem that has plagued the female condition for many millennia.

From an individual account, I can vividly recall many times during my childhood when I personally experienced the value that society placed on the female body and women’s physical appearance.

My older sister Emmi was, and still is, always more outgoing and charismatic than me. At the park or at our brothers’ baseball games growing up, she’d always manage to win over crowds of other children and inspire them to follow her as their rightful leader, whether that be to the concession stand for snacks or a stream nearby in the woods. She’d singlehandedly orchestrate complex games that somehow made everyone feel included and valued. She had a way of winning people over and garnering much attention from her tribe of loyal disciples to build her empire.

These children loved her. I recall all of the attention and compliments she’d receive from the other kids we’d just met minutes before:

“You’re so pretty.”

“Your shirt is sooooooo cute!”

“I just love your hair!”

This pattern began occurring when I was seven or so and serves as one of the first instances in which I learned just how much society values a women’s physical appearance. Although I would take part in the games, I recall feeling excluded and undervalued because I wasn’t receiving the same attention as Emmi. Why do they all like her more than me? I yearned for compliments on my appearance and concluded at quite a young age that if I wasn’t receiving them, the logical assumption would be that, just like the 89 percent of girls in the Dove study believed, I simply wasn’t beautiful.

Looking back, this story is a bit trite, but in the moment, little Alli was genuinely confused and hurt when this story kept repeating itself throughout my childhood. This example serves to exemplify the expectations that societies bestow on the female demographic and how they personally impact each of us, even at a very young age.

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In this article series, I share excerpts and stories from my book, The Power of Pivot. I hope you enjoyed this post — if you enjoyed it and want to connect you can reach me here via email [thepowerofpivot@gmail.com], or through my website: http://www.thepowerofpivot.co/#/
Also, you can also find my book on Amazon — here is the link to buy it: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DRXLVB4