Controlling the Body: Media Representations, Body Size and Self-Discipline
Dina Giovanelli and Stephen Ostertag
To be published in The Fat Studies Reader
Esther Rothblum and Sondra Solovay (eds.)
NYU Press (Forthcoming)
We’ve all been in social settings where we’ve felt compelled to look and act certain ways. We might pause to ask why we feel this need to present ourselves in specific ways. The concept of panopticism provides one answer to this question. Panopticism refers to surveillance and social control where people control their behavior because they feel as if others are constantly observing and judging them. With panopticism power saturates the self and invades every minutia of existence. Initially, the term “panopticon” referred to either crime or sexuality (Foucault, 1977, 1978), more recently though, it has evolved to encompass the mass media (Bartky, 1988; Ewen, 1988). We argue that “panopticism” has become so pervasive in contemporary societies that the mass media now engage in the surveillance and control of women’s bodies.
We treat television as panopticon and examine fat female depictions. We focus specifically on women because the media panopticon is infused with patriarchal beliefs, and so women learn to see and judge themselves through men’s eyes and according to men’s criteria (Mulvey, 1975; Walter, 1995). We ask these questions because we’re concerned with television’s panoptic power and its implications for women’s self-control. With this paper we offer a small contribution to this complex relationship.
Media Representations and the Cosmetic Panopticon
Self-discipline and control through time and space reflect subjectivities thoroughly infused with patriarchy, where women’s bodies confer a status in a hierarchy not of their own making; a hierarchy that requires constant body surveillance and maintenance, often taking form in self-disciplining practices. Such control requires docile bodies (Foucault, 1977) and cannot be maintained without the internalization of patriarchy, saturating the soul through unremitting surveillance. The media contribute to women’s self-control and self-discipline by serving as a panopticon (Bartky, 1988; Ewen, 1988), specifically a cosmetic panopticon (Gauchet, 2006). As a cosmetic panopticon, the media induce a state of permanent surveillance and judgment around concerns of physical appearance and standards of “beauty.” Women’s clothing, hair, body size, and movements are all shrouded in meaningful discourses and interpretive suggestions. Viewers are simultaneously reminded that violating expectations of physical appearance, perhaps by being fat and female, will be recognized and subject to gossip and discrimination. As such, the media tap daily into millions of women’s sense of self and warn them of the horrors suffered by those who stray from established definitions of femininity.
Disciplining the Body
The construction of “appropriately” female transgresses the physical body and incorporates other markers such as personality and movement. Accordingly, a woman must be smaller than a man, demure, and take up little space (Bartky, 1988). Fat women are, then the antithesis of what it means to be appropriately feminine. Bartky (1988, p. 71) explains that women discipline themselves and their bodies to create what she terms “the ideal feminine body-subject,” where control is directed at the body in the areas of time (through constant surveillance), and space (through women monitoring the space that their physical bodies occupy), and is practiced through diet, exercise, posture and movement (Bartky, 1988). Women are constantly reminded of “appropriate” looks and style, which are then expressed in self-evaluations, behavior, and self-control directed at diminishing size and restricting movement.
While women may, and indeed do, work to resist social expectations, the cosmetic panopticon pressures all women to participate in creating the “ideal feminine body-subject.” Women who refuse run the risk of being rejected by others and may develop a sense of shame and insecurity resulting in various formal and informal repercussions that pressure women to change their behavior. This is especially true for fat women who frequently develop a sense of self-loathing as a direct reaction to the social expectations and pressures that they internalize (Goode, 1996). The ultimate result is that the demands on the body become so ingrained in the socialization process that women become, to themselves, their own jailer (Bordo, 2003, p. 63).
Creating the Docile Body: Symbolic Annihilation
The media’s contribution to our understanding of the social world through representations happens in two distinct ways, the first is concerned with quantity and the second with quality. The quantitative focus pertains to frequency and asks how often social groups are represented in the media; the qualitative focus asks when social groups are represented in the media how are they portrayed. Therefore, the media serves to expose or conceal various social groups serving an “out of sight, out of mind” function and equating to their numerical symbolic annihilation (Gerbner & Gross, 1976; Gross, 2001; Tuchman, 1978). The media also help inform our “public radar” by suggesting how viewers should interpret and understand media representations by providing the discourses within which they (e.g., portrayals, stereotypes and stigmas) are represented. In both situations the media serve as cosmetic panopticon by suggesting the value of women’s body size in the U.S., and how viewers are to feel and act according to body size. Women do indeed resist and reject these discourses, yet their ubiquitous and incessant nature creates an unyielding tide against which women must constantly swim.
