Margaret Atwood's "The Female Body": Feminism & Objectification
This paper reviews Margaret Atwood's short prose piece "The Female Body," originally published in the Michigan Quarterly Review in the early 1990s. The analysis explores the essay's central feminist themes, particularly the disconnect between women and their own bodies when treated as objects. The paper examines how Atwood employs multiple perspectives—familial, cultural, and sexual—to expose widespread assumptions about the female form. It also situates the essay within broader conversations about unrealistic beauty standards perpetuated by mass media and advertising, and the role these standards play in the objectification of women's bodies as commodities.
- Introduction to Atwood's Essay and Feminist Context: Atwood's essay and its feminist objectives introduced
- The Female Body as Commodity: Husband's quote frames women's bodies as sold objects
- Media, Advertising, and Unattainable Beauty Standards: Statistics reveal harmful gap between models and real women
- The Female Brain and the Body as Sexual Object: Sarcasm and metaphor expose intellectual and sexual objectification
- Conclusion: Objectification normalized; feminism actively challenges gender assumptions
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds its literary analysis in concrete supporting evidence, such as the advertising exposure statistics and the height/weight comparison between average women and models, which strengthens claims about unrealistic beauty standards.
- It faithfully traces Atwood's argumentative strategy—using multiple perspectives (family, husband, cultural observer)—showing how each converges on the same objectifying assumption about women's bodies.
- Direct quotations from Atwood's text are used purposefully, with each quote tied to a specific analytical point rather than left to stand alone.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates contextual literary analysis: it reads Atwood's rhetorical choices (sarcasm, varied perspectives, metaphor) not in isolation but against the backdrop of feminist theory and sociological data on media representation. This approach models how to bridge close reading with broader social argument.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a definition of feminism and an introduction to Atwood's essay, then identifies the essay's central objective. Subsequent paragraphs address specific themes—commodification, advertising and body image, and sexual objectification—before a brief concluding synthesis. The structure is linear and thematic, matching the sequence of ideas as they appear in Atwood's original piece.
Introduction to Atwood's Essay and Feminist Context
"The Female Body" is a short prose piece by Margaret Atwood that appeared in the Michigan Quarterly Review in the early 1990s and features many prominent feminist themes. Feminism focuses on combating the marginalization and objectification of women and on defending equality among the sexes. There are many dimensions in which it is argued that women receive inferior consideration in society—such as in employment opportunities and compensation, social arrangements, and perceptions of behavioral norms, among others. Atwood illustrates in her work the disconnect between many women and their own bodies. If the female body is treated as an object, for instance, then the individual woman may not be in control of that object.
The primary objective of the essay is to make readers realize how they view the female body and to examine their own dispositions and prejudices. To achieve this objective, Atwood draws on examples from many different perspectives so that the reader will likely relate to at least one. For example, she uses the perspective of the family, incorporating the opinions of both mother and father regarding what they want their daughter to understand about the female body.
The Female Body as Commodity
A husband in the essay makes the statement that the female body "does not merely sell, it is sold," which represents a common perspective held by men. Sociocultural standards of feminine beauty are presented in almost all forms of popular media and advertising, and the standards promoted are nearly completely unattainable for most women—and in many cases are even unhealthy (Serdar, n.d.). Yet the idealized, largely unattainable image of beauty that centers on the female figure continues to sell products, despite most people being aware of this advertising strategy.
Media, Advertising, and Unattainable Beauty Standards
There is no doubt that advertisements are pervasive. The average woman sees approximately 400 to 600 advertisements per day, and many of the effects of this exposure operate subconsciously. According to one study, the average American woman is 5'4" and weighs 140 pounds, whereas the average American model is 5'11" and weighs 117 pounds. This disparity has contributed to a situation in which 44% of women who are of average weight or underweight believe they are overweight (Women in Ads, n.d.). The relationship between body image and media representation has been widely studied, with researchers consistently finding that exposure to idealized images negatively affects women's self-perception.
Conclusion
The fact that this perception of women's bodies is normalized in society reflects many of the deeply held assumptions about gender that movements such as feminism are actively working to challenge. Atwood's essay, through its use of sarcasm, varied perspectives, and vivid metaphor, remains a pointed and relevant critique of how women's bodies are seen, sold, and reduced to objects in contemporary culture.
References
Morran, Q. (2007, November 19). Response to "The Female Body" by Margaret Atwood. Retrieved from Live Journal: http://qmcmorran.livejournal.com/4066.html
Serdar, K. (n.d.). Female body image and the mass media: Perspectives on how women internalize the ideal beauty standard. Retrieved from Westminster Journal:
Women in Ads. (n.d.). How women are portrayed. Retrieved from Women in Ads: http://womeninads.weebly.com/statistics.html
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