Beauty and the Beast, wk 4/11/07

From the summary of the Beauty myth that I have read it seems to be mostly directed towards females. But I think this idea also applies to males as well. Now that we have recently dived into Fight Club I feel that this ties in with each other. The Beauty Myth to me is simply another way of saying socially constructed gender norms, but being specifically referenced towards females. Society, and with the help of media, have brought forth the “ideal” image of what a male or female body should look like. We need to be tall, lean, muscular, tan, white perfect smile, with either well endowed breast or penis. If we have these things then we have achieved perfection. Of course with the constant stress of up keep and gravity. Being yourself is just not allowed to be attractive to the masses.

With this in mind we can apply this to the struggle that the main character goes through in Fight Club and even to the sensations that the Porn Myth mentions. The main character feels inadequate. He comes off as being a lonely, materialistic, and cowardly type of person. This creates insecurities and thus create Tyler, who is the complete opposite of himself. He has the looks and the personality that is more widely accepted. Why I also bring up the Porn Myth is not because I felt the novel was porn, but that the over exposure to a stimulation will eventually weaken the satisfaction of the experience. The main character is constantly trying to reach some type of satisfaction. At first, he finds a way through therapy groups and then with fighting at fight clubs. But with the constant abuse of those two outlets they eventually become eventless or unaffecting. Both of Wolf’s writings can be applied.