Method
To investigate the symbolic annihilation of fat women we conducted a content analysis of primetime programming (between 8:00pm and 10:00pm, Monday thru Saturday, and 7:00pm to 10:00pm on Sunday) on the major television networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox), during one week in March and October 2005. We concern ourselves only with news programming, dramas, and sitcoms, but not sporting events, and with programs that have consistent fat female characters, which we defined based on our own subjective interpretations. Programs that had fat females as “guest characters” like ABC’s Wife Swap were not included in our study. In our March 2005 pilot study, we assigned a sequential number for each ½ hour time slot of primetime programming (hour-long programs were assigned two numbers, one for each ½ hour time slot) during our sample week (N=30). We then used the internet site www.randomizer.org to sample 20 percent of primetime television programming. Our sample yielded one program with a reoccurring fat female character, Katrina on Fox’s Stacked. In October 2005 we subsequently sampled 100 percent of primetime programming for our sample week, which yielded a second fat female television character, Berta, on CBS’s Two and a Half Men. By October 2005, Fox’s Stacked had been removed from primetime. We then downloaded five episodes of Stacked and recorded five episodes of Two and a Half Men for further, in-depth analysis. Five episodes equates to approximately one month of programming which we reasoned will provide enough data to generalize about the programs. We ground our discussion of fat female characters and media representations based on a careful examination of these two programs.
Findings
Of the two programs in our sample with fat female characters (Conchata Ferrell’s character Berta on CBS’s program Two and a Half Men, and Marissa Jaret Winokur’s character Katrina from Fox’s Stacked) we found that their representations often revolved around sexuality and emphasized appearance (e.g., clothing) and behavior (e.g., dating and relationship interaction, and dialogue with other characters).
Two and a Half Men is a primetime television sitcom that airs on CBS. According to the program’s website the characters include Charlie (Charlie Sheen), Charlie’s brother Alan (Jon Cryer), Alan’s son Jake (Angus T. Jones), Charlie and Alan’s mother (Evelyn Harper), Alan’s ex-wife (Judith Harper), Charlie and Alan’s neighbor Rose, Charlie’s ex-girlfriend later turned Alan’s girlfriend, and now Alan’s wife Kandi, and finally their fat female housekeeper Berta (Conchata Ferrell).
Episodes of Two and a Half Men often began with Charlie courting a young thin and sexually attractive female, and with Alan, representing the moral conscious of the family, making comments about Charlie’s behavior and the women he encounters. They both use Jake as a means for making various adult jokes, often revolving around sex in some form. Each episode is set up to imply that Charlie is having sex with a female guest character who is always a thin woman and often wears revealing, sexually suggestive clothing.
Berta is a tough, no frills woman with a “trucker’s” mouth exemplified in statements like “what the hell happened to you” (episode: Hi Mr. Horned One), and “I hope you like the smell of pine scented puke” (episode: Something Salted and Twisted). As a housekeeper, Berta often wears a grey or brown vest with a long-sleeve shirt, blue jeans, and work boots; she does not wear make-up, and has flat, straight, brown hair, all of which serve to illustrate her blue-collar persona. Berta’s voice is powerful, deep, and loud rather than soft and sensual, and her movements are direct and lumbering rather than elegant and graceful. While in Berta’s presence, Charlie and Alan often speak openly about their sexual desires, penises and hormones. Berta’s involvement in these discussions often includes supporting Charlie’s sexual adventures and serves to reinforce Charlie’s sexual appetite and desires. In fact, even female guest characters participate in this sexual activity and dialogue. Berta, however, never speaks of her own sexuality and romantic interests, and she says nothing to imply that she is sexually active or even interested. Overall, Berta’s character lacks sexual desire and appetite in a program seeped with sexual intimations and discourses.
