During lecture, we defined Foucault's "Docile Body" as regulated by cultural life; translated to eagerly go along and force self to do something even if body does dont want to; and no real seperation between you, your body and culture. Susan Bordo's Double Bind to be 2 or more conflicting messages contradicting one another in an individual.
I wanted to talk about the ideal man working hard and doing men activities and the pregnant/motherly man. These two work perfectly with Susan Bordo's Double Bind and Focault's Docile body as men are not always going to act like men in today's society. In the tire changing picture, the man knows what he's doing and dresses like the average dad. In the pregnant man picture, Thomas Beatie is actually the mother of the unborn. Notice how his wife is practicing the men's place/position as she stands off to the side of her husband. Beatie is facing a double bind because he is a mother inside a man. He faces a challenge in his cultural life as Foucault would put it. Beatie has to fight with the intelligible body and has a new body practice as a mother. As compared to the man changing the tire, Beatie is a completely different man because he is unique, pregnant, and going through "manhood" (motherhood). This shows that not all men will be men. There might be men who are soft, loving, romantic, and caring; or men that are destructive, careless, and "beastly". It all depends on the individual and the cultural society that surrounds us.
I have to be honest when I first read this I had to look up who Thomas Beatie was because I thought that you may have been referring to some kind of fictional character. However, after looking him up, I found that he is a real human being. After finding that out, I found your analysis of his double bind particularly interesting. I agree with you when you say that he probably had to fight his intelligible body pretty hard to pick up those new body practices that come along with bearing children. It would be interesting to know how he handles being the parent that gave birth to his children, normally the female's role, and then having to become the male father role once the child is born. I wonder if he had to work just has hard to return to his intelligible body after forcing himself to learn new body practices for nine months?
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