Abominations of the Body

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Abominations of the Body
www.lung.ca
Candice Shaw and Tara Price
www.3dscience.com
www.freeearth.com.au
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Basic Definitions

• Stigma any characteristic that sets people apart
  and discredits or disqualifies them full social
  acceptance and participation (Goffman)
• Goffmans 3 Types of Stigma
• 1) Abominations of the Body
• 2) Blemishes of Individual Character
• 3) Tribal Stigma

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• Stigmatization process by which an individual
  becomes recognized, not as a total individual,
  but specifically as a person with a particular
  socially undesirable characteristic
• Social Typing
• How People Become Stigmatized
• Description- application of a label
• Evaluation- creation of a judgment
• Prescription- form of social control
• Formal Social Control- Eg. Laws, Policies, etc.
• Informal Social Control- Eg. Judgment, Ridicule,
  Gossip, etc.

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Forms of Abominations

• Obesity
• Physical Disability
• Scars
• The elderly
• Abnormal Characteristics
• Moles
• Disproportional Body features (E.g. large nose)
• and the list goes on

www.burnsurvivorsttw.org
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Physical Disabilities

• Types of Physical Disabilities
• Blindness
• Deafness
• Mentally Disabled
• Physical Handicaps
• -Paraplegics

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www.dorsetforyou.com
www.dorsetforyou.com
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Physical Disabilities Continued

• A physical disability becomes a master status
• Their deviant status differs from those of other
  deviance because they are given this status even
  though they have not committed a deviant act
• disabilities demonstrate whether a society
  defines deviances as either a condition or a
  behaviour
• Society reacts as it does because those with
  physical disabilities violate norms of appearance
  or health as well as expectations of the sick
  role

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Sick Role

• Four Conditions of the Sick Role
• No attribution of responsibility for their own
  conditions
• Exemptions from normal role obligations
• Recognitions of the undesirable character of
  illness despite the benefits of these role
  exemptions
• Obligation to seek help to heal the sickness
• - The benevolence felt towards those who are ill
  does not apply to the disabled because disabled
  can never leave the sick role

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Socialization

• -Norms that govern society value achievement,
  independence and activity which create
  unfavorable social attitudes towards people with
  disabilities
• -because societal norm pervade every aspect of
  life, those with disabilities often have a
  difficult time accepting their own violation of
  these norms
• -Those with disabilities often go through a
  series of stages when confronted their situation
• - denial and isolation
• - anger
• - bargaining
• - depression
• - acceptance

www.gcworkforce.org
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Managing Disability

• - Those with disabilities are faced with a choice
  to either accept their position, deny it or seek
  indirect benefits
• -There are several techniques that those with
  disabilities can employ to hide their disability
  from social view
• - passing involves disguising the disability
  so others will not notice it hence avoiding the
  deviant label

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• - normalizing
• - coping avoiding acknowledgment of their
  disability or talking about the deeper aspects of
  their condition
• - dissociation a retreat from social
  confrontation and a passive acceptance of the
  deviant role

www.enfield.gov.uk
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Social Reactions

• social reactions depend on person, disability,
  and the social situation
• Many avoid associating with people who have
  disabilities
• They are often excluded, ridiculed, and deemed to
  be useless members of society
• Conversations generally center around the nature
  of the disability and what the person cant do
  rather than what they can do
• Reactions towards the disabled person often
  combine pity and fear

www.myacpa.org
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Legislation

• The 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education
  Act intended to stop discrimination against
  children with disabilities
• Before its passage, many children has been
  excluded from public schools
• While some disabilities are
• gaining consideration, many
• remain ignored

www.fbi.gov
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The Americans with Disabilities Act

• The ADA was passed in 1990 and intended to
  protect the rights of those with disabilities
• It included those with a mental or physical
  impairment that limits 1 or more major life
  activities, any person with a record of such
  impairment and any person perceived as having a
  physical or mental impairment
• Major life activities include seeing, hearing,
  the ability to care for oneself, learning and
  working
• The ADA is seen as responsible for bringing more
  awareness and knowledge about those with
  disabilities helping to increase acceptance

usinfo.state.gov
www.basingstoke.gov.uk
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Obesity
www.msnbc.msn.com

• Although obesity is often categorized as a
  physical disability, several factors make it
  different
• - Unlike those with other physical deformities,
  those who are obese are held responsible for
  their condition- they are seen to have an
  abomination of the body and a blemish of
  individual character
• - Like other physical ailments, obesity occupies
  a persons master status

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• People can be over weight to
• varying degrees, but many regard a
• visibly fat person as obese, and this
• label likely implies discrimination
• against the person
• Contemporary theories of obesity sometimes
  ascribe the condition to psychosomatic causes,
  over eating to reduce anxiety, however current
  evidence does not fully support this theory
• Overweight people suffer from depression not
  because of their body size but because of their
  struggle to fit societal norms

healthinmotion.wordpress.com
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Discussion
(smart-kit.com)

