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The Feminine Body Bartky (p. ?) states that we are born male or female, but not masculine or feminine. Femininity is an artifice, and achievement, "a mode of enacting and reenacting received gender norms which surface as so many styles of the flesh. In today's society there does seem to be a significant rise in disciplinary practices that produce a body which in gesture and appearance is recognizably feminine (p. ?). However; the female figure has changed …

…unhappy in spite of the most brilliantly accomplished lives. Trying, through success, to attract the attention we so desperately require, will only keep us stuck on the performance pendulum. But admiration from others will never be enough to fulfill women. What women need is a genuine feeling of self- love. This feeling is not only permissible; it is crucial if we are ever to rise above the hidden feelings of inferiority that keep us down.