Femininity As Disciplinary Regime Barthky Analysis

Sandra, Lee Bartky “Femininity as Disciplinary Regime.”

our society women are often pressured and conditioned to conform to traditional feminine standards. In the past fifty or so years women have begun to find modes of resistance against these cultural constraints. Bartky theorizes about the properly feminine subject by stating that it is to embody the proper feminine qualities of character and behaviors. According to Bartky the properly feminine woman must be sure to never appear sloppy or loose. The properly feminine woman should also allow herself to physically controlled by male companions to a certain extent. She must allow the man to lead her around almost like a dog on a leash. Bartky talks about the properly feminine body and how every movement is to be done a certain way in order to seem feminine. It is like when a mother tells her daughter “Don’t sit with your legs open, its not lady-like”. Bartky talks about how the proper feminine body must display itself within the proper
For heterosexuals, straight marriage would remain the most significant--and only legal social bond. Gay marriage could only delegitimize straight marriage if it were a real alternative to it, and this is clearly not true. To put it bluntly, there's precious little evidence that straights could be persuaded by any law to have sex with--let alone marry--someone of their own sex. The only possible effect of this sort would be to persuade gay men and women who force themselves into heterosexual marriage (often at appalling cost to themselves and their families) to find a focus for their family instincts in a more personally positive environment. But this is clearly a plus, not a minus: gay marriage could both avoid a lot of tortured families and create the possibility for many happier ones. It is not, in short, a denial of family values. It's an extension of