Each culture changes the way its people think about feminine beauty. It can be constructive, but it is usually destructive. In America, we often look to magazines and social media to what beauty looks like. It has caused many issues with young women in this country. In other cultures, there are practices put in place for women to reach a certain beauty standard. For example, foot binding, female genital cutting, and plastic surgery are just a few practices.
Foot binding is a practice that wraps young women’s feet to make them smaller or appear smaller. It, apparently, makes them more desirable in the eyes of men. Female genital cutting is a tradition typically done in the Muslim community, but it can be done in other communities as well. The thought behind this ritual is to make women perfectly pure and moral, preparing them for marriage and making them a worthy choice for marriage. Plastic surgery on the vagina is a growing trend in the United Kingdom. It seems to not have much of basis of religion behind it, yet just a trend that is increasing.
All of these practices are demeaning towards women. The articles and film we read a watched mostly used the feminism theory. Women are constantly told to better themselves and make themselves appear a certain way or act a certain way. It is a terrible trend that really needs to be stopped. I have seen young women in their pre-teens or early teens cry because they do not thing they are pretty enough or skinny enough or tan enough or perfect enough. It is a heartbreaking thing to watch. Personally, I have experienced a lot of that as well.
If any of these practices were to be abruptly outlawed, women who practice or plan on practicing these activities would have some changes. Let’s start with plastic surgery, if plastic surgery was outlawed, I don’t think there would be much of a change. Maybe the numbers would decrease, but I think it would still happen behind closed doors. Those who stopped would just have to wrap their minds around accepting the way they look and thinking that it is beautiful.
Female genital cutting would have a bit more of an impact. If women did stop when it was outlawed, the other people in their community would probably have a hard time accepting it. They have believed their entire life that it makes women pure and moral to have that done, so if they could no longer do it than they would likely be viewed as unmoral and not pure.
If foot binding was illegal, some women would struggle to find a husband. Those with naturally small feet would be fine. However, those with larger feet would probably struggle to feel worthy and to find someone to marry.
The women could probably change their mindset eventually when it comes to foot binding and female genital cutting. However, the men were raised to look for women that follow those practices. It would be more difficult for them to change their mindsets, but not impossible. Every movement has to start somewhere.
Hi Sami, I definitely agree with what you said about it being harder for men, if the traditional practices were to be outlawed. I think the best way to go about making a difference for the women who experience such treacherous treatments is to first change the culture surrounding them. Teach people to value women and to understand that the female body is not just another property to own and that each one is unique and special. I really liked how one of the lectures this week described how laws don’t necessarily change the culture of the people, sometimes it’s just limiting to how they do things. How would you go about changing a communities’ views on women to get them to value them more?
Hi Sami, for starters I do want to say that your last paragraph encompasses all my thoughts regarding these issues in terms of cultural traditions outlined by women in order to put together a deeper understanding of how the world around us functions. There are several bigger ideas that can be put together to understand what is ahead. At the end of the day however it is the idea that people are the individual factors that manipulate how others conform to society and ultimately what are societies’ standards. With this being said, another point of view from my side would be that the elimination of these traditions would eventually push for long-term cultural changes that none of us would be able to reverse. As far as insights are concerned UNICEF offered multiple sources suggesting that policies can be made but initiative starts off with the youth. If we truly want to change the culture of societies, we must start off by branching off the youth. Finally, I would like to ask: Do you think there is a way to allow these traditions to continue whilst manipulating them to be more acceptable to societies across the world?