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- Title
THE POLITICS OF WOMEN'S BODY IMAGES AND PRACTICES: FOUCALT, THE PANOPTICON AND SHAPE MAGAZINE.
- Authors
Duncan, Margaret Carlisle
- Abstract
The article discusses how the metaphor of the panopticon, a particular prison structure that renders prisoners self-monitoring, offers a useful way of understanding the mechanisms that inculcate an unrealistic body ideal in women. The panopticon is a prison structure that places a guard tower at its center and positions prisoners in a circle around that center. From the tower, the guard can observe each prisoner in his or her cell, but the prisoners cannot see the guard. The effect of this arrangement is "to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power." Thus, the guard need not even be present in the tower; the mere possibility of surveillance renders the prisoners docile. Panoptic mechanisms which are focused include first, the efficacy of initiative, and second, feeling good means looking good. The author has described how the panoptic gaze is encouraged in women via these mechanisms by analyzing the texts of a recurring feature, "Success Stories," in the magazine "Shape."
- Subjects
PANOPTICON (Correctional institutions); INSTITUTIONALIZED persons; PRISON design &; construction; WOMEN in literature; CORRECTIONAL personnel; SHAPE (Periodical); PERIODICALS
- Publication
Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 1994, Vol 18, Issue 1, p48
- ISSN
0193-7235
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1177/019372394018001004