Fox’s Stacked is a sitcom involving five characters who either work at or frequent a local bookstore. Pamela Anderson’s (a well-know sexual icon) character Skylar joins Marissa Jaret Winokur’s character, Katrina as the two main female characters on the series, and Katrina is the other fat female character in our sample. Skylar and Katrina work along side two brothers, Stewart (Brian Scolaro) and Gavin (Elon Gold) who own the bookstore where most episodes take place. Finally, Harold, played by Christopher Lloyd, is a retired rocket scientist, and the store’s sole steady customer.
The physical differences between Skylar and Katrina are dramatic and easily observable. Katrina is the antithesis of Skylar. In comparison, Skylar is tall and thin, with long legs and large breasts, while Katrina is dumpy, short and dowdy. Additionally, Skylar’s hair is long, wavy, full-bodied and platinum blond, whereas Katrina’s hair is shorter, dark, and frizzy. Skylar wears revealing short skirts, high-heeled shoes, and low-cut tops; in fact, nearly everything she wears hugs her body and accentuates her sexuality. Katrina’s style of dress, however, is more modest and conservative. Additionally, Skylar speaks with a soft effeminate voice, while Katrina’s diction is loud and raspy. Most worthy of noting is that Skylar’s nipples are often evident under her clothing, and when her low-cut tops are coupled with pushup bras, Skylar’s cleavage becomes an important focal point of her character. Skylar’s sex appeal is constantly promoted and reinforced through sexual innuendo and interaction with other characters. Katrina’s sexuality, however, is often denigrated through those very same avenues.
Appearance aside, both women differ with respect to their romantic encounters and leisure activities. Skylar constantly references the dates she’s been on and the often wealthy, attractive, and successful men with whom she socializes. Katrina, on the other hand, is rarely portrayed as having any romantic interests, and when she does, it is done in a degrading and embarrassing way. For example, in the episode Crazy Ray Katrina shows romantic interest in an unstable, homeless, and mentally ill person named “Crazy Ray” and with whom she exchanges phone numbers. Eventually Katrina realizes that Crazy Ray is not going to call her and she expresses sadness and dejection. Katrina’s desire for a relationship with Crazy Ray portrays her as romantically and sexually desperate enough to want attention from someone whom the other characters have vocally judged as flawed. Furthermore, Crazy Ray’s refusal to call Katrina exemplifies him as the person who’s rejecting her, demonstrating Katrina as the less valuable person in the interaction.
Additionally, other characters often make jokes about Skylar’s sexual escapades, which include references to Skylar’s high level of sexual expertise and her experiences as a “home wrecker.” Furthermore, in the episode titled The Two Faces of Eve, Skylar is shown pulling hair during a fight with her female friend Eve, the men on the show asserted that they found this behavior to be sexy and arousing. When Katrina engaged in the same behavior with Stewart during the same episode the male characters framed the event as a turn-off and unappealing. These comments reinforce Skylar’s position as a sexual being, while the absence of such comments and the presence of degrading comments directed towards Katrina reinforce her character as sexually and romantically undesirable and stigmatized.
The existence of only two fat female characters (Berta and Katrina) as well as their performances and personas suggest that fat female television characters are both numerically symbolically annihilated in that the major networks cast only two fat female characters for their primetime television programming, and qualitatively symbolically annihilated in that their character’s performances and persona are devoid of any sexual and romantic desirability and interest. In two programs saturated with sexual references and innuendos, Berta’s character evades any suggestions that she is even interested in sex, let alone that she is sexually stimulating, and Katrina’s lack of sexual and romantic desirability serves to reinforce and validate Skylar’s dominant sexuality. Both women are denied their sexuality, and at times are romantically humiliated in front of millions of viewers each week. We must now ask what these findings imply about the ways in which people perceive fat women, and how fat women perceive themselves?
The Fat Female and the Cosmetic Panopticon
Media representations are a major source of information about society, the world, and its inhabitants (Hall, 1979). As an institution which shapes and reflects values, norms, expectations, perceptions, and emotions, television functions as a panopticon and serves as disciplining agent. It is upon these images that viewers actively develop “subjectivities” and understandings of each other (Hall, 1979). It is also upon these images that viewers ground their behavior and self-control.