Where did the (female) muscle go?

Arany, Rebeka (2018) Where did the (female) muscle go? BA/Bsc, Szegedi Tudományegyetem.

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Abstract

This paper explores the issue of the social limitation placed on women regarding their muscularity and physical strength. First, through presenting the norms of conventional femininity, I explore the pressure that is put on women by society with a special focus on the norms of appearance based on the research of MacKinnon (1987) and Young (2005a, 2005b). Next, the process of labelling is discussed and how it is used as society’s strategy to discipline women who go against the traditional feminine norms. To illustrate the particular devaluation processes applied on muscular women, Schur’s (1984) theory is used. Later, I am going to demonstrate how mass media distributes the conventional standards of femininity. Mass media’ role in shaping the idea of the ‘ideally feminine’ female athlete is explored through analysing Duncan’s (1990) study of media images of sportwomen. I explore how the image of the professional female athlete has become the ‘tone and thin’ ideal for everyday women. In agreement with Dworkin (2001, 2003), I claim that women subdue themselves to the norms of this new, more muscular ideal by applying what Dworkin calls a “glass ceiling” onto their exercising habits. In order to explore the ideal image of muscular femininity, a content analysis of fifteen images − retrieved from, three popular Instagram accounts − is presented to illustrate how social media carries on to praises the ‘thin and tone’ ideal and reiterates further the selfdisciplining practice of the “glass ceiling”.

Institution

Szegedi Tudományegyetem

Faculty

Faculty of Arts

Department

Angol Tanszék

Discipline

Humanities

Institute

Angol-Amerikai Intézet

Specialization

anglisztika

Supervisor(s)

Item Type:	Thesis (BA/Bsc)
Subjects:	06. Humanities
Depositing User:	szerkesztő BTK
Date Deposited:	2019. Apr. 26. 08:50
Last Modified:	2019. Apr. 26. 13:39
URI:	https://diploma.bibl.u-szeged.hu/id/eprint/74117

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