Point 1

Feminist artists subvert the sexualization and objectification of the women through distorting the female body and representing it in a nonconventional way. “The thin body ideal refers to the European concept of a slender female with a small physique and little body fat. ‘Thin-body ideal occurs as a result of social pressure to attain a lean gure, placed on individuals by the media, family, peers, and interpersonal encounters’ (Stice & Shaw, 1994, p. 289). The media displays this through messages in popular magazines, lms, and television. For example, ‘in magazines, weight loss messages are often placed next to messages about one’s sex life, implying that weight loss will lead to a better sex life,’ while “‘on television shows, women are judged as romantic or sexual partners based on their appearance’” (McKay, 2). Ana Mendieta’s Untitled (Glass on Body Imprints) works to subvert beauty standards for the female body through distorting it and representing it in a way that is purposefully grotesque. The piece includes six different photographs of a woman pressing various parts of her body against a slab of glass, which distorts them and makes them appear aggressively different from the societal beauty standard of the female body. For example, her breasts are pressed in a way to make them appear saggy, and small as opposed to round and full, her bottom is pressed against the glass to appear flattened, and her stomach and pubic hair are highlighted in a way that is unusual for a depiction of the female body. In this way, the image is subverting the idea that women should be objectified, and instead argues that the female body should be seen for what it is in reality: something that comes in many different shapes and sizes, something that grows hair, and something that sags.