Analysis Of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman

Throughout history, women have been represented in a way that emphasizes their beauty and not what their minds offer. Over these years, women have been pressured by society to conform to what is beautiful and to not speak of topics that may ruin their beauty. It was Mary Wollstonecraft, author of an novel length essay called, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, who argued that women have been taught from their infancy “beauty is woman's scepter” and that “the mind shapes itself to the body, and, roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.” This statement suggests that a woman grows up believing that her body is all she has, especially when it comes to attracting the greater male. Throughout the course Women and Representation,
students have been taught to look deeply into how women are perceived in forms of media such as television, radio, paintings, newscasts and much more forms of media. With the examination of this throughout the course, the material has shown that the argument by Mary Wollstonecraft is in fact, correct. The way women believe that they have to act to impress males is through their beauty, and how they sexualize themselves through their bodies. When analyzing articles, paintings and different types of media in today’s society, it is made obvious that individuals; some of which are women themselves, portray women in a way that emphasize their bodies and not what their brains can bring to the table. Therefore, the overall purpose of this essay is in agreeance with Wollstonecraft’s argument that a woman is born into believing that her body is all she has, and that her mind shapes her body, however her mind is influenced into attracting men and will ultimately be focused on obtaining the ideal body image. During which, the essay will examine content that shows that this argument is still how women look at themselves, how women are represented, and how other people represent women in this way. The idea of sex has become, not only a form of differentiation between males and females, but a term that is used to identify which females are attractive and which have the appeal that is used to attract attention.
The ideal body image for women has changed throughout the years, however it has remained a necessity through these years, to obtain this image in order to get the attention of men. Due to these social demands, women are bullied to perform these unrealistic ‘ideal’ gender stereotypes to stay camouflaged into society an obtain their body image. This involves putting their image before their brains, and sexualizing themselves to attract male attention. In Judith Butler’s ideology of Performative theory, women are carrying out these ideas of the perfect woman and ignoring the fact that they have intelligence, to impress male attention. They believe that in order to look the part, they have to act the part and in doing so they dumb themselves down so that they look attractive to men. In relation to Mary Wollstonecraft’s argument regarding women and how their minds shape their bodies, if women are only focusing on their body shape for the reason that they believe that this is all that they offer, their minds will eventually agree with this statement and will not process anything other than stereotypical thoughts that men think women are only capable of one thing, which is looking nice to impress them. This is not the way it should be however, women should be able to
express themselves using the knowledge they acquire through school and other activities, aside from looking nice and maintaining the ideal body image. Thus, overall stating that in fact in today’s society Wollstonecraft’s idea that women are born into this world thinking that they only have their bodies is still relevant. Along with the performative theory, comes women in today’s society and how they actually display themselves. Today media has grown immeasurably with the inventions of coloured TV, computers, cellphones and the vast amount of social media that goes with that technology, such as, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and Facebook. In particular Youtube has grown within the last decade in terms of the types of videos that are posted, specifically music videos. In these videos, women are shown as extremely sexualized with women wearing little clothes and dancing provocatively, which overall influences the thought that women must be sexy in order to sell out. In relation to Wollstonecraft’s argument that women roam around a a gilt cage suggests that women have the luxury to act sexualized in music videos, however, later on this freedom will be taken from them as they repeatedly get judged for their sexual actions. Women are adapting to this type of behaviour, for the reason that it is what is known to females, and that they believe that this is the only way to attract viewers. To this degree, it demonstrates that Wollstonecraft’s argument is still relevant in today’s media for the reason that women still believe that exposing their bodies is the only way they would get views and sell their music. Relative to music videos, the way woman are portrayed in other forms of entertainment, is extremely sexualised as well. The term hypersexuality refers to an overemphasis on attractiveness and sexuality due to the fact that their clothing is alluring, as well as the body proportions in cartoons are unrealistic. Women in cartoons; take The Jetson’s for example, are extremely stereotypical in a sense that when they are teenagers, they have big busts, big hips and tiny waists, with their topics of conversations are mainly focused on boys, drama and fashion; never about other important issues of the world. If you are a grown woman in cartoons, you have the same figure, however, you are shown mainly in the kitchen and doing various activities that relate to a modern house wife, which include: cooking, cleaning and meeting the demands of your husbands and children. In this specific example, the scepter is the husbands. Women in these cartoons must maintain a nice home, and bring up respectful children, and with all of this, maintain a presentable appearance. This relates to Wollstonecraft’s argument for the reason that even in cartoons women are expected to maintain a body image, which overall, influences individuals in the real world to want to meet these anticipations. Although the Jetson’s is a very old cartoon television show, these stereotypes are very similar to today’s cartoons such as the newer Disney Princess’ are shown to have these figures as well as the stereotypical roles of a woman. Not only is it important to analyze the way women are portrayed in forms of social media, and cartoons, it is also important to analyze the way that they are depicted in forms of advertisement.
Advertisement is extremely controversial in the technique that they use to display their female models. This is a prime example of women growing up to believe that their bodies are their first priority and their minds are second. As mentioned in the documentary Killing Us Softly the individuals who are in charge of the layouts and photography of these female models look for one thing and one thing only, beauty. However, in their eyes, beauty does not come in all shapes in sizes. It comes in a blonde haired, blue eyed, size 2 package. This body image is extremely unrealistic, and to have this on display for everyone to see, especially young females, is very controversial. It shows that this is the ideal body image that scepters, in this case scepters being males, want. Furthermore, the advertisements we see today in every day ads are prime examples of Wollstonecraft’s argument that “beauty is a woman’s scepter” and that it is still in fact valid today in out contemporary culture. It symbolizes that women must be of a certain type to be considered beautiful enough to attract men, and when they do they will be able to live the luxurious life they think they can live accompanied by a man. However, they are too blinded to realize that they are actually not that free at all, and they have
to continuously live in the shadow of that man. The way women are advertised today, shows a lot about how women believe they should act in order to find a husband, when in reality is not the only way. Mary Wollstonecraft started this argument of beauty being a woman’s scepter, however, it has been shown many feminists believe that same thing today, which overall concludes that Wollstonecraft’s argument is still valid in our society. Naomi Wolf has come up with the ideal of The Beauty Myth which states that in advertising the women who are the models are considered beautiful, but, unrealistic for everyone to look like that. It puts an impractical standard on women to look the way the models look on an everyday basis. She also states that this is, in fact, not to please men’s desires, however in this case it is to please women’s desires. Therefore, in this specific case, the scepter that Wollstonecraft examines, is in fact a woman. The Beauty Myth is setting unrealistic goals for other women who think that this body shape is what men really desire and so they attempt to live in this luxurious lifestyle, when in fact they are actually limited themselves of being truly happy and content with their lives. Today’s society has not changed that much when it comes to feminism. Arguments that have been going on for decades, are still very relevant to today’s concept of feminism. In particular, the argument that Mary Wollstonecraft made many years ago, that this essay has been focused on, is still extremely relevant in today’s culture. Although forms of media has grown, which gives new topics for feminists to talk about, the same argument is going to stay in place. The argument being that a woman’s mind shapes her beauty, and her believing that her beauty is a priority over her mind, which is important for the overall scepter, and in majority of cases the scepter is in fact a male. Many feminists, beyond Wollstonecraft have analyzed this in different ways. Thus, making it an extremely relevant topic when discussing how women are viewed in today’s culture. It is important to understand that women believe that all they have going for them is their image, however, this is not the case. Wollstonecraft’s argument is legitimate, but, it should not have to be for the reason that women are more than just a body for men to look at.