Comodification of female

Section A: Short Answers
1. Patriarchy
The term ''patriarchy'' is an idea that is function by ideology. It started six thousand years ago, when ''fatherhood'' took place, meaning that the ruling of a family by the father or an adult male. In Greek, it means ''rule of a father'', stating that female live under father's power because male are more muscular and powerful so they could determine what women should do or shouldn’t do through force, pressure, education or tradition to maintain their power. And women don’t have rights to make any decisions, they have to obey the values and demands appointed by male or the father. Nowadays, ''patriarchy'' means the power held by male in different aspects of the society and in social systems. In short, under ''patriarchy'', women are being oppressed by men and have a lower social status by the influence of sex role stereotyping.
For instance, in rural areas in Hong Kong, only male villagers can be entitled to build a small house and in their traditions, only they can join the ceremony of ''tai gong fen zhu rou''. We can clearly see that the male villagers exercise ''patriarchy'' through traditions and etiquette.
Another example, in Hong Kong history, the governor, the government and most of the government officials that make important decisions are male so far. We can see that male uses ''patriarchy'' in politics to strengthen and to maintain their power and force in the society.
(236 words)

3. “Anatomy is destiny”
The term ‘’anatomy is destiny’’ is from Sigmund Freud, that is about a person’s gender will determine his or her personality traits. Anatomy is about the biological and the physical character that, used to distinguish male and female by their chromosomes. The most apperant thing that differ male from female is their genitals, sexual organs. For male, they have a sexual organ that is penis, that is more visible and larger comparing to female’s sexual organ that is nearly cant be seen. So, with those contrasts, he defined that male are more superior then female does. And the phallocentrism sees male as the normal ones in the society while seeing female as aliens or weird human. And also, the ‘’anatomy’’ opposes the thought that culture and ‘‘gender’’ will be the primary function that portraits and build up a person’s personality and their roles which gender is the norms that we learn through social interactions, different kinds of forces in the society we live in, as Sigmund Freud insists that humans are affected by their hormones and, the biological differences between men and women will determine the ability and the capability of men and women to do tasks or works in the future. So, ‘’anatomy is destiny’’ states that there are a large difference between the physiological and biological of men and women, and this will affect their abilites in their future and a person’s personality is build up because of ‘’sex’’ but not ‘’gender’’. (244 words)
Section B: Essay
1. “The cultural economy of any society is based upon the commodification of the female.”
Discuss this statement with reference to relevant theories

The cultural economy of any society is based upon the commodification of female, that is, seeing women as an object in order to sale products or to engage in some commercial activities in the society which is mainly dominated by capitalism. And from lots of examples in our daily life, such as some commercial advertisements in some magazines and in TVprograms, pornography, selling of beauty productsor even some cultural activities related to female like the selection of female beauty competitions or Jamaica dancehall culture, we may see that female are often in the spotlight that is getting a great deal of public attention in the economic sector. On the other hand, with some traditional ideologies and thoughts towards both genders, some working class such as the globalization of domestic workers may be also an outcome of the commodification of female in cultural economy. These phenomenons are mainly guided by patriarchy, femininity, capitalism and consumerism in the society nowadays.
Firstly, the main reason of the commodification of female is in regard to patriarchy, an ideology or thoughts that were developed long time ago. It has a positive correlation with this phenomenon. The term patriarchy means the power of the fathers: an ideological system in which men determine what part women shall or shall not play, and in which the female is everywhere subsumed under the male. (Adrienne Rich, 1976) Or simply means ‘’the rule of the father’’. Historically, patriarchy has manifested itself in the social, legal and economic organization of a range of different cultures. (Malti-Douglas, Fedwa, 2007) And female are often under the ruling of male as they were stereotyped as only to serve men and to engage in reproduction in the role of the society. So, we may clearly see that female are only the accessories or to fulfill the desire of sex in the eyes of male. As according to Simone de Beauvoir, ‘’In truth woman has not men socially emancipated through man’s need, sexual desire and the desire for offspring, which makes the male dependent for satisfaction upon the female.’’’’And she is simply what man decrees; thus she is called ‘’the sex’, by which is meant that she appears essentially to the male as a sexual being.’’ (Simone de Beauvoir, 1949, P.16)It concluded that, for male, female is only a sex object with no other functions. Also, from the book, The formative Years, it states that there is a sexual hierarchy of the importance of man over woman. Nowadays, also with the influence of capitalism and consumerism, woman are seen as the representation of the sexual desire by looking at product placements for their identity, as the commodification of the female may arouse consumers desire to buy those products. The female body has been reframed as the locus of freedom as well as sexual desire. (Danielle K. Nelson, 2013) That explains why some women are always taking part in the production of pornography, which they are downgraded and commodified as who are always the submissive to men for men’s sexual desire on them. So we, from our daily observation, may clearly see that men are always the main consumer of pornography and some female were commodified in pornography to meet men’s lust.

