In 1920, American women were finally recognised as legitimate citizens when they were given the right to vote. In that same year, the first ever Miss America pageant took place. So while on the surface they were empowered with equal rights to men, that empowerment was diluted by a timely reminder that they must not forget to be women. They were still going to be judged according to who had the loveliest waist or the prettiest hair.
A similar phenomenon occurred in South Africa in 1994, with the collapse of apartheid, which enshrined systems not just of race, but also of gender discrimination. For the first time, black women could (theoretically, at least) be whatever they wanted to be. In the same year, South Africa's first case of anorexia in a black woman was recorded. Black South Africa has since seen a surge in the number of cases of anorexia and bulimia.
| Continue Sarah Duguid's Guardian UK article "The body politic"
posted in articles on May 1, 2004 2:31 AM | t (0)
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