Colonialism: Tragedy or Blessing? Although we may be too busy with our everyday lives to notice, much of our world is subjected to colonization. In “An American of Color” (1993) by Victor Villanueva and “Reading the Slender Body” (1993) by Susan Bordo, both authors analyze and discuss the effects colonization has on society, and argue that the colonized have begun to mimic or mirror the colonizers as well as becoming a subaltern or the lower rank. Villanueva and Bordo write about their experiences with postcolonialism and the impact it has on society, in which minorities and females are greatly affected. Villanueva's essay is directed toward school administrators, teachers, and parents, where he is able to effectively back up his claim with …show more content…
Bordo’s primary target audience are females, teenagers and possibly even advertising companies, where she too, creates an effective argument. Bordo claims we are influenced by media to believe that it is imperative to achieve the “slender ideal body” and reflects on how dieting has become normalized. She states “In the late nineteenth century, by contrast, the practices of body management begin to be middle-class preoccupations, and concern with diet becomes attached to the pursuit of an idealized physical body weight or shape” (Bordo 484). Bordo discusses the associations that have been created regarding body weight. In the past, a successful businessman was usually heavier set in the stomach area, whereas a housewife was expected to be slender. But today, even businessmen are looking for ways to lose weight because we have created associations of body weight with success and fortune. In essence, we are ultimately telling ourselves that if we are not a certain weight, we …show more content…
Bordo explains, “When associations of fat and lower-class status exist, they are usually mediated by moral qualities—fat being perceived as indicative of laziness, lack of discipline, unwillingness to conform” (Bordo 489). The working-class however is pictured as slender and thin and therefore successful. We are surrounded by talk shows, advertisements, and reality television, that tell us how we should look, whether we are able to see it or not. Bordo illustrates this by analyzing a talk show where an obese woman stated she was happy; however the audience was in disbelief and tried to convince her that she was in fact not happy and needed to be slim and beautiful to be content. The audiences’ opinions regarding her body and how she should adjust her lifestyle relays the message that life is worthless, unless she fits the ideal body image. Bordo creates an effective argument by using strategies such as interviews from victims of anorexia nervosa in order for the reader to apprehend how fragile the human body is. The term mimicry which is defined as when the colonized people copy or “mimic” the colonizers, is relevant to this argument because it is clear as a society we have began to mimic a notion that is destructive and
Fat acceptance: A basic primer Critique essay Cynara Geissler’s article “Fat Acceptance: A Basic Primer” was first published in Geez Magazine in 2013. Geissler addresses a lot of issues about fat acceptance and how it is affecting our society and people’s attitudes towards over-weight people. One of the reasons why Geissler thinks that is because many health industries now days have a slogan “Thinner is better” and that makes over-weight people seem lazy or just not willing to put the effort to become better. Most importantly Geissler mentions that health industries and causing people to make a negative attitude towards overweight people which can be seen.
The initiative seeks to provide a deeper knowledge of the complexities of American society and the enduring effects of colonialism through a thorough examination of historical events and their repercussions. The initiative draws attention to the ways that historically marginalized people' perspectives and experiences continue to affect
Without a doubt, it is been Enough. It is time to bring light and awareness to the mass media. It is time to take this matter much more serious. It is our future generation that is on the line. It is time to create a safe and better environment for them to grown on.
The intake on “cheap” daily food are slowly killing the human race. As social incomes decrease, obesity increase. Fat is no longer a rich man’s disease (Saletan). William Saletan the author of, “Please Do Not Feed the Humans: The Global Explosion of Fat” tells a vivid story of how the human race allowed themselves to fall into the hands of a pig. His arguments stayed strong next to him side by side.
This idea shines through postcolonial and multicultural literature, in these short stories, poems and essays: Stephen Bonnycastle's In Search For Authority, The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano, Black Man's Burden, White Man's Burden, and Caesar and Cleopatra one can specifically envision the oppression felt by the colonized, the hatred felt for the colonizers, and surprisingly, even the sympathy felt for the colonizers. Many, if not all people who a colonized feel oppressed in some way, shape or form. Most often they feel oppressed when their own culture is pushed aside and a new and, in most cases very different, culture is pushed upon them. This is an extremely prominent them throughout postcolonial and multicultural literature. In the second chapter of The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano, an autobiography, the reader can easily notice
The effects of colonialism are intergenerational, this story exposes the raw feelings of victims of colonization and the internalization of racist ideologies that often occurs as a result of Caribbean history being wrongly painted. Conforming to the standards of society is often easier than bearing the challenges associated with being an outlier; however, conformity leads to resentment and hatred. Cynthia chooses to conform to society's standards of white supremacy, which results in her discarding her own body for the figure of a white woman. Unfortunately, Cynthia begins to form a deep hatred for herself and her culture which her parents and strangers are subjected to.