Apart from that, with the presence of consumerism and the commodification of female, commodity fetishism is present. In keeping with Marx’s theory of value, commodity fetishism is the perception of the social relationships involved in production. As such, come from transforms the subjective aspects of economic value into objective, real things that people believe have intrinsic value. (Issak Illich Rubin ,1924) (female that fulfills the sexual desire of man) Which is a part of consumerism, stated that it is asocial and economic ideology that encourages the purchasing of produces and services in a larger and a rising amount. Bringing a relation to Marx’s sublimated sexuality, as interpret commodity fetishism as types of sexually-charged economic relationships between a person and a commodity, as in case of advertising, which is a commercial enterprise that ascribes human qualities to a commodity (values), to persuade the buyer to purchase the goods or services.(Gyorgy Lukacs ,1971, P.5) For example, FHM Men’s Magazine, often have some front cover or pictures that contains some female models or actresses dressing up as ‘’hot and sexy’’ to promote their magazines and to attract male’s attention towards it. The main purpose of the ‘’sexy model’’ on the front cover is to fulfil the sexual desire of male. Many other magazines also attract consumer’s attention (mainly male) by portraying women in advertising as sitting on a bed, lying on the floor to arouse male reader’s sexual desire. The commodification of female with the influence of capitalism and consumerism is mainly in regard to patriarchy that female are dominated by male and they are to satisfy the sexual desire of male.
Other than that, female are always treated as the sex objects and low-cost products under the commodification of them. Commodity culture tenders women’s bodies as objects of desire and objects to be desired, limiting a woman’s full humanity and laying claim to her body as a form of property.And women are also sexually objectified by the empowerment of the male. Stated by Goldman et al, that sexist advertisements that profess to exude autonomy, and empowerment while also capitalizing on femininity and the ‘’visual dissections of the female body. (Danielle K. Nelson,2013) In short, female are often been objectified in commodity culture to reduce the subjectivity of them that they are an object of the male gaze. And that’s all about the concept, objectification. Objectification is the idea of one object exchanges another object and they must be in equivalent value. According to the philosopher Martha Nussbaum, ‘’a person is objectified if they are treated as a tool for another’s purposes.’’ (Nussbaum, Martha.C, 1985) Historically, women are one such group, women are often treated as fungible and this is linked with the fact that women are often the subordinates.(Sarah Louise Johnson,2013)We may conclude that in many years ago or even in the society nowadays, female only have a low economic status as they can be compared or exchanged with some products and objects. While subordination is a gendered concept about some people are of a lower status in the society for some partial reasons. And women are more likely to be in the lower social class under male. For instance, every year, a program called ‘’Miss Hong Kong’’ was held by TVB that some females or women will be chosen to compete with each other to get the brand prize. During the competition, besides showing off their talents and that is a minor part of the competition, the competitors have to dress up themselves in a quite exposed way in order to show their attractiveness to the judges, most of them are male, and to show off their stature to them. The focus is all on the female competitor’s physical attributes. This is similar to the subordinating of the female competitor’s identity into their sexuality, packaging them into commercial objects to gain audience and money. It is also about the rising influence of the capitalist attitudes in the society. And that’s the consequences of the patriarchal and capitalist attitude to the female body and the relationship between female and commerce, to gain profit. Another example that is similar to ‘’Miss Hong Kong’’, every year, there is also a beauty competition, Miss World. The contestants come from different countries around the world. And their beauty are mostly showed and judged according to the characteristics set from the euro Caucasian idea of Beauty that is mainly about their physical attributes such as the leg to body ratio, height and breasts, which only focusing on their sexuality to make profits for the holder of the competition.
Speaking of female beauty competitions or the commodification of the female beauty, it also has a bonding with the female beauty industry and that’s related to the idea of femininity and feminism. Capitalism and commercial beauty companies often define the standards of female beauty with the help of feminism. Commercial advertisements always undercut women’s self-esteem in order to persuade them into purchasing some produces such as lipstick or many other make-up products to raise their sense of worth and self-confidence, treating female beauty as an objective and inherent quality in the effect of capitalism. But nonetheless we can’t look at this in isolation, ignoring how it echoes larger patriarchal and capitalist attitudes about the female body and its relationship to commerce. (Natalie Reed, 2012) The commodification of female in female make up goods and the beauty industry has made use of female feminism to gain profit and to attract female customers.
More to the point, the commodification of female is also related to feminism, that creates the false believe that’s a woman’s control over her sexualized and objectified body for improvement of her feminist progress. The Feminine Mystique noted that ‘’the emancipated woman wants to be active and refusing the passivity man requires, trapping him in his desire for her. The modern woman tries to declare herself equal to masculine value.’’ (Betty Freidan, 1963) For feminine, the book The Feminine Mystique defines it as domesticity, and being a housewife mother is a model for all women. Because under the influence of patriarchy, domestic works is typically assigned for women. And for now, domestic work is very important to sustain the capitalism and consumerist societies. Women’s work as domestic workers is not in itself considered problematic. A particular notion of femininity, which centers on morality, motherhood and sexuality, is at stake here. In patriarchal power dynamics, domestic work is typically assigned to woman of the household.(Eliane L, 2012)Domestic works is linked to its gendered nature and it’scrucial to sustain consumerist and capitalist society. In some places and societies, when a woman is rich, then she can envoy her domestic or housework to another woman, that is domestic workers from other poorer countries or places such as Indonesia or Philippine. Those poorer women are often commodified with contracts with them so that they can work in other countries within the globalized society. Their femininity are also commodified, to help their employer tidy up things or to taking care of children. So, to sum up, we may see that femininity is also one of the reasons that helps to build up the cultural economy by performing the commodification of female.
The change in nature dancehall culture in Jamaica may also clearly illustrate the idea of commodification of female in the cultural economy. Before the changing dancehall into a competition and into a commercial activity, it is a cultural activity that people, mainly women, dancing in the fast music to which are known as the forms of expressing themselves.But after the commodification of this activity by some commercial promoters, the people who design the worldwide dancehall competition turn the female participations and their contributions to this culture before into a commodity and a commercial act that to attract tourism to Jamaica every year. So, the female contestants are now changed of being used for the competition holder’s financial gain and also for Jamaica’s tourism and economic development, in other words, they are the ‘’products’’ to sell to other people.A few female contestants may gain or win resources as they win the competition. But at the same time, they are also losing their power and their influence to the society as they were commodified and objectified for economy purpose.
Although Marx’s feminism is about how female are treated as commidities in the capitalist system, some male are also commodified as well under its influence. Like for some commercial advertisementsthat ismainly related to males such as shaver, cloths and fashion, physical fitnessequipment or even some perfume, there will be some male celebrities, male models or even some male superstars like famous football player Ronaldo taking part in the advertisements selling those products. They are also being commodified and objectified because of their masculinity, their physical attractiveness, their dominant values and the images of ‘’role models’’ stereotyped by the patriarchal in the male defined culture. So, we can see that not only female are commodified in the capitalist system, are male also in the influence of this system but they take a smaller role comparing to female. It is doubtless true that for a long time, women were in large part taken for granted by many men and by society at large.(Leon H. Wolf, 2014)
All in all, the commodification of female can be mainly explained by the patriarchy, stating that female are dominated by male. They are often seen as an object to fulfill male’s sexual desire, objectified by the empowerment of the male. With the presence of capitalism and consumerism, female are always being commodified as they have physical attractiveness, their body structure and also because of their feminism and womanhood they have. And in the commercial world, women are often subordinated and used as an object to help to sell product. Also, femininity are being defined as domesticity that is from the traditional ideology of patriarchy, that women should stay at home doing their housework, taking care of their children and to take part on reproduction. But due to the effect of globalization and also consumerism, domestic works are given to women from poor countries that facilitate the commodification of the female in a global perspective. Many commercial advertisements used female to promote beauty products because of their femininity and to raise their sense of worth due to the influence of patriarchy. Although men also do take part in the commodification and the objectification in the commercial world, women occupy and contribute more to the cultural economy. So the cultural economy of any society is based upon the commodification of the female. (2311 words)

