Abstract
This analytical essay presents an assignment on Bathing Beauties by Anna Schnur-Fishman and puts forward the positive aspect of bathing at BIK.
Introduction
The article under consideration namely Bathing Beauties that was written by Anna Schnur-Fishman is a magnificent article written by a teenage girl about the topic of locker room showers and nudity. In the article, a number of teenage girls learn how to love their bodies.
Meaning
The article basically is about girls getting to know and feel about their bodies. As is said in the article, society makes women think too much about their bodies, from the very beginning women are made aware of their bodies and how it has to fit into a certain predetermined cultural preconception that is not real, and as women and girls try to fit the mold they start becoming conscious of things and part of their bodies and start thinking about them and giving them undue importance. At the camp, the author and her friends though were not worried about their bodies:
“Sure, Natasha confided, she wished her boobs were “more symmetrical,” and Maggie that she had “less hairy upper-inner thighs,” but in a hierarchy of things that obsessed us, these issues fell fairly low on the list. We looked, we all agreed, “good enough” for the locker rooms” (Fishman, p.1).
The article further focuses on girls who are uncomfortable being seen naked in a communal bath as she says that at times you see girls who are comfortable in the communal bath at BIK and you wish you were like them (Fishman, p.1). Hence, the basic foundation of this article is a communal bath for girls at BIK. Throughout the article, the author has made it clear that girls have to feel good about their bodies no matter what. She further goes on to list out certain lessons that the girls learned at BIK as well as the properties of BIK which made it work for the girls that she mentions are reflective and countercultural.
In the article, a vast number of positive effects of a communal bath have been put forward. They have been presented as a list. The positive effects that showering at BIK has on the girls have been put forward as lessons that it teaches the girls.
The first and foremost positive effect that it has on the girls is that it “requires an initial leap of faith”. This means that at the beginning of the shower, most girls start off by showering with their bath suits on but eventually they have to get naked. This brings about faith in your own image, your own appearance which is very helpful in life. The second positive effect that showering at BIK has on the girls is that girls and boys of different cultures bathe together which brings about a feeling of unity.
The communal bathing exercise is very constructive because women of different ages and sizes stand in front of each other naked, this allows them a look at other women and who unlike the idealized version the society props up makes them feel very comfortable because the women realize that no woman has that so-called perfect body which is so desirable. This is a kind of empowerment as the girls and women feel that they have been liberated from the social requirements and restrictions. The very fact that the women are happy with their physical appearances and their bodies is a push against the American culture.
Conclusion
The article shows that the American culture and society makes women usually feel uncomfortable with their physical appearances and bodies, and this bathing exercise helps women fight this culture and the social constructs as women realize that in reality, different women have different bodies and that all women can and should not strive to fit an ideal model.
Bibliography
Fishman, A. (2005). Bathing Beauties. 2007. Web.