Global Politics of the Body, Essay Example

Bodies! They are everywhere. They are the source and reflection of the postmodern reality. They are the basic instruments of interpreting the social and cultural changes in the global society. They serve the principal criterion of judgment in the most important spheres of the human life. Obviously, human bodies work as the objects which individuals trade for the opportunities and achievements they believe would not be available without an ideal appearance. While thousands of organizations fight to reduce discrimination and gender dualism, bodies continue to dominate public consciousness and leave no room for uniqueness and personal naturalness.

Penny Van Esterik is correct in that bodies are a fundamental element of numerous arguments, theories, and stories about sexual identities, female health, violence, and gender discrimination (109). According to Van Esterik, people use bodies to convey symbolic messages, which help to understand and interpret the meaning of body and its parts (111). Van Esterik writes that bodies facilitate understanding and visualizing the processes that are difficult to grasp discursively (110). Bodies are equally material and symbolic, and only interdisciplinary perspectives can reflect bodies’ materiality and symbolism to the fullest (Van Esterik 112). The analysis of the body is integrally linked to binary thinking, because gender dualism often defines how bodies are being interpreted and understood (Van Esterik 113). It is at least incorrect to limit biocultural understandings of the body to biological determinism, as long as bodies are equally material, social, political, and cultural objects. Finally, individual bodies are bounded and can transform repression into a form of productive power (Van Esterik 114). Bodies must follow a set of norms and standards and meet a multitude of cultural and social expectations. Bodies can be the object of repression and the instrument of unification through art (Van Esterik 127). Van Esterik is confident that it is due to feminist organizations and the growing gender awareness that societies can combat the emerging commodification trends, which turn bodies into the victims of commercialization and power (127).

Really, we live in the atmosphere of gender dualism and the lack of physiological intimacy, about which Van Esterik writes in her paper. The postmodern reality is built on the premises of external beauty and commitment to bodies. Simply stated, not the inner world but bodies and externalities determine individual chances to become successful in life. It is interesting to note that bodies reveal an ongoing conflict of beliefs and duties in the postmodern society. On the one hand, thousands of men and women apply to plastic surgeries and spend their salaries to comply with the norms and standards of appearance established by their societies. On the other hand, these men and women vote against discrimination and compliance with the cultural norms and expectations they consider outdated. For example, Van Esterik discusses how feminist organizations fight to raise global gender awareness and combat the trends and beliefs that turn bodies into the objects of trade. The reality, however, is difficult to change: we trade our bodies for the success and opportunities we believe we could not have without an ideal body. In employment and entertainment, at school and in community life, bodies and appearances significantly contribute to individual successes and achievements. Not only should individuals pursue a set of the pre-established gender and appearance norms, but monitor how these norms are changing and be able to adjust their bodies to the new societal expectations. Even the postmodern tendency toward the relativity of norms and standards does not reduce the pressure of the society’s requirements regarding the human body. Therefore, before judging other societies for their discriminative attitudes toward bodies, advanced communities must take a closer look at how they treat bodies and what symbolic significance they assign to physiology and appearance. In the meantime, bodies will continue to dominate public consciousness, leaving no place for uniqueness, naturalness, and self-expression.

Works Cited

Van Esterik, P. “Global Politics of the Body.” Pp.109-27.