Reference

Book
Reference: Simone De Beauvoir (1949), The Second Sex , Translated and edited by H.M.Parshley, Penguin Books.
In-Text: (Simone de Beauvoir, 1949)

Reference: Betty Freidan (1963), The Feminine Mystique
In-Text: (Betty Freidan, 1963)

Reference: Isaak Illich Rubin(1924), Essays on Marx’s Theory of Value , Black Rose Books, Originally published, 1988
In-Text: (Issak Illich Rubin,1924)

Reference: Gyorgy Lukacs (1971), History and class consciouses
In-Text: (Gyorgy Lukacs, 1971)

Reference: Adrienne Rich (1976), Of Woman Born, Motherhood as Experience and Institution ,Published by Marianela Tovar, 2014
In-Text: (Adrienne Rich, 1976)

Reference: Nussbaum, Martha.C (1985), Objectification philosophy and public affairs (4)
In-Text: (Nussbaum, Martha.C, 1985)
Internet Document
Reference: The commodification of sexuality: A critical analysis of queer eye, The Florida State University
Reference: Paul Kershaw Ph.D, The just commodification of women, equal care obligations for men, and autonomous households: gendering the comparative analysis of welfare state in 20 OECD countries, The University of British Columbia

Encyclopedia Article
Reference: Malti-Douglas, Fedwa (2007), Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender
In-Text: (Malti-Douglas, Fedwa, 2007)

Electronic Article
Reference: Natalie Reed (2012), Transition as transaction: ‘’passing’’ and the commodification of womanhood
In-Text: (Natalie Reed, 2012)

Reference: ELIANE L (2012), Globalization and the Commodification of Female Domestic Work
In-Text: (Eliane L, 2012)

Reference: Leon H. Wolf (2014), The Commodification of Men
In-Text: (Leon H. Wolf, 2014)

Reference: Danielle K. Nelson, Professor Lamm(2013), The re-packing of sexual commodification in advertising
In-Text: (Danielle K. Nelson, 2013)

Reference: Sarah Louise Johnson, Ph.D(2013),University of Birmingham, Exploitation, Objectification and commodification
In-Text: (Sarah Louise Johnson, 2013)