Global Journal of Human Social Science, H: Interdisciplinary, Volume 23 Issue 5

representation of women’s sexual body images and the fundamental instrument of social control. Right-wing Western politicians used populist instigation of nationalistic “clash of civilizations” media networks in anti-immigration movements which attacked women’s sexuality as a means of disconnecting from the historical female otherness of colonies (Wieringa, and Sívori, 2013). Undoubtedly, the diversity of current representations of women (across traditional media as well as the internet) and the manner in which they encourage disjunctive femininities demands a more theoretical understanding to examine how the female body has become the media discourse construction of socio-cultural representations. b) Theoretical understandings of sexuality and media discourse Women’s bodies are made available for debate, dissection, and exhibition in today’s dominant Western culture (Wykes, and Gunter, 2004). Gender relations are reproduced in the media discourse of body images. This is understood by feminist critiques, who offer an understanding as media representation being kinds of neoliberal mechanisms central to women’s exploitation and oppression (Blood, 2005). Feminist perspectives agree on the fact that the images of femininity should be presented as polysemous, wide, and continuous. This is explained in relation to the proliferation of the concept of women’s bodies being consumers and seekers of identity in the media everywhere ranging from opera performances to the internet (Wykes, and Gunter, 2004). While feminist critiques point to the neoliberal marketisation of women’s bodies, Malson (1998) discusses the patriarchal image of media discourse, where men retain the societal decision-making power whereas women are elucidated as the ‘aesthetic’ sex (Bordo, 1993a, 1993b; Wolf, 1990). Heidensohn reinforces such a viewpoint by claiming that patriarchy is embedded in women's femininity of compliance (1985). This is because women are taught how to be polite, in terms of personality and behaviour. Counihan (1999) argues that the Western value of patriarchy is probably the means used by the media to achieve effective neoliberal commerce that depends upon a specific construction of femininity (1999). Put differently, gender representation and the socio-cultural construction of women’s bodies rely on the mass media to promote neoliberal policies because the media supports a climate wherein women’s bodies are a legitimate site of reconstruction and a legitimate market for reconstructive products (Counihan, 1999). Constructivism contributes to such a theoretical discussion as the ideal female body has been reduced to a patriarchal, neoliberal image of what it means to be a conventional family member and ideal consumer (Basu, et al., 2001; Mohanty, et al., 1991). Accordingly, constructivists view fashion, nutrition, fitness, and cosmetic re-modelling as construction sites to which popular culture and the majority of neoliberal consumerism have become contemporary socio-cultural femininity devices (Billig, 1991). Thus, the neoliberal analysis of women’s body representation is aided by the construction of femininity and designed through media discourse, which has supported Western power through cultural forms and the human behaviours they foster (Wykes, and Gunter, 2004). Foucauldian conceptions of sexuality and bio- politics, which refer to myriad strategies used for subjugating (female) bodies and controlling people (Lemke, 2001), is an important theoretical concept that has contributed to this debate. Foucault (1978) claims that sexuality has become a mechanism for the sovereign to govern human behaviour, resulting in a new type of female bio-political subjectivity. Biopolitics and the concept of women as docile bodies have become integral parts of the governance of colonies in the past and the present nation-states (Foucault, 1985). Thus, bio-politics is relevant to the current debate because it is being exploited as a tool to regulate and self-regulate women’s bodies (Pigg, and Adams, 2005). They denote the central site for the construction of sexuality, as well as the policing of counter-normative images that are deemed dangerous to the patriarchal order’s stability concerning what is conformally patriarchal and what is “subversive” (Bruner, 1990; Orbach, 1978). Eventually, the separation between the two is aided by intersectional conceptualisations of feminist criticisms of patriarchal and bio-power theories; an intersectional theoretical understanding transmitted through the media to define and regulate the typology of women’s bodies that shapes socio-cultural representations. III. A nalysis a) Mainstream media representation of the female body The conventional media idealisation of slim femininity subtly compels women to be slimmer, skinny, and tender (Garner, 1997). This allows certain prescription of standards socio-cultural mainstream representation of beauty leading to a perception that the “morphed” female form represents “standard” femininity and “ordinary” gender roles (Morris, et al., 1989). Butler (1990) opines that gender is done to us rather than by us, as it is inscribed on the body. The socio-cultural images of female bodies are delivered not only through mainstream pictures of skeleton bodies but also through a discursive context where feminine pictures have social value. In this context, the mainstream media has a role to play, through their omnipresence, viewership, marketing, and assertion of continued patriarchal dominance (Silverstein, et al., 1988; Silverstein, et al., 1986). It can be argued that the media’s portrayal of femininity is continually entangled in a socio-cultural © 2023 Global Journals Volume XXIII Issue V Version I Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2023 ( ) H 66 To What Extent do Female Body Representations Create an Intersectional Understanding of Media Discourse?