The American Body as a Semiotic Sign

Should hairy men opt not to wax, electrolyte or shave, they are advised to wear an undershirt in order to hide their excessive body hair. [...]the cultural significance of head hair-long signifies female, short male-arbitrarily marks gender differences, while body hair connotes cultural differences-...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of semiotics 1995-01, Vol.12 (1), p.261-272
Main Author: Heep, Hartmut
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
American literature
Austrian literature
Culture
Gender differences
Hair
Jarrell, Randall (1914-1965)
Masculinity
Postmodernism
Power
Rilke, Rainer Maria von (1875-1926)
Semiotics
Society
Women
World War II
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Should hairy men opt not to wax, electrolyte or shave, they are advised to wear an undershirt in order to hide their excessive body hair. [...]the cultural significance of head hair-long signifies female, short male-arbitrarily marks gender differences, while body hair connotes cultural differences-hairy is read as uncivilized, smooth as refined. According to Foucault, "the active and dominant role was always assigned positive values, but on the other hand it was necessary to attribute to one of the partners...the passive, dominated, and inferior position" (Foucault 1985: 220). Nineteenth-century capitalist patriarchy used its power to define the norms (and abnormalities) of sexuality as a way of defining the norms of individual and social behavior or being. [...]women's sexuality was confined to the requirements of the patriarchal family, and her sexual pleasure was displaced by the notion of duty (to her husband's sexuality, and to produce children). [...]i]n a culture where the possession and control of goods and services are highly valued, transforming the body into a commodity which can be used for the display of coveted items becomes a social goal in itself (Finkelstein 1991:5).
ISSN:0277-7126
2153-2990
DOI:10.5840/ajs1995121/414