Between observing and being observed: A study on senior high girls'''''''' body image

• Main Authors: Yu-Wen Liu, 劉育雯
• Other Authors: Hui-Ling Pan
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/58258420403630848831

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 教育研究所 === 92 === In modern society, where slender, symmetric and attractive appearances are highly valued, reports and messages crammed with diet and weight loss are seen everywhere, resulting in an ideology which leads to females’ dissatisfaction of their own bodies. Among the theses conducted domestically, the conclusions are too often founded upon analyses of considerable data collected from questionnaires, in which gender is merely a variable. In this way, the conclusions only tell stories of what differences gender may cause instead of why there are gender-related differences in the first place and what implications may be inferred. Gender is a social construction; in other words, every individual’s concept of gender will be influenced by his or her society all through his or her life. However, the most obvious influence may take place in adolescence, a period when most people are attending junior or senior high school. Educators have been paying close attention to adolescents’ behaviors at school for a long time, but they pay comparatively less attention to the reactions that appearances may evoke from adolescents. Understanding adolescent girls’ view of their bodies and its influence may enable educators not only to help them take more positive attitudes toward their appearances but also to find their misled body image in order to avoid negative behavior. In view of this situation, a qualitative approach was adopted in this study. Ten girls in Great Bridge High School were invited as subjects in this study, and the main methods to collect field data were interview and observation. The main purpose of interview was to comprehend their body images, their body experiences in a school full of male gaze, and the factors which might hold sway when they assessed their own bodies outside school. Besides, the purpose of observation was to have better understanding of the atmosphere in school and interactions between male and female students. In addition to understanding how adolescent female students thought of their own appearances, this study also attempted to analyze adolescent girls’ ideas of body under the context of social culture with regard to body politics. In a word, “body” and “gender” were the two motifs in this study. To sum up, the conclusions were as follows: 1.Female students were deeply trapped in the “Thinness is beauty” quagmire and endless weight-losing anxiety. 2.The image of chaste young girls were the ideal body image of female students 3.Female students examined female bodies in terms of the strict standards of male gaze. 4.Female students had to gain peer recognition in self-deprecating ways. 5.Female students encountered ubiquitous verbal sexual harassment at school. 6.In a cultural context of diploma-obsession, senior high female students didn’t pay as much attention to appearances as their counterparts in America. 7.Torn between accommodation and resistance: female students swang from retaining selves to succumbing to social pressure. 8.Female adults’ well-intentioned monitoring became female body disciplines generation after generation. The following are suggestions drawn from conclusions listed above: 1.Suggestions for gender equity education: a.To integrate relevant courses to help female adolescents construct a positive body image. b.To build a school atmosphere of gender equity. 2.Suggestions for future studies: a.Related body researches can aim to survey female adolescents in different school types. b.The composition of interviewees can be expanded to include parents, teachers and male peers. c.Studies of male student’s view of machismo and body image can also be conducted.