Essay On Gender Bodies In The Fashion Industry

Apart from being racialized and classed, women’s bodies in the fashion industry are sexualized. It is noted that the production of racial bodies cannot be discussed without considering the gendering and sexualizing bodies (Ahmed, 1997). According to Stephen (1997), bodies are sexed in the biological sense that they are either male or female. Besides, these sexed bodies would be seen to show particular gendered behaviour. Finally, “bodies can be sexualized because they engage in certain sexual practices, for example, heterosexual or homosexual sex (Stephen, 1997)”.
It is also noted that all sexuality originate from or develop in relation to a male heterosexual drive (Stephen, 1997). Therefore, men are considered as active sexual agents while

Hence, in the contemporary fashion industry, the sexualisation and objectification of women’s bodies remain, which means female models and their bodies are sexualized as a beautiful object offering pleasure to others. It is noted that sexualization also means the frequent erotic presentation of women’s bodies in the public spaces (Gill, 2007). Fashion media are more likely to disseminate beauty and images of women’s bodies, which provides a lot of opportunities for people to see the female body as an object. It is worth noticing that men still are dominant in the fashion industry, although this industry is mostly catering for women. For instance, most of head designers who are the main image-makers in the industry are men while women are at the bottom of this industry (Wilson, 2005). More importantly, models’ bodies are always viewed by others in this industry. Their bodies are displayed in the catwalk shows, in the fashion magazines, in the campaigns on the streets, etc. As a consequence, gazed by dominant men in this industry and many consumers all over the world, women need to be read as objects for meeting their demands. Also, female models selected by dominant men need to be meet the standard of beauty that formulated by these men. Their bodies need to be coded sexually with specific meanings by men as well. As Gill (2007)

For instance, Liu Wen, a Chinese female model, entered the list of “New Supers” in the famous fashion website, models.com. “New Supers” lists models who are not merely as industry icons, but they are new legends in the contemporary fashion industry. The majority of popular Asian female models, such as Liu Wen, Feifei, Soo Joo Park, have baby faces as well as slim and flat bodies without obvious secondary sexual characteristics. Their appearances are sexually coded with particular meanings. Their slender and flat bodies and baby faces make them look like tamed teenager girls. Thus, their innocent and submissive baby faces and their slender bodies can meet men’s sexual desires. In other words, their bodies are sexualized as objects for heterosexual men’s desires. Compared with Asian female models, black female models tend to be sexy, confident and mature because their curvy bodies with plump breasts and butts are also coded with these meanings. The sexy, confident and mature image of black female models would increase feelings of the stress of men. This is one of the reasons why East Asian female models become more popular than black female models in recent