• Do you feel that those who are considered over
  weight should be held responsible for their
  condition?
• Why or why not

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Why Do We Stigmatize?
Stigmatization Website

• There are 4 theories that attempt to account for
  our tendency to stigmatize those different from
  ourselves
• (1) Self-Enhancement Theory
• Categorizing segments of society as the other
  enables people to feel better about themselves

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• (2) Social Identity Function
• - By categorizing people into groups it enables
  the creation of a social identity
• - In order to maintain a social identity of high
  prestige, you must exclude the so-called
  undesirables
• (3) System Justification
• - The belief that society is fair and those left
  un-stigmatized believe in their privilege
• (4)Terror Management
• - Awareness of our own mortality crates anxiety
  that causes us to reject any person who does not
  represent a cultural view that provides order to
  the world

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Second Affliction

• In addition to physical limitations, those who
  are stigmatized also experience social
  consequences
• This double disease reduces a disabled persons
  chances to resume conventional roles and means of
  interactions

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A Change in Ideals

• Historically an abundant body was a symbol of
  wealth and prestige
• With industrialization, access to basic nutrition
  was no longer limited to the upper class losing
  its significance in class stratification
• Ideologies then shifted to a thin ideal arguing
  that those with no self control to resist
  indulgence were lesser beings

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The Male Body

• Commonly in the past, images of the male ideal
  body type portrayed the male body as excessively
  muscular
• Eg muscle dysmorphia
• However at present, the male body is being
  portrayed as increasingly slimmer
• Whether the male ideal is muscular or slim, both
  stand in opposition to our societys perception
  of obesity
• Click to See Video

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The Female Body

• Exacting weight standardsfall more severely on
  the shoulders of women than on mens
• During ancient times, goddess worship was common-
  womens bodies were worshiped for their
  childbearing capabilities, thus a shapely body
  was a sign of good health and fertility
• Eventually monotheistic religions replaced
  goddess worship and, as a result, womens bodies
  were no longer an object of praise but instead an
  object of control
• The ideal womens body in North America has
  become increasingly slimmer and less social value
  is placed on their childbearing abilities and
  more on their ability to sexually arouse (sexual
  objectification)

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Social Control Through Stigmatizationdoomed if
you are and doomed if youre not

• Not only does our society stigmatize
  individuals for being over weight,
  increasingly we have come to
  stigmatize those who are considered too thin due
  to the growing concern of eating disorders
• Thus, those who are too thin are often
  perceived to have an eating disorder leading to
  stigmatizing them for being mentally ill
• Females in the media are constantly scrutinized
  for their body size- one minute their 10 pounds
  too heavy, the next their 10 pounds too light
• This obsession creates a no win situation for any
  female trying to obtain the perfect body

britmusicscene.com
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The Fat-thin Dichotomy

• Our society is obsessed with weight, whether it
  is because someone is too heavy or someone is too
  light
• This obsession present an ever changing ideal
  that is rarely attainable
• Much of this obsession
• revolves around female
• body shape and size

www.jupiterimages.com
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Dual Stigmatization

• Dual stigmatization of too fat vs. too thin
  resembles similar oppressive dichotomies like
  that of the virgin-whore dichotomy which serves
  to keep women in constant limbo between two
  undesirable labels
• Many argue that females pursue for
  the unattainable ideal body standard serves
  to draw their attention away from the
  pursuit of educational or emotional
  growth

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Theory

• Feminism
• Liberal Feminism
• criticizes unequal and exploitive employment and
  representation of women in media and pop culture
• Radical Feminism
• regards patriarchy or control and repression of
  women by men as most crucial historical form of
  social division and oppression
•  Socialist Feminism
• accepts radical feminists stress on patriarchy
  but tries to incorporate it into an analysis of
  capitalism

(Livelywomen.com)
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More Theory!!

• Male Gaze
• male view point due to male control over industry
  in media
• Eg Male narration, dominant male authority in
  images, etc
• Michel Foucault- Panopticon
• Male panopticon- women are always self regulating
  to fit male ideal
• Marxism
• ideology- hidden messages to keep working class
  in their position
• eg religion (opium of the people), media (new
  opium)
• Postmodernism
• Hyper reality- cant distinguish airbrushed from
  real normal women

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and finally, More Theory!!

• Labeling Theory
• Secondary deviance- once labeled abnormal,
  deviants internalize label
• Eg fat people feel they deserve their male
  treatment
•  
• Social Structure and Anomie (Merton)
• Retreatists- those that cant fit societal norms
  retreated from society
• eg Burtha retreated which lead to her demise
•  
• Symbolic Interactionism
• We judge ourselves based on others reactions
• Eg When people point, stare, laugh (Berthas),
  our identities are affected
• Looking Glass Self, Me, I, Generalized Other

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Discussion

• Which theory, if any, do you feel applies best to
  male and female body representations that we are
  exposed to today?

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