Feminity in Postsecret

Femininity is a common theme in postsecret entries. Many women send in postcards of how they see themselves. This particular postcard (left) shows how obsessed this woman is with her own image. Other beautiful women affect her so much that she cannot deal with her own identity.

Femininity is a common theme in postsecret entries. Many women send in postcards of how they see themselves. This particular postcard shows how obsessed this woman is with her own image. Other beautiful women affect her so much that she cannot deal with her own identity. Postsecret shows women's fear of their own feminine image. Weight problems arise a lot on Postsecret, and fears that people will find out about the image behind the postcard are also featured on post secret. Insecurities about body image, whether it is weight, looks, or the body in general, are portrayed through postsecret. Postsecret shows the pressures of society on women to have the beautiful feminine image of celebrities and other famous women that the media portrays.

Linda Kalof describes this affect that media has on women in her article "Dilemmas of Feminity: Gender and The Social Construction of Sexual Imagery". She studies the reaction of men and women after watching a Michael Jackson music video on MTV in the 80s. She noted the intense gender construction of the female but didn't notice as much of a concentration on the male body. She focuses on "the intersection of gender, sexuality and power" (Kalof p.639) in the video and how society interprets it. Kalof talks a lot about how historically, women have always been really aware of their attractiveness and body image because they want to impress men, thus women are often self conscious and insecure mainly because they fear being alone and without a man. Postsecret features a lot of these women - women who are afraid of how society will view their bodies and it is clear visually and textually in their postcards.