Women: Producers, Consumers and Cultural Regulation

In the Circuit of Culture reading on Moodle, I noticed a distinct connection between the cultural circuit and our class discussion about women in American Culture. This seemed to be a very good way to describe cultural theories because women describe about half of the culture as a whole, and a very "manipulable" piece of it. I will take the route beginning with Presentation to Consumption, to Identity, to Production, and to Regulation.

The Circuit begins with Presentation/Representation - or what the thing means and how it is perceived by the thing (in this case, women). Immediately I thought about the SELF magazine ads with half naked beach babes on the cover. This is representing "successful", "powerful", "sexy" women. What woman doesn't want all of those characteristics?! I'd buy a magazine if those are the traits I'd get from reading it. Which brings me to the "Consumption" aspect of the Circuit - where you buy/use the thing and make it a part of you. When the cover has a middle-aged woman with a glistening six-pack, I am going to repeat the ab routine they give you on page 25 a million times to try and look like that. In effect, the SELF magazine is literally becoming a part of my life.

When it becomes a part of my life, my identity is changed to “the girl who is obsessed with herSELF magazine.” Don’t forget that girl also has flat abs and huge boobs too, the magazine didn’t give her the liposuction around her hips, but thats only because it doesn’t have a license to perform surgery - if the magazine could offer surgery I’m sure it would PRODUCE some sort of medical practice to keep on absorbing more and more and more women across the culture.

Women and their self images are very sensitive topics, and it can lead them to do unbelievable things, when in reality bodies so thin, tanned, free of cellulite, that wear huge lavish jewelry to the beach do NOT exist - only in the culture created by SELF magazine. Where REGULATION, lastly comes in to “save the day” with rules such as setting minimum weights for models, or not allowing anything more than soft core porn on the cover of magazines. Its a constant game of tug-of-war between a society producing an image of the way they want culture to be, innocent humans trying to decide what is right, and the government, parents, peers, or bosses making the “right decisions” for all of the people who need someone else to make up their minds for them - therefore creating a culture.