Page 179 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

Bodies and Things 163

nationally televised event, it provoked a scandal in the United States. But in
parts of Africa, women live with exposed breasts and do not use clothing
such as brassieres to cover and to support them. No scandals ensue because
the cultural meaning of an exposed breast is different in Africa. In some
parts of Africa, upright, hemispherical breasts are considered attractive,
while other social groups favor long pendulous breasts. But the exposure of
the body part lacks moral signifi cance. However, the spread of media glo-
bally, with much of it coming from the developed countries of the West and
travelling East and South through the countries of Africa, has meant that
the West ’ s cultural codes regarding sexuality have also spread. In the Western
media, women ’ s breasts are highly eroticized and considered an important
feature of female sexual attractiveness. As a result, women in Africa have
had to change their assumptions about their own bodies. In the past, the
removal of a breast as a consequence of breast cancer would not have occa-
sioned concern regarding sexual attractiveness. But as one African woman
put it, once it was discovered by African women that “ the breast was a sexual
organ, ” mastectomies became more vexed as medical procedures because
they were seen as negatively affecting sexual attractiveness.

Girls are especially prone to influence regarding body shape and weight.
Gina is a 24 - year - old woman from Colombia who came to America when
she was 18. She talks about how her physical sense of herself changed when
she emigrated. In Colombia, she was considered too skinny, so none of the
boys paid any attention to her. Men there, she says, prefer women with big
bottoms and large breasts. So for them, Gina, who is slender and has what
is called a “ boy ’ s body ” shaped like an hourglass – narrow at the waist and
long legged – was not seen as attractive. When she came to America, her
sense of her physical self changed. Suddenly, she was in a culture where
her build was considered very attractive. She became sexually active as a
result and ceased being the shy young woman she had been up to that
point. Now, when she goes back to Colombia, things are different. Her face

has changed to reflect her new sense of confidence and her greater sexual

experience. She carries herself differently and walks somewhat jauntily.
Gina ’ s bodily experience is not unique. Women in Western - infl uenced
cultures live immersed in images and stories that express cultural expecta-
tions regarding women ’ s bodies. Cultural ideals of “ beauty ” get identifi ed
with certain shapes and sizes, often to the psychological and emotional
detriment of those whose bodies do not conform to the standard. And

increasingly men are subject to similar influences concerning everything
from bodily hair to weight. But the role of culture in our physical and