Comparative Essay

Comparative Essay

This paper will give a brief comparison on the article Contours of Everyday Life: Women's Reflections on Embodiment and Health over Time and the article It's of the Game': Physicality and Production of Gender in Women's Hockey. The first article, Contours of Everyday Life, just as the name suggests, gives an insight about women's reflections on embodiment and health over time. The author, Pamela, selects a sample of 40 women within Northwestern Ontario to give their perceptions on health and body image and how their perceptions of health and body image have changed over time. The article It's of the Game' talks about the differences of between men and women's hockey. Both women and men hockey players and coaches are interviewed to give their opinions about the differences between the two games. This paper will show that these two articles are related because they both show how society regulates individuals and group behaviour which leads to conformity and compliance. It will show that in the first article Contours of Everyday Life, society is able to gain compliance by determining what is considered as healthy and the perfect body image. It will also show in the second article It's of the Game' how society gains group conformity by regulating or determining how the women's hockey game should be.

The article Contours of Everyday Life: Women's Reflections on Embodiment and Health over Time gives an insight about how different women feel about their body image and what they consider to be healthy or not. When some women were asked about how comfortable they felt about themselves, a lady named Debbie said "I think I am more aware of what I look like and how I am perceived when I am with a bunch of women. Men are, even though you like to think men are fussy- they aren't, they don't care. Women are more critical." ( ). Judging from her answer, we can tell that her body image perception is constructed based on society. Women tend to be more attached to the image society forms about them. They worry more about their look and diet. Society has classified being overweight as unhealthy and for that reason, more women are inclined to exercise and stay healthy. From Debbie's response, we can tell that she's more uncomfortable about her body when she's around women because of the impression women have about health and weight. Other women also talked about how their body images were related to the relationships they had with their partners or their peer groups. This can be said to be an external control because external sanctions are placed on everyone. It can be a good thing because it keeps us in check about our weight and staying healthy but at the same time it could be unhealthy because people would go to the extreme of being anorexic just so they can fit in to society's definition of a healthy body. Some of the women mentioned in the article were anorexic. Laura, a 50 year old woman talks about suffering from anorexia because she wanted to fit in with society. Although some women felt uncomfortable with their body images, others felt really comfortable with it because they get positive reactions from their partners or peers. Rita, a 43 year old woman, explained how her husband accepted her for how she looks. Again her perception of herself is affected by her spouse. The point being made is that society has enormous power which causes individuals to conform to certain ideologies and lifestyles. Society dictates how we need to look or how things should be and this affects our lifestyles. Although some of the women explained body image to be how one perceives oneself, and not just physical being, society still affects the perceptions of oneself.

The article It's of the Game': Physicality