“Beauty (Re)Discovers the Male Body” by Susan Bordo, Essay Example

According to the amount of visual information we obtain, it is hard to object to Susan Bordo that “we live in an empire ruled by … images” (Bordo 168). Researching the issues of male body consumption through advertising and pressure of accepted standards of beauty Bordo appeals to the concept of the “subject position” to sustain her key points.

Referring to Sartre, Bordo identifies the “subject position” as the other person’s seeing us form other perspective, as humans are social beings presumably surrounded by others.  Therefore, this perspective prevents personal freedom to behave and be what we want. We experience the most shameful moments “getting caught in moments of fantasy or vanity” (Bordo 134). This argument sounds convincing and contradictory at the same time. When speaking of ads, it does not concern the way viewers look at the model. It does not impact the way the model looks from the poster; a naked body may attract the viewers despite the gaze. In comparison to the gaze, the sales rates are more influential.

To illustrate how the “subject position” works Susan Bordo uses the example of being caught by her mother when pretending a radio personality wearing the Chock Full O’Nuts can on her head. She mentions one more case from her personal experience. A compliment from a man in a shop makes her feel better and younger, despite she felt tired before that.

It stands to reason, distinctions between people produce various perspectives for gazer’s perception; often they base on stereotypes existing in society, like race, sex, age, model parameters. According to Bordo, these differences often lead to prejudiced attitudes. Primarily it concerns racial or socioeconomic background. There is no need to object, that people often treat the African Americans or Latin Americans as “dirty workers”. People with low socioeconomic status are supposed potential criminals.  Bordo writes, “A Latin American student arrives early in the first day of college; an administrator, seeing him in the still-deserted hall, asks him if he is a new janitor” (Bordo 134).

Susan Bordo investigates how the aspects of look of the other influence the ads products purchased well. She claims that the stereotype of the straight manly-man implies that man is not used to be gazed at. On the other, hand women are accustomed to being watched at; firstly it is acceptable; then, women like to be gazed. The concept “men act and woman appear” introduced by Berger in the late seventies illustrates the argument. Bordo represents a Nautica ad showing a man working on his boat; he pays non attention to his look. The neighboring image is an ad of a pretty woman in a little dress. She is walking by three men watching her (Bordo 154). In the chapter “Rocks and Leaners”, she compares two concepts of male body and gaze subsequently representation. The “rocks” compete with a viewer who will turn away the first. The second, “leaners”, on the contrary, possess a seductive gaze.

Surely, everyone has experienced some effects of the “subject position”. I was extremely embarrassed when someone came into my room and saw me sing or make faces in front of the mirror. Still, I do not behave myself differently every time I notice other people watching me.

Works Cited

Bordo, Susan. “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body”. 31 -177.