The Pain of Beauty

Hapsari Sulistyani

The rise of multicultural issues in feminism challenges the unity of mainstream feminisms (Ang 57). Both western and non-Western women experience some form of repression that involves them being controlled through their body. Because the repression of women varies, from culture to culture, “woman” cannot be considered a single monolithic category based only on a shared biological sex, and this alone.  In most cultures, for a woman to be desirable she must be regarded as beautiful. Certain non-Western cultures focus on particular parts of women’s body in their concept of beauty, which often involves specific violent acts, including the infliction of pain and transformations of women’s bodies (Ping xi). The forms of women’s oppression in non-Western countries vary in different eras and different cultures. In more recent times women’s subjectivity is still constructed through their body, but the media now also play a part in the construction of female subjectivity. The various representations of women in the media of different cultures also reflect the different types of oppression or issue experienced by women from one culture to another. The appropriation of white women’s experiences of oppression as a theoretical base for understanding those experienced by women of non-Western or third-world countries suggests an overgeneralising of the theory of women’s oppression (Ang 61). The notion of the repression of women through their body should not be understood as an idealised unified experience of all women, rather it should take seriously the voice of the “other” ‘in its distinctiveness and specificity.’ (Ang 64) So the differences in cultural oppressions of women through their body in non-western countries call for many different forms of feminism.

Ien Ang argues that the ability to deal with the differences in feminist discourse is required for the survival of feminism (Ang 58). However, she states that the difficulties of dealing with difference cannot be resolved through the reconciliation all women’s differences into one mainstream feminism. Ien Ang argues that in order to deal with differences we have to understand the effect and the source of difference (Ang 60). The practices of sexualising the meaning of specific parts of women’s body such as the foot, ear, or neck in non-Western countries should be understood in its specific cultural context, for example the sexualised meaning of Chinese women’s feet in the construction of “female beauty” in late imperial China. In 1966 under the Mao Zedong regime China fought against ‘the remaining powers of feudalism, capitalism, …, and the practice of footbinding – the symbol of feudal oppression of women’ (Ping x). Even though, in recent times, the practice of footbinding has become a symbol of national shame, the practice, that involve pain, violence, mutilation and self-mutilation of women’s bodies, was carried out and accepted by women in the past, because having small feet represented women’s beauty and prestige or nobility (Ping xi). The practice of footbinding practices raised concerns not only about its relation to the concept of beauty, but its implications for notions of gender, sex and class. Ping says that a woman was not considered to be really a woman if she unbound her feet. Chinese women also ‘turned the binding into a bonding among women family members, relatives and friends … and they inverted male writing that fetishized the female body into a female writing that was rooted in speech and interaction among a female community’ (Ping 226). Interestingly, Ping shows a similarity between the practice footbinding in traditional China and some thoughts of contemporary Western women. According to Ping in The vagina monologues, Eve Ensler questions hundreds of women in western countries “If your vagina got dressed, what would it wear?” The answers are varied including: a leather jacket, silk stockings, Mink, A pink Boa, A male tuxedo, Jeans…. (232). Ping argues that traditional Chinese women had already translated these thoughts into real actions. She suggests that ‘Chinese women bound their feet (their symbolic vaginas) and dressed them in all manners (binding, covering, piercing) and in all styles (transvestites, animals, plants, objects)’ (Ping 233), just like modern Western women in the Vagina monologues. So the practices of foodbinding in traditional China should be viewed not as an uncivilized behaviour of non-Western people but the specific cultural practises that influence in the construction of Chinese women’s subjectivity and continues to establish certain values in contemporary women in China.

