There Is No Unmarked Woman
From the dieting tricks that promise to shave off weight within weeks, to the constant gossiping of the fashion trends of a femme fatale, the message is clear: the appearances of women matter. Especially prevalent for the past few decades, the pressure for young women to meet a certain physical standard has been growing ever since. Through the influence of the media and the scrutiny of others, women face the stress of carefully choosing each change they add to their appearance, going so far as to permanently change their genetic features in order to conform to what society has defined as beautiful, and such an issue calls for change. To begin with, the issues of beauty standards are strongly determined by public opinion and the media. As
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In the essay of “There Is No Unmarked Woman”, Deborah Tannen explains it best through the statement that “There is no unmarked woman” (Tannen 412). No matter what hairstyle, clothes, shoes, or style a woman may choose to wear, every one of her decisions will convey a meaning to the public. “If a woman’s clothing is tight or revealing…it sends a message…If her clothes are not sexy, that too sends a message…” (Tannen 412). There are even instances where the clothes are not the cause of criticism, for a woman may be criticized upon her genetic features. As written in the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercg, a little girl grows up healthy and intelligent, but because other people deemed her as physically inadequate by having “a great big nose and fat legs”, the girl is coerced into change, and not anything like a difference in wardrobe, but permanent change with cosmetic surgery (Piercg 378). Such an occurrence is not far from reality for there are women who will do whatever it takes to be deemed as conventionally …show more content…
One method as proposed by Michelle Cottle in her article, “Turning Boys into Girls”, is to “[fight] spandex with spandex” (Cottle 486). What that means is that she believes that the solution to the high beauty standards women face is to introduce such standards to men too in order to “Make the men as neurotic about the circumference of their waists and the whiteness of their smiles as women…” (Cottle 486). This method then enables men to empathize with the beauty standards that women have. As an effect of it all, the issue of societal pressures placed upon women would then be made aware
In the essay of “There Is No Unmarked Woman”, Deborah Tannen explains it best through the statement that “There is no unmarked woman” (Tannen 412). No matter what hairstyle, clothes, shoes, or style a woman may choose to wear, every one of her decisions will convey a meaning to the public. “If a woman’s clothing is tight or revealing…it sends a message…If her clothes are not sexy, that too sends a message…” (Tannen 412). There are even instances where the clothes are not the cause of criticism, for a woman may be criticized upon her genetic features. As written in the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercg, a little girl grows up healthy and intelligent, but because other people deemed her as physically inadequate by having “a great big nose and fat legs”, the girl is coerced into change, and not anything like a difference in wardrobe, but permanent change with cosmetic surgery (Piercg 378). Such an occurrence is not far from reality for there are women who will do whatever it takes to be deemed as conventionally …show more content…
One method as proposed by Michelle Cottle in her article, “Turning Boys into Girls”, is to “[fight] spandex with spandex” (Cottle 486). What that means is that she believes that the solution to the high beauty standards women face is to introduce such standards to men too in order to “Make the men as neurotic about the circumference of their waists and the whiteness of their smiles as women…” (Cottle 486). This method then enables men to empathize with the beauty standards that women have. As an effect of it all, the issue of societal pressures placed upon women would then be made aware