IUF 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Prosthesis, The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf

• School: University of Florida
• Department: Geological Sciences
• Course: IUF 1000
• Professor: Stephanie Capaldo

Document Summary

Pop-cultural/media representations of beauty perpetuate a myth that a quality and definition of beauty objectively and universally exists. Women want to embody it, and men want to possess women who embody it (heteronormative, gendered view) Men need strength, demonstrate physical power and influence, in order to battle for a beautiful woman. Historians & sociologists argue that the beauty myth is not about women at all, but about men"s institutions and power. The qualities that a given period calls beautiful in women are merely symbols of the female behavior that that period considers desirable. The beauty myth is always actually prescribing behavior and not appearance. ~ naomi wolf. Traditionally defined as lack, excess, or flaw located in bodies. Impairment: bodily state of condition that is impaired. Disability: socially constructed concept that gives meaning and consequences to those impairments. Shifts disability from an attributed problem in the body to a problem of social justice.