Another example of the oppression of women through their body is to be found in -the Kayan concept of female beauty based on the length of women’s necks, where the practice of stretching their women’s neck with coils threatens mobility and independency of Kayan’s women. Kayan women have worn coils around their neck for hundreds of years an as a symbol of beauty and cultural identity (Mydans 11). According to Mydans Kayan women wear neck coils from the time they are five years old. Maydans states that the weight of the ring can be up to 12 pounds, and it causes the widening of the base of the neck and ‘pushes down the collarbones and rib cage, causing the shoulder to slope’ (Maydan 11). As a result the Kayan women’s neck has a lengthened appearance. The application of the coils to women’s necks causes the neck to become dependent on the support of the coils. Several myths about the coils also produced to justify the practice. But actually the practice is also based on safety guarding of the coils, because they are a family treasure (Maydan 11). Today the long neck women of the Kayan tribe are a major tourist attraction of the area (especially Kayan tribe in Thailand). In other words, the sexualized practice of lengthening women’s necks not only controls the presentation of women’s bodies, but it also constructs them as a commodity that attracts an economic benefit from tourism. According to Mydan, because the long-necked women are a valuable commodity, both as a tourist attraction and in terms of the value of the coils they wear, Kayan men prefer them to women who have not carried out customary practice of stretching their neck. Because of the tribe’s construction of beauty and the economical benefits to be gained through tourism, the practice of stretching women’s necks continues to exist. So, the practices of stretching women’s neck in Kayan tribe should be viewed not only as a cultural construction of female beauty but also as a refection of kayan women’s role in the economical discourse.

These forms repression based on women’s body influences how non-western women represent their body in society. Certain Western feminists view these kinds of oppression as barbaric behaviour of third world people. (Heliwell 793) While such oppressions such as rape occur in Western society, they are perceived as a natural function of male biology or a universal violence inflicted on women’s bodies. However, some feminist thinkers such as Helliwell reveal the notion of women’s body across time and place. Helliwell argues that not all cultures or societies are familiar with the violent oppression of women’s body within Western feminism discourses, such as the discourse of rape. Certain cultures such as the Dayak, in Borneo do not have a specific term for ‘rape’ in their language. Helliwell was trying to explain what rape is to a woman who a man had attempted to force to have sex with her climbed in her chamber window. Heliwell says to her that it was a bad thing and the man was trying to hurt her. The woman said that it was not a bad thing rather it was a funny experience and she also stated ‘It’s only a penis, how can a penis hurt anyone?’ (Heliwell 789). This shows how it is almost impossible to create a universalised notion of oppression of women’s body. It is undeniable that all women’s live with the threat of sexual violence (Brison qtd. in Heliwell 790) but the forms and the conditions of violence are different from one culture to another. So the multiplicity of forms of sexualised control and violations of women’s body in non-Western countries should be viewed as specific phenomenons that have distinct circumstances and need specific feminism agendas to address the problem, not simply as an addition to the universalisation of Western women’s oppression.

As well as traditional cultural practices, in more recent times institutions such as the media also play a part in the disciplining women’s bodies in society. In Indonesia, for example, the media plays a significant role in maintaining the construction of women’s body as sexualised. The Indonesian media is also a space where the representation of women’s body is mediated by certain institutions in society, such as religious institutions, and government institutions have the power to determine the way women’s bodies appear in the media. While mass media is a global phenomenon, the content of the various forms of mass media is negotiated by each nation and region to reflect local contexts. So how women’s body presented in the media is a result of negotiation between many powers in society.  If the media present women’s body outside of the negotiated boundaries, it creates controversy amongst the various parties and power brokers whose interest media served.

Inul is an Indonesian dangdut singer who was condemned because of her television performances. Dangdut is an Indonesian hybrid music that combines several genres music such as Hindi, Malay and pop music. Dangdut is produced by the combination of traditional and modern instruments. Dangdut is an Indonesian dancing music. The requirement of a dangdut singer is not only she/he has a unique voice, but also has the ability to dance. As a dangdut singer Inul invented a new dance movement that created a huge controversy in Indonesia. Inul create an energetic style of dancing that involved moving her hips 360-degrees at a fast speed. In truth the style of Inul’s dancing is not much different to western singers such as Shakira or Jennifer Lopez, performers who have been seen on Indonesian television long before the appearance of Inul. So actually the main reason for the controversy is not the dance movement itself, but the fact that it is an Indonesian woman, Inul, who danced in a sexy and powerful style. According to Faruk and Salam the reason Inul’s performance became a controversy was because she not only reflected the image of sensuality, -big bottom, seductive movements of her hips- but she combined with it the image of a cute, innocent and honest Indonesian village girls.

