The Infamous Facebook Creeping

As I look back on photos that people I went to high school with, I can see culture in the pictures. For obvious reasons, I can't post the picture of them to the blog, but I can describe it. They were all in their little slutty short skirts and tight tank tops. The theme of this party was apparently angels and devils. In every picture they were posing in some sort of sexual way in order to most likely come off as seductive: hips popped, hands on the hips, one knee bent, etc. The body practice they were portraying made me think of one thing: wow college has really changed them. They were not those type of girls before, but being in the college culture, you have to dress in tight clothes in order to get attention at parties. Bordo says, "The practices of femininity may lead us to utter demoralization, debilitation, and death" (166). I don't think they would have been satisfied with the way they look in these pictures a few years ago, but now as they grow up and culture gets more and more revealing, that's how they need to act. Culture dictates the way we live. This would be the docile body working within them. They changed in order to fit in. They gave up their high school life in order to be a college student. The funny thing is that I can see the intelligible body working completely in these photos. They aren't the models you see in advertisements. The ideal doesn't actually exist, no matter how hard you try to not eat or work your butts off to stay skinny. But the clothes they wore worked with them to show off their best assets. Or they may have worked the clothes so they fit in just the right spots because in some of the pictures it is quite obvious something was altered. The practical body would not want to actually be in those clothes because they do not look comfortable at all. But once again, the docile body kicks in so they can be the culture.

Susan Bordo puts it perfectly when she talks about "pursuit without a terminus." Women always need to be changing in order to keep up with the times. Like with the photos of these former high school acquaintances, they constantly are changing and updating themselves to fit in with the flow of culture. Yesterday while I was at the Mall of America, I experienced this with just my own personal self. I wanted new clothes just so I could be "in." I wanted the latest fashions, the latest shoes, the latest tight jeans, the latest shirts that show nearly my whole back. This wasn't who I was a few years ago, but this is what is in now so that's what I want. It's a real shame that we are surrounded by all these models and clothes that aren't us, but we make them be us in order to look good. And then that all relates to why do we need to look good? I always ponder that as I'm going to class. Girls dress up so much just to sit in a 50 minute lecture in the uncomfortable chairs and tiny desks. What really is the need for that? That is one thing that culture will never change me. I like my sweatpants and sweatshirts. It really does make me shocked at how easily girls conform. It also slightly scares me. How much worse can the world get from here? I'm scared for the younger generations and what clothes (or lack of clothes) they will be putting on.