23rd
Week 14
This week we read, “Jane Fonda, Barbara Bush, and Other Aging Bodies,” by Myra Dinnerstein and Rose Weitz. We are introduced to two women and how they have aged. Jane Fonda has surgically enhanced her face and breasts. Barbara Bush who exhibits a “resolutely natural” look. In the article Dinnerstein and Weitz mention how the women’s magazines talk about Fonda and how well and specifically, how young she looks. “Along with each book and tape comes convincing evidence that it’s possible…to remain beautiful and sexy in midlife,” (192) In other words the message that is being sent is that it’s possible to look like her but what makes me wonder is at what cost? even if women are not getting plastic surgery they are revolving or spending a great amount of time trying to look “Younger.” For example, dieting and exercising. Fonda states, “Exercise does a tremendous amount for emotional and mental stability…that is what satisfies me most,” (193) this according to Dinnerstein and Weitz is the reason why Fonda is now characterized as a feminist. Fonda is seen as someone who has empowered herself through her body. It opposes that view of “fragile womanhood.” (193) However, they also mention that only recently has she allowed herself to skip exercise. It makes one wonder how although she is taking the “natural” way it is an obsession. This just gets me thinking about how society has build an image of how a woman should look like and it does not necessarily matter how a woman chooses to approach that image (surgery or taking the natural way- ”self-abnegation,” it is still an image ingrainedin us. If we did not have a particular image then we would not have to strive or stress ourselves to become something else. If we did not have a “good body” image then we would be comfortable with our own bodies. Aging is a natural progression, we should not fight it. I do not think that it is right for some to “age-well,” what exactly does that mean? how does aging well look like? we have again created an image that people want to pursue, we again have created a category that will leave people out.
