Kendra Cobb
English 102
Summary/Response Essay
February 13, 2017
English 102
Summary/Response Essay
February 13, 2017
Today’s Beauty Standards
Today there are many beauty standards that women feel they have to follow. In the article “Fat is a Feminist Issue” by Susie Orbach, the chair of the Relational School in the United Kingdom, obesity is explained to be a way that women try and express how they feel about the stereotype that today's society has set for the ideal body image of a woman. This article falsely blames obesity solely on a woman's body type; however, accurately explains women’s worries about a changing view of body types.
Today’s society teaches women that they must conform their body to the way that society feels they should look and that fat is a way of expressing how women feel. Women want to be pretty, but some women are not able to and it is not because they are lazy, but because of their body type. Women feel the need to go buy clothes and change their body type to fit in with what today’s society says is acceptable. Orbach states that “Physical fitness and beauty are every woman's goals” (Orbach 448). There are many women and young ladies who think they must be skinny to be pretty, but many women agree that fat is a way of proving the society wrong.
Being fat or getting fat does not occur because women are being lazy or because they do not have the self-disciple to watch their weight but because their bodies are different than that of a man. Orbach’s point is that “Fat is not about lack of self-control or lack of willpower. ...It is a response to the inequality of the sexes” (Orbach 449). I disagree with this point that Orbach is making here. Women look at the image of the perfect body on the cover of magazines, but most will just sit around expecting to have that body without any effort; that is not possible. I understand that men and women have different body types. For example, when women give birth to their child and breastfeed them, the women have to provide the nutrients that are needed for two people, but women cannot be lazy and expect to not, over time, become obese.
With that in mind, when men are looking for a significant other, they first see whether a woman has the ideal physical attributes that make her approachable. Orbach says, “This emphasis on presentation as the central aspect of a woman’s existence makes her extremely self-conscious” (Orbach 450). I agree with this point in the article. In other words, a man first sees what a woman looks like on the outside; this causes women to be constantly worried about what their physical appearance looks like. There are many women who think that they have to be skinny and look like the girls on the front of the magazines, but as long as a woman is confident, whether they are obese or skinny, in their own body, then they are attractive. All women have different body types, which are all equally beautiful in their own way.
Furthermore, the style and body types of women are constantly changing, and women feel the need to buy the products to keep up with the trends that society sets for women. According to Orbach, “Women are urged to conform, to help out the economy by continuous consumption of goods and clothing that are quickly made unwearable by the next season’s fashion styles in clothes and body shapes” (Orbach 451). I agree with Orbach’s point about women having to feel the need to stay with the trends of society. As time goes the body types of women has changed from being skinny to being heavyset. While body types change direction depending on what the society says, women get self-conscious about their body if it does not fit the trend. Therefore, women go to stores and spend their money on these clothes that will soon be outdated or not in fashion.
Nevertheless, the standards that women feel they have to follow are constantly changing, which means that women are constantly not satisfied with the way that they look. One day they are too skinny, and the next they are not skinny enough. In the article “Fat is a Feminist Issue” written by Susie Orbach, Orbach explains how women use their body to externalize their internal feelings about the ideal body type that the American culture has set. The article is wrong when it explains that women are obese because of their body type; on the other hand, the article points out that women are constantly worrying about their appearance and body type, which are frequently changing.
Today’s society teaches women that they must conform their body to the way that society feels they should look and that fat is a way of expressing how women feel. Women want to be pretty, but some women are not able to and it is not because they are lazy, but because of their body type. Women feel the need to go buy clothes and change their body type to fit in with what today’s society says is acceptable. Orbach states that “Physical fitness and beauty are every woman's goals” (Orbach 448). There are many women and young ladies who think they must be skinny to be pretty, but many women agree that fat is a way of proving the society wrong.
Being fat or getting fat does not occur because women are being lazy or because they do not have the self-disciple to watch their weight but because their bodies are different than that of a man. Orbach’s point is that “Fat is not about lack of self-control or lack of willpower. ...It is a response to the inequality of the sexes” (Orbach 449). I disagree with this point that Orbach is making here. Women look at the image of the perfect body on the cover of magazines, but most will just sit around expecting to have that body without any effort; that is not possible. I understand that men and women have different body types. For example, when women give birth to their child and breastfeed them, the women have to provide the nutrients that are needed for two people, but women cannot be lazy and expect to not, over time, become obese.
With that in mind, when men are looking for a significant other, they first see whether a woman has the ideal physical attributes that make her approachable. Orbach says, “This emphasis on presentation as the central aspect of a woman’s existence makes her extremely self-conscious” (Orbach 450). I agree with this point in the article. In other words, a man first sees what a woman looks like on the outside; this causes women to be constantly worried about what their physical appearance looks like. There are many women who think that they have to be skinny and look like the girls on the front of the magazines, but as long as a woman is confident, whether they are obese or skinny, in their own body, then they are attractive. All women have different body types, which are all equally beautiful in their own way.
Furthermore, the style and body types of women are constantly changing, and women feel the need to buy the products to keep up with the trends that society sets for women. According to Orbach, “Women are urged to conform, to help out the economy by continuous consumption of goods and clothing that are quickly made unwearable by the next season’s fashion styles in clothes and body shapes” (Orbach 451). I agree with Orbach’s point about women having to feel the need to stay with the trends of society. As time goes the body types of women has changed from being skinny to being heavyset. While body types change direction depending on what the society says, women get self-conscious about their body if it does not fit the trend. Therefore, women go to stores and spend their money on these clothes that will soon be outdated or not in fashion.
Nevertheless, the standards that women feel they have to follow are constantly changing, which means that women are constantly not satisfied with the way that they look. One day they are too skinny, and the next they are not skinny enough. In the article “Fat is a Feminist Issue” written by Susie Orbach, Orbach explains how women use their body to externalize their internal feelings about the ideal body type that the American culture has set. The article is wrong when it explains that women are obese because of their body type; on the other hand, the article points out that women are constantly worrying about their appearance and body type, which are frequently changing.
Works Cited
Orbach, Susie. "Fat is a Feminist Issue" They Say I Say With Readings. By Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. Ed. Russel Durst. 2E ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 448-452. Print