Body Politics, Body Image & Media

A collection of flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture on Body Politics, Body Image, and Media.

What is Body Politics?

The ways societies regulate, control, shape, and assign meaning to human bodies.

What are the key dimensions of Body Politics?

Gender norms, sexuality, race & ethnicity, disability, age, class, and health and fitness expectations.

What shapes Body Image?

Individual perceptions shaped by media representations, family and peers, cultural beauty standards, and technology & filters.

How does media act as a body-shaping institution?

Media constructs ideal bodies through advertising, TV & film, influencer culture, celebrity branding, and beauty & fitness industries.

What are the effects of media on body image?

Thinness/muscularity norms, hypersexualization, racialized ideals, and anti-aging pressures.

What is Foucault's concept of Biopower?

Power disciplines bodies and regulates populations.

What does Judith Butler's theory of Performativity suggest?

Gender is performed through repeated acts of bodies.

What does Bourdieu mean by Habitus?

Bodies reflect class through posture, taste, and style.

What is Bordo's definition of a 'slender body'?

A physique characterized by a lean, narrow, and lightly built appearance, often culturally associated with femininity.

What are examples of Body Politics?

School dress codes, reproductive rights regulation, workplace appearance norms, medical classification, fitness culture & healthism.

What are cultural beauty standards?

Standards such as the thin ideal for women, muscular ideal for men, youthfulness, clear skin, tallness, and symmetry.

How does advertising affect body expectations?

Through photoshopping, idealized proportions, gendered posing, and selling products via insecurity.

What effects do social media filters have?

Causes dysmorphia, unrealistic comparisons, 'Instagram face' trends, and amplifies certain looks through algorithms.

What is body activism?

Movements like body positivity, neutrality, fat activism, #NoFilter movements, and inclusive fashion aimed at challenging norms and reclaiming agency.

How do intersectionality and body norms relate?

Body norms are shaped by race, class, disability, and gender identity.

What is a primary conclusion about bodies and society?

Bodies are socially regulated, and media constructs body norms while social media intensifies comparison.