Yes, they do hurt. A. LOT.

So basically what Bordo and Becker are getting at is that becoming a pot user or battling an eating disorder are logical externalizations of insecurities or delusions rooted in our bodies by our culture. While they make everything seem much more complex and scholarly, let's try to break it down to the foundations of their arguments by using a less extreme example; such as wearing high heels.

Putting fashion and cultural symbolism aside, heels are inherently uncomfortable. There is simply no argument to that. The reason why women torment themselves everyday by wearing them? Because they have 'docile bodies'. Their bodies are regulated by the norms of cultural life. Because culture tells them it is acceptable and that everyone looks sexy in a pair of heels, their bodies are apt to endure this process as a means to an end. Like a pot user, they learn to deal with the negatives (physical pain) and redefine it as just a part of the practice. By wearing them, they are letting their bodies take part in a social experience. They feel hotter and have more confidence, and that’s when the process becomes pleasurable. Like we learned in class, without culture there is no pleasure. If these women weren’t sold on the fact that they would become more alluring or whatever it is that makes up the ‘high heel mystique’, there’s no chance in hell any one would willingly wear heels. But because culture tells us we should, our bodies are docile enough to accept this practice even if it is just a notch below torture.

Bordo also argues that while we have ‘docile bodies’ those bodies are a social construction. She goes so far as to say that culture uses a body as a medium. Our bodies change on a whim to comply with demands of society, but culture never lets go of us, it has our social control. So much so that Bordo claims it makes changing to these demands unconscious and automatic. For example, walking in heels is not in any way natural. You almost have to completely relearn how to walk just so you can flaunt your stilettos. But, we make our bodies conform to this act as we see it practiced in culture as something we should attain. Like in the first example, after we condition our bodies to get over the physical pain, the actual walking part comes rather easily. Sure the first time you’ll feel awkward and probably roll an ankle, but after that, we construct our bodies until it becomes unconscious and automatic.

As much as people want to fight it, or shout from the rooftops that they aren’t robots; there is a lot of truth that a body is a product of culture. It can be read like any other sign, and can be interpreted by a viewer thru the practices we put it thru.

Is it weird that I buy this stuff but not the Implicit Project?