Foucault, Femininity, And The Modernization Of Patriarchal Power

Konner Mattison
Dr. Kristin Peterson
Love and Sex: Response Paper 2
20 February 2016 Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power Foucault made a critique, early in the article, about modern society. He argued that there was an “emergence of new and unprecedented discipline directed against the body, (Bartky 63).” This argument means that more is expected from the human body than ever before. The examples he gives to prove his point are: schools, hospitals, army, prison, etc. The way a student sat in the classroom or an army men assembling his gun precisely are the discipline that is directed towards the human body. He says that these disciplinary practices produce “docile bodies” because there is always someone, either

Women have always had the pressure to have their body looking perfect always, which is unrealistic. Women come in all different shapes and sizes but are trying to fit into this certain mold. There was a study conducted at UCLA, that included 260 students, and its purpose was to see the differences in body imaging between men and women. When asked if they were terrified of getting fat, 27.3 percent of women said yes while only 5.8 percent of men said yes. Another question was if they felt fat though other people told them that they were thin. 35 percent of women said yes while only 12.5 of men said yes. This survey just shows how much pressure women have on themselves to have the perfect

The first thing argument was that I did not agree with how she gave her argument of patriarchal power. I was trying to find the connection between patriarchal power and femininity and there were only a few minor examples. But the main critique I had was when Bartky stated how women need to read the cultural messages that are pushed upon us in order to re-vision our own bodies. This yes can be a step but I do not think that this is how we should overcome the disciplinary of femininity. I think that we should not have to change our view while society and the media continue to run around giving judgement on femininity. Society and the media are the sole reasoning that women have such high standards and perfection to look up to. Bartky mentioned the article that when society viewed even the most perfect women like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and Farrah Fawcett, as “sex objects” but they wanted to be more than that. These women viewed themselves as something more even though society only viewed them as “sex objects.” These women had to change the way they read cultural messages so that they can re-vision their own bodies. I think that Bartky should have covered how important it is for society and the media to promote positive body images and empower women and not fit all women into one