Ashton Chowning Summary/Response Essay English 102 January 13, 2017
The Tolls Society has on Women Humanitarian, spiritual leader, and an ambassador of peace, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar once said, “The role of women in the development of society is of utmost importance. In fact, it is the only thing that determines whether a society is strong and harmonious, or otherwise. Women are the backbone of society.”In other words, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar believes that women can build a society or women can cripple a society. In the article “Fat is a Feminist Issue,” Susie Orbach urges for people to notice what society has done to women. Orbach correctly explains how society blames women for compulsive eating, society uses women as a sex stereotype, and society causes women to be self-conscious. In the article, Orbach describes how because society demands women to engross themselves with their self-image, women become fat. She says of compulsive eating, “Women suffering from the problem of compulsive eating endure double anguish: feeling out of sleep with the rest of society, and believing that it is all their own fault” (449). She elaborates by suggesting that the problem of compulsive eating could be terminated if we move past the blame-the-victim tactic. She also claims that being fat is an endeavor to move from society’s sex stereotypes. She urges, “Getting fat can thus be understood as a definite and purposeful act; it is a direct, conscious or unconscious, challenge to sex-role stereotyping and culturally defined experiences of womanhood” (449). Orbach claims that not only does society cause compulsive eating, it also causes women to be self-conscious. She insists that “Emphasis on presentation as the central aspect of a woman’s existence makes her extremely self-conscious. It demands that she occupy herself with a self-image that others will find pleasing and attractive…” (450). She observes that with all the social roles pushed onto woman that their bodies are not their own. When Orbach describes the tolls society has on woman she also claims how being fat is a healthy lifestyle. She states that fat is a way to prove to society that women are not powerless against the pressure to look and act a certain way. In short, society tries to tell and show women how they should look to appeal to other people, but women have the ability to construct their own self-image. To begin, there are several factors that can cause women to compulsively eat; the pressure society places on women is one of those factors . Orbach states,“The fact that compulsive eating is overwhelmingly a woman’s problem suggests that is has something to do with the experiences of being a female in our society” (449). Her point is that it is not the woman's fault, but society’s that women tend to compulsively eat. Orbach’s theory of society cause compulsive eating is extremely useful because it sheds light on how women are mistreated by society. For example, while growing up I was pressured to not eat to look more attractive. This caused me to become mentally and physically unhealthy at a young age. Furthermore, another strong point that Orbach makes is about how society uses women as a sex stereotype. According to Orbach, “The media present women either in a sexual context or within the family, reflecting a woman’s two prescribed roles, first as a sex object, and then as a mother” (450). The essence of Orbach’s argument is that society believes that women are either sex toys or mothers. Those unfamiliar with sex stereotypes may be interested to know that it basically boils down to respect. For instance, my father used to say a phrase to my mother that proved that he thought lesser of her than he did himself: “women are only to speak when spoken too.” My father unconsciously was showing me that I would never mean more or be equal to a man. Lastly, Orbach brings to attention that society causes women to be self-conscious. In Orbach’s view, “Emphasis on presentation as the central aspect of a woman’s existence makes her extremely self-conscious. It demands that she occupy herself with a self-image that others will find pleasing and attractive…” (450). In making this comment, Orbach believes that when women focus mostly on their presentation, it makes them self-conscious. I agree that society causes women to be self-conscious because as a woman who has dealt with self-consciousness most of my life, I, along with many other women, can say that if I was not pressured to focus on my physical appearance, I would have been more mentally healthy. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar believes that women are the backbone of society, therefore if women are treated wrongly, then the society as a whole will be be weak. Susie Orbach’s article “Fat is a Feminist Issue” proves that society is unfair to women. Society needs to learn to understand that it cannot emphasize only women’s appearances without causing them to become compulsive eaters, be sexually stereotyped, and feel self-conscious.
Work Cited Susie Orbach. "Fat Is a Feminist Issue." They Say I Say With Readings. By Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. Ed. Russel Durst. 2E ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 448-452. Print. Shankar, Sri Sri Ravi. “Sri Sri Ravi Shankar - Humanitarian, Spiritual Leader | Official Website.” Official Website of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, srisriravishankar.org/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2017.