Susan Bordo works at the University of Kentucky as the Otis A. Singletary Chair of Humanities. She also is a philosopher who deals with many traditional aspects of philosophy such as Rene Descartes and Sigmund Freud. However, what sets Bordo apart from most other philosophers is her training of the study of "popular culture and representations of the body. She is a philosopher, that is, who writes not only about Plato but also about Madonna and O.J." (Bordo 138). Much of Bordo's work as a teacher deals with the representation of the female body in marketing and advertising. She feels that most adds in the past and present set up gender identities and play off of the norms of society in "... the representation of the female body in relation to what is offered as "true" or "real", "natural" or "normal" (Bordo 138-39). Bordo is very interested in the ways that society looks into the ads we see every day and what assumptions are made about gender identity, or "...the differences attributed to men and women in the stories we tell ourselves and the ways we picture out attitudes toward food, eating, cooking, body size, and shape" (Bordo 139).
             In Bordo's essay Hunger as Ideology, she challenges her students to "bring in examples that appear to violate traditional gender-dualities and the ideological messages contained in them" (Bordo 166). By having her students perform this task she hopes to reinforce her points about the negative portrayal and almost subliminal messages about gender identification and see if any progress has been made. Finding such advertisements that break Bordo's said rules about old dualities and ideologies such as women should serve men, become homemakers, and basically do everything to keep their men happy while they are out in the blue collar work force earning a living for the ent
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