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Tradwives, the divine feminine, and “that girl” on social media. In episode 141 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss femininity. They look to Simone de Beauvoir’s famous claim that one is not born but rather becomes a woman, and discuss how the process of feminization is crucial to this becoming. They explore the association between femininity, mystery, and docility. Is the return to traditional gender roles an attempt to move away from capitalism? How do contemporary beauty standards shape women’s self-understanding. And is there such thing as “feminine writing”? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss 90s cultural feminism and spirituality, and question whether it is possible to find liberation through the divine feminine image.
Works Discussed:
Sandra Bartky, “ Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power”
Pierre Bourdieu, La domination masculine
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
Hélène Cixous, “The Laugh of the Medusa”
Manon Garcia, We Are Not Born Submissive
Highlight: Expressions of femininity
Sandra Bartky takes Foucault’s idea of docile bodies and uses gender analysis to argue that femininity is the production of docile bodies
E.g. skincare, haircare, the thinness ideal, clothing, the list goes on
The prevalence of such practices makes us feel like we are seeing a natural performance
And according to Bourdieu’s logic of vision and division, we then see the performance of femininity as more real and as the essence of what femininity really is
Yet, we also devalue “taking care of your appearance” as superficial
Listen to the full episode to hear how the social media trend of “that girl” further reflects the subordination of women.
What do you think? Were your hopes lost in Gen Z’s liberation once you saw new beauty trends arise? Does the mindset of “live and let live” just give into choice feminism? Or is it entirely unfair to expect women, especially trans women, to give up all their makeup and clothes?
Thank you for listening to Overthink’s 141st episode! We hope you enjoyed and would love to hear your thoughts below or on our chatwall.
