Jill Dahrooge

            Females are categorized as being strong and powerful but in their own petite way.   This stereotype has created the unhealthy emphasis on how women need to be fit and skinny or else they are ostracized by society.  Courtney Martin shows this problem by recording that 90% of high school girls think that they are overweight.  Over half of these girls said that they would rather be hit by a truck than be fat while 2/3 of these girls said they would rather be stupid or mean ("Introduction" 221).  The media has created this disturbing image of the "perfect" body size that has mentally destroyed females.  The need for a thin body has become the ultimate goal for most women today even during pregnancy.  While the articles "Past the Dedication is Disease: Athletic Obsession" and "Getting Your Body Back" show how destructive the media can be to women, they also portray the extreme confusion that women face due to the contrasting advice to be extremely fit yet not masculine.

            The article "Past the Dedication is Disease: Athletic Obsession", Martin describes the body image struggles that female athletes endure.  The female athletes' body is constantly scrutinized in the media because it is not feminine to have big, bulky bodies; which is why many female athletes struggle with eating disorders.  Inside girls locker rooms they are combing their hair, making perfect braids and ponytails, complaining of pimples and makeup, and grossing out over their dirty equipment (225).  These images are most likely not seen in a male locker room.  Since sports themselves are seen as a more masculine activity, women try hard to make society not question their gender even though they are strong competitive athletes.  There is also a drive to become better than the male athletes.  The dedication female athletes have (staying later after practice, dieting, running extra miles before class and more) can become a disease.  The need for females to show their feminine empowerment and to have the perfect, skinny, athletic body that the media shows as essential can corrupt the mental state of women.  Female athletes contain the pressures from coaches, families, society, and friends which can be harmful on their bodies.

            You would think, as Shari Dworkin and Faye Linda Wachs put it in "Getting Your Body Back", that pregnancy "offers a unique opportunity for women to find freedom from norms of physical containment"  but it is the complete opposite (108).  The importance of remaining physically fit during pregnancy is said to be the number one goal of pregnant women.  In earlier years doctors prescribed rest and restrictions on physical activity, today physically activity is encouraged to prepare yourself for the physical demands of labor.  Exercise during pregnancy is said to ease the pain and to help women return to their fit body after their pregnancy.  There is also a sense of empowerment, similar to the other articles, that women receive when exercising during pregnancy.  They feel more confident and beautiful and feel as if they are "winning" their deliveries (199).  Women have the personalities that thrive off of success.  Dworkin and Wachs also write that exercising while pregnant gives women control of their gender.  Women are not seen as just "a baby machine" by men but they are doing something for themselves (122).  Instead of listening to men telling them to sit down, women are doing the opposite.  However, this power is a feministic power.  In other words, these females may be gaining control of themselves and going against men, but they are still doing it in a feminine way.  Their exercises are paired with household chores and with their baby; not masculine activities.  Fashion advice for exercising outfits are still given to pregnant women.  While exercising and empowerment is shown as important, it is still not acceptable for women to be the stereotype of masculine. 

            What surprised me is the fact that being pregnant is now seen as ugly.  This takes away from the sole purpose of what a pregnancy actually is and what is occurring in a women's body.  It should be seen as a miracle, not a burden.  Similar to athletics, sports should be played for the shear enjoyment of participating in the game.  The media has created too much emphasis on the outward appearance of females which has taken away the main purposes for these activities.  Females have to worry about being too masculine or not feminine enough, they can never just be themselves.