The short story by Andre Dubus follows Louise from age nine up until the time she becomes a mother. It gives insight to the damage that can be done when loved ones force negative body images on young children. Louise’s mother starts her on a self-destructive path, which Louise will never overcome and continually affects her life. This is reinforced by the similar opinions of her relatives and friends who make her feel that she will only be truly loved if she is thin. The prevalent theme of Dubus’ “The Fat Girl” is the destructive way society views food addiction and how it adversely affects women.
Every individual is different and unique in their own way, may it be their body size or the color of their skin. No individual is similar, which is precisely the point that Cheryl Peck makes in her essay “Fatso”. The essay portrays Peck’s view of the conflicts that she goes through in her life as an overweight person. She makes a point by point contrast to her imaginary life, repeating the phrase “I have never”, and her real life where she faces discrimination because of her weight. Peck’s use of tone and word choice highlights the purpose of her essay, which is to raise awareness about discrimination against overweight people to audiences who are thin and have not experienced any judgment from others.
Homework #2 “What You Eat is Your Business” In Radley Balko’s article “What You Eat is Your Business”, Balko argues that obesity is the responsibility of the individual, not the government or anybody else for that matter. He argues that obesity should be more so a matter of personal responsibility instead of being looked at as a matter of “public health”. After reading Balko’s article, his position is pretty clear. He is completely against obesity being a “public health” crisis.
This constant fixation on physical perfection has created unreasonable beauty standards for women, ones we cannot possibly achieve on our own. Such standards permeate all forms of popular media, particularly fashion magazines and advertisements. Women are bombarded with the notion that we must be thin in order to be desirable. These images project an
“In the past, eating disorders were generally considered to be confined to young white females from middle-to-upper class families living in Western societies” (Caradas 112). Both studies exploit the false stereotypes associated with eating disorders and culture. Both parties believe that non Western cultures are being influenced by the “slim is beautiful” idea. Each view points out the false misconception that non Western cultures traditional ideas of being thick is related to health is protecting them from eating disorders. Studies prove all ethnicities have shown concern towards body shape and eating attitudes in recent years around the
The intention of her essay is to make the reader think differently of being fat or thin. By adding humor with a touch of seriousness, Britt accomplishes what she set out to do. To make being ‘fat’ not so bad. However, being thin has a certain stigma in and of
In “The Globalization of Eating Disorders”, written by Susan Bordo in 2003, the author declares that eating and body disorders have increased rapidly throughout the entire globe. Susan Bordo, attended Carleton University as well as the State University of New York, is a modern feminist philosopher who is very well known for her contributions to the field of cultural studies, especially in ‘body studies’ which grants her the credibility to discuss this rising global issue (www.wikipedia.org, 2015). She was correspondingly a professor of English and Women Studies at the University of Kentucky which gives her the authority to write this article. “The Globalization of Eating Disorders” is written as a preface to her Pulitzer Price-nominated book “Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body” which was similarly written in 2003. Through the use of many logical arguments and evidence, Bordo successfully manages to convince her audience that the media, body images and culture have severely influenced the ‘so-called’ trending standard of beauty and how it leads to eating disorders across the world.
From an early age, we are exposed to the western culture of the “thin-ideal” and that looks matter (Shapiro 9). Images on modern television spend countless hours telling us to lose weight, be thin and beautiful. Often, television portrays the thin women as successful and powerful whereas the overweight characters are portrayed as “lazy” and the one with no friends (“The Media”). Furthermore, most images we see on the media are heavily edited and airbrushed
The idolization of slim figures are blinding teenagers to believe it is a necessity to practice these methods. As Blaid describes society’s perspective, “If you develop an eating disorder when you are already thin to begin with, you go to the hospital. If you develop an eating disorder when you are not thin to begin with, you are a success story,”(26-27) this is to point out how society has manipulated the point of view on health conditions to be viewed as a