The Policing of Women's Bodies

"Here's the thing about history - it repeats itself over and over and over. The witch hunts, and the demonization of contraception and abortion and the women who provided these services from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, are happening all over again." (Gay, 268) Roxane Gay is correct. Body policing and control of women's reproductive systems by society and media have been happening since the beginning of time. Why does this continue to happen? I believe it is because society has always had a system in place where the man was greater than the woman and believes the female in said society does not have any decision making power. Controlling a woman's choice is not only keeping them in their place, but demoralizing them as well.


Because women are treated like this, they are looked at as secondary to men in our society and are treated as such. Women are often told they are not good enough or are not expected to have the same talents as men, and these thoughts are reinforced by the policing of their bodies. The idea that society makes villains out of women who want to have their own choice is appalling. "Rather than solve the real problems the United States is facing, some politicians, mostly conservative, have decided to try to solve the "female problem" by creating a smoke screen, reintroducing abortion and, more inexplicably, birth control into a national debate." (Gay, 268) This "smoke screen" shifts the focus of the public away from real issues while simultaneously pushing politicians old world agendas. It also makes women feel like they do not have control over their own bodies, successfully maintaining the male dominated society's hold on them.

Media contributes to policing women's bodies by crafting a perfect ideal of what a woman should look like. This sticks with the theme of making women feel bad about themselves and keeping them under control. "Advertising creates a mythical, WASP-oriented world in which no one is ever ugly, overweight, poor, struggling or disabled either physically or mentally (unless you count the housewives who talk to little men in toilet bowls.)" (Kilbourne, 122) This perfect world created by the ever present media gives women unrealistic ideals for what they should look like. The more women seem to make strides, the more the media creates this vision of what they should be.

Why do the media and society continue to police women's bodies? The answer is simple: control. Women need to be second to the male, someone who is there to be looked at and provide for their man. They cannot be in positions of power because it would make the prototypical male in positions of power feel weak, so a picture is painted of women being dainty and incapable of doing anything substantial. Issues like abortion are portrayed as completely wrong and against all unwritten ethical rules of society when it is really a woman's decision. Media negatively contributes to the policing of women's bodies by continuing to perpetuate women as sexual objects and creating an unreachable image for women around the world. This has a negative impact on their self esteem and body image, helping to feed the massive part of the economy driven by these issues.

Mostly, media portrays women in a negative light, making them feel inferior and causing anxiety about their appearance. As you can see above, a campaign was launched for the real perfect body, which was in response to a Victoria's Secret ad about the perfect body. This ad shows natural women, without airbrushing or touch ups. This is what the media needs more of. Most women look like this, not what you see in the movies. I think that media needs to take this approach and women in positions of power need to be more vocal about these issues to make any kind of change. If both of these things can continue to happen, the policing of women's bodies may eventually come to an end. 

Works Cited:

Gay, Roxane. Bad Feminist: Essays. New York: Harper Perennial, 2014. Print.