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Old 01-11-2009, 19:17
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theperfectcat theperfectcat is offline
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Interesting post, all of it, I appreciated the Virgin Mary-based analysis. I think that the "she" Richey references in She Is Suffering is an analogous she (as in, the concept of desire/beauty being given a female personification, which as I'm sure you're aware is used for lots of things, like liberty, justice etc. as well, but of course envisioning desire/beauty as female rather than male has extra connotations) while the "she" in Bath of Bleach and a few other songs is more of a generalization of the circumstances of women. I'm not explaining very well, but I mean the former kind of generalized "she" is more of an artistic device (an artist, though I don't remember who, has said women's bodies are easier to see as analogies or public statements than those of men- this obviously brings up issues related to whether women's bodies are seen as public objects rather than extensions of the self) while the latter is using the pronoun to group experiences of women together to make a point about their political status. However, given that we're talking about Richey here, it's possible that he had thought about the implications of using "she" as an embodiment of an abstract concept, and was intentionally trying to invoke the idea of women suffering as a result of men's desire, as you explain in your post.

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Originally Posted by S.D. View Post
Even 4st 7lb seems to follow this thematic of "she", because Richey was quick to clarify that whilst he publicly suffered from an eating disorder, the song itself was not about him, but was voicing the psychology of anorexia/bulimia in young girls, the protagonist of the song is clearly female. The names of models being used in those lyrics, suggests to me that as women are used as sex objects in media, so their sexuality is depleted, they are reduced to flesh (carrion?), and it is this flesh which affects impressionable minds. Eating disorders arise in some subjects because they are comparing themselves with representations of what women "should" look like in order to be sexual, when in reality, those images are created to appeal to a consumer or male demographic, and are false. "Lift up my skirt and my sex is gone" seems to reflect this in the sense that in this quest for perfection, "she" has compromised her natural sexuality)[/CENTER]
This is possible- I would add that if it's the case, the narrator is repressing her active sexuality and own desires to passively appeal to those of men (thus linking the compromise of her "nature" to fit ideas of women's passive sexuality back to the benefit of males). However, I have always thought that the anorexia detailed in 4st 7lb was motivated by a wish to control the body to look anti-sexual rather than sexual (this has been well-documented in some patients- they starve to try and stave off the effects of puberty- and is the type most commonly associated with young FtM transsexuals). I think this because of the delight the narrator conveys when talking about her breasts shrinking and her "sex" disappearing* (presumably she would want her stomach to shrink, but not her breasts, if she was simply going too far in trying to emulate the beauty standard). Though she describes herself as "gorgeous", this could reference an innocent beauty or simply the "gorgeous" physical evidence of her supposed self-control. To link this back to what you were saying about Mary, anorexia in the Middle Ages was associated with religious women like Catherine of Siena, who fasted in addition to remaining chaste (thus exercising restraint in two different areas, which are often symbolically linked with voracious desire). The denunciation of the nurses as "fat scum" adds a contrast of filthy imagery associated with what the patient would perceive as a "lack of control" with her purity and "dignity". Also note that the state she has achieved by the end of the song allows her to "understand life", which again links to the idea of purging the body in order to achieve enlightenment or a greater connection with God.

Phrases like "through staring blankly at my navel" and "choice is skeletal in everybody's life" implicitly underscore both the empty reality behind this and the fact that whatever motivated her actions (rejecting or embracing them), the patient's superficial choices were governed by ideas about restraint, sexuality and the body that are beyond her control (the imagery of the "skeletal" choice- that she has the choice to deplete the meat on her bones, but barring stunting growth or osteoporosis, cannot alter the skeleton itself- is analogous to the idea that the patient can choose to react to her sexuality in different ways, but must do this in a framework of ideas about female sexuality that are beyond her control- and controlled, in a society still subject to the influence of patriarchy, by males).

None of this really upsets the main point of what you were saying- that 4st7lb discusses the suffering of a woman that is brought about by ideas about sexuality and beauty- it's just a different angle.


* Though I wouldn't at all say 4st 7lb simply glorifies anorexia I think that is the intent of the voice of the narrator and the more critical perspective in the song is hidden in the subtext and the way certain images seem more disturbing to the reader/listener than the personality behind the text appears to think.

Last edited by theperfectcat; 01-11-2009 at 19:26.
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Old 01-11-2009, 22:26
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