The Body Project

A detailed Summary of The Body Project

In the book "The Body Project", Joan Jacobs Brumberg examines how the social changes of the last century have affected the ways in which teenage girls regard their bodies and themselves. By the use of various historical documents, including the many diaries of adolescent women, the author looks at the developing attitudes towards such issues as physical occurrences like that of menarche which we know as "menstruation" and skin conditions such as acne. Brumberg also focuses on the shift in emphasis from "good works" to "good looks", and the changing relationships between teenagers and parental importance. The author allows us as a modern day society to come and understand how these historical influences operate providing us with a structure of understanding the harmful attitudes that girls absorb in adolescence which result in an internalized sense of self doubt or insignificance which often leads into the corruption of personal advancement of female adolescence into adult life.

To understand the meaning of the title "Body Project", one must come to know and recognize the social concerns that females have undergone

in American history. Since the beginning of the colonization of America, females, although considered secondary to males, have had to ensure that they know and understand what it means to be an individual looked upon as being graceful and in lieu of remaining beautiful. The author made clear that the title was chosen to show how girls came to define themselves progressively through their bodies, thus becoming the primary project of the female society.

Being compared to females of our current era, nineteenth century female rarely mentioned their bodies in terms of strategies for self-improvement or struggles for personal identity. Becoming a better person meant paying less attention to the self, giving more assistance to others, and putting more effort into schoolwork. In contrast, females of the current century are concerned with the shape and appearance of their bodies as a primary expression of their individuality. Brumberg suggests that this is due to the fact that puberty begins earlier today, which means that girls must cope with menstruation and other aspects of physical maturation at a younger age, when they

Some common words found in the essay are:
Body Project, Jacobs Brumberg, Carol Gilligan, body project, nineteenth century, , females current, external controls, today's society, bodily appearance,

Approximate Word count = 757
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: People

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The Body Project

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