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Thus, male domination in society promoted women thinking as being imperfect creatures who must be improved constantly. Sigmund Freud, the father of western psychoanalysis, is the source of this declaration. He claimed that women suffer from “penis envy”. The issue of “penis envy” is irrelevant. There is no demonstrable evidence that supports it. But this is not the issue. The issue here is that Freud’s point-of-view expresses an attitude embedded in western culture at the time. His point of view also projects into the future an attitude that continues to shape contemporary culture. This doesn’t mean that contemporary culture is a replica of Freud’s time. We have moved a significant distance from it. But we still have a long way to go.
Medical schools routinely use male anatomy as the norm for human anatomy. The “70 kilogram man” is used as the baseline for what the average heart weighs and for computing medication dosages, among other things. Given the likelihood that this emphasis on male anatomy as the norm still continues, it points us in the direction of seeing and treating the female body as something other than normal. It can actually lead to seeing the female body as abnormal because it is not male. So apparently, having a female body is to be chronically dissatisfied.
The media and a significant portion of western industry encourage this dissatisfaction daily. Consider the number of advertisements for diet programs, hair and cosmetic products that are directed largely, if not exclusively, at women. All of them carry the implicit message that the female body is simply not acceptable the way it is naturally.
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