The controversy sparked by Inul in Indonesia signifies the complexity of female body politics. Inul’s performance on Indonesian television creates a massive response from many elements of society such as political parties, religious leaders, academics and artists. This phenomenon indicates that each element in society has its own political agenda relating to the representation of Inul’s body. There was a televised meeting between Inul and the leader of Indonesian Dangdut Artist Association, Rhoma Irama, who condemned Inul’s performances on television. The media portrayed Inul as a victim in this program. The media seemed to support Inul, but actually were more concerned with their program ratings. If she were to change her performance she would lose her unique appeal for audiences and the media stood to lose a lot of potential advertisement income. This  situation also  caused various reactions from Indonesian  women's  groups,   some  of  them condemning  Inul’s performance as it created a the potential for fetishization of  the female body . Another group supported her for challenging the patriarchal construction of women in Indonesia (Nurruzaman n.p). These different opinions show the specific discourses of female body in the Indonesian media. It is important to understand the minor narratives of each element in women’s oppression. Because the religion and traditional practices in certain non-Western countries are relatively still strong, the doctrines of mainstream west feminism do not adequately deal with the issues that confront women in these cultures.

The complexity of women’s oppressions in non-Western countries suggests the various challenges faced by feminism in the non-Western countries require various approaches According to Spivac corporate globalisation and the “intranational” cultural differences between an elite bourgeoisie and the rural poor ‘maintains subaltern women in a position of subalternity’ (qtd in. Sharpe 609). Spivac argues that feminism in third-world countries should ‘engage with everyday lives of subalterns’ (qtd in. Sharpe 609). So global and local or traditional narratives constructs specific female identities  that relates to their particular cultures, which provides the diversity of challenges  to the application of feminism  to non-Western / third-world countries. The complexity of issues involved also signifies that non-Western feminism should not be considered as a universal theory that encompasses all women’s oppression in non-Western countries. Non-Western feminism is not a monolithic category with an approach or strategy that covers all women’s conditions and struggles in non-Western countries. Women’s issues in one country also need a multiple approaches. In Indonesia for example in the psychological rubric in women’s magazine reveals that women’s virginity still an important issue for many women but in certain area such as in some part in Borneo virginity is not an important issue at all. Thus the local narratives of women’s oppression should be the main consideration for determining the proper feminist approaches.

Works Cited

Ping, Wang. “Aching for Beauty.” Minneapolis: University of Minesota. 2000.

Faruk and Aprinus Salam. “Hanya Inul.” Yogyakarta: Pustaka Marwa. 2003.

Ang, Ien. “I’m a feminist but … “Other” Women and Post National Feminism.” Thransition: New Australian Feminisms. Eds. Barbara Caine and Rosemary Pringle. St Leonard: Allen & Unwin, 1995.

Sharpe, Jenny. “A conversation with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak: politics and the imagination.” (Interview). Signs. 28.2 (2003): 609-27. Gale Group Databases. IN. 30 April 2004 <http://80-web5.infotrac.galegroup.com.dbgw.lis.curtin. edu.au/itw/infomark/869/502/49559821w5/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_A96619215&dyn=3!xrn_1_0_A96619215?sw_aep=curtin>

Helliwel, Christine. “It’s only a penis: Rape, feminism, and difference.” Signs. 25.3 (2000): 789-817. Pro Quest Databases. Curtin University. T.L. Robertson. IN. 30 April 2004  <http://80-proquest.umi.com.dbgw.lis.curtin. edu.au/pqdweb?index= 5&did=000000060933372&SrchMode=1&sid=8&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1064559076&clientId=22212>

Mydan, Seth, “Nai Soi’s Long-Necked Women.” New York Times. May 20, 2000: pg. 5.11. Pro Quest Databases. Curtin University. T.L. Robertson. IN. 22 April 2004. < http://80-proquest.umi.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu. au/pqdweb?index=10&did= 000000073145923&SrchMode=1&sid=11&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1082696405&clientId=22212>

Nuruzzaman. “Inul dan Resistensi Lokal: sebuah perjuangan perempuan pinggiran.” Kompas. March 3, 2003. Kompas Online. IN. 22 September 2003. http://www.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0303/03/swara/149302.htm