Susan Bordo's "Unbearable Weight" and Reality TV Shows

     Susan Bordo argues that women internalize the cultural ideal of the female body and constantly seek physical perfection. She believes that the social expectation of women to be in perfectly slender bodies are impossible to live up to that the only way of achieving it is by gaining full control over ones feeling of hunger, and hence the body.  In particular, anorexia is one of the dire consequences of society’s rigorous imposition of physical perfection to women. According to Bordo, what pushes one to starve themselves to the point of near death is the overwhelming feeling of triumph and independence over bodies. Hence Bordo’s “Unbearable Weight” reminds us how fragile and vulnerable our bodies are to societal ideals.

      Despite Bordo’s criticisms, the societal obsession with body shapes seem to persist in the contemporary society. For example, there are numerous reality TV shows that are based on cosmetic surgeries. These shows depict how the participant’s lives change from sheer misery to utter happiness after cosmetic surgery. However, the fact that they use surgeries or artificial transformations to achieve the beauty and physical shape the society desires implies how unrealistic and unattainable the ideals are. Yet, the media portrays the act of correcting one’s look to meet the cultural norms as an obligation for all women. Here, women are the victims who are forced to maintain perfect looks and thinness that is far from reality. In these regards, Bordo’s assertion that female body is “a confinement from which the soul or mind struggles to escape” seems doubtlessly true.