The Pin-Up and Domesticity

Tanner Stephens

Introduction to American Studies

Deborah Whaley

Multi-modal assignment #2- The Pin Up

09-19-2017

            Maria Elena Buszek has discussed the historical context and emergence and sometimes problematic existence of the pin up girl in the early twentieth century through world war two and beyond. She argues throughout that most pin-up girls demonstrate what she calls a “Monster Beauty” that is, women that do not look like “normal” women and provide false expectations of how women should look therefore creating a problematic idea of “standard” beauty. Buszek also