In the eyes of the male beholder: Language use as male inscription of the female body in film, Literature, and Facebook

Abstract

This paper examines the concept of the inscription of the female body, and the way language used by men for such inscription shows distinct difference on women compared to that used on men. Using different film clips, literary pieces, and Facebook walls, the paper looks at the social inscription of the female body and argues that such state of affairs has made the constitution of the body of woman in the media, so plastic that through language use it can be molded the way the director, writer, and the Facebook friends (read male friends) deem fit, and it is turned into a text written upon it and from which it is not discernible as a social being but just an article. Indeed, “popular” inscription of the female body in the media in general and in Tollywood films, Swahili literary pieces, and “friendly’ exchanges and comments on Facebook walls in particular, impose literal, figurative and interpretative outlook that sells the films and literary works, as it amplifies female body inscription while condemning such a body to lust and ridicule.