50 Shades of Breasts

This past Sunday evening I went to view the film 50 Shades of Grey with some friends and classmates from this seminar since our previous attempts to view the film as a class never worked out.  While there are many thought provoking topics that could be discussed about this film, I decided to focus on film in general and how societal standards of what is “obscene” affected the production of this film. How does society pick and choose what content and images of certain parts of individuals’ bodies is appropriate in film? And what do those decisions say about how we sexualize bodies and society’s opinions on sexuality in general.

            First of all, I understand that this film is closely based on an erotic novel, but I did feel like I ultimately spent 2+ hours watching soft-core porn with a very developed back-story. So with that in mind there was A LOT of sex and A LOT of nudity. However, it was really interesting to me what was “allowed” to be shown of the characters bodies. Essentially, only breasts, and butts were permitted with some random flashes of pubic hair. It was really surprising to me that what is normally a hyper-sexualized part of a woman’s body (her breasts) was repeatedly shown and often the focal point of most of the sexual scenes in this film. It kind of got me thinking about the consequences of these choices. Essentially, this kind of media defines breasts’ primary function as sexual. As such breasts are considered obscene, sexual organs that are only permitted to be seen in public via R-rated films based on erotic novels; but god forbid their public exposure to feed an infant, which is their primary function by the way.

            Additionally, the fact that women are allowed to be “more” nude (by society’s standards) on screen than men implies something about how society allows women to be perceived. Considering the novel 50 Shades of Grey is based on a heterosexual couple, and numerous critics have claimed that this is a “woman’s novel” first and foremost, we can assume that the majority of moviegoers were heterosexual women. Therefore wouldn’t it cater to the film’s target audience to have more male than female nudity in the film? Despite what I think would have been an obvious answer, the FCC standards imply that female nudity is more acceptable than male nudity. Ultimately, I believe that this means society is more comfortable with the idea of sexualizing women than men in film and other aspects of life.

Toddlers in Tiaras

Earlier this week, in my other Women Studies course, Mothers and Daughters, we watched a short clip of a documentary on beauty pageants. In this clip, young girls from infants to ten year olds were paraded around by their mothers in garish makeup and overpriced, sparkly dresses. Overall the whole situation struck me as very bizarre and unsettling. There is no reason in this world to justify putting bright red lipstick on your two-year old or for a toddler to get a spray tan. It made me wonder about how our society, sometimes even mothers themselves impress certain gender expectations on to their children.

            One mother of a sweet 7-year-old girl was interviewed about the cost of these pageants. She said sometimes the pageant dresses cost upwards of $6,000. Yes. That’s three zeroes at the end. That is double the value of the car I’m currently driving around! It just seems silly to shell out so much money for a dress that will only be worn once for an hour or so. More shocking than the cost of these pageants is the appearance mothers try to give their children. Young girls, sometimes infants are made to look like women by the use of spray tans, heavy eye makeup, dresses with tulle that give even a pre-pubescent girl an “hourglass” silhouette. Honestly the blatant sexualization of these girls seems downright criminal and makes my stomach turn.

            Besides the general distaste of the whole situation, pageants must have a profound impact on a girl’s personality and sense of self-worth. There was one line in the documentary that emphasized this point, saying something along the lines of pageants, “teaching girls the source of their value as a woman.” Girls learn that a woman’s value in our society is strongly based on their appearance whether they’re entered in pageants or not just by the pervasive nature of the media in most peoples’ daily lives. However, pageants have always translated this value in a direct and unapologetic way, and I don’t believe it’s a really healthy activity to involve your child in especially when they aren’t event old enough to vocalize their opinion.

            Overall, this pageant documentary helped reveal yet another institutional practice that puts children through the “gendering” process starting at a very young age. Especially in this region of the south, beauty pageants are common and very popular among young mothers and girls. This process seems really damaging to these children because they sexualize the girls almost from infancy as well as openly base their value off of their physical appearance. This can have a profound affect on a girl’s self-esteem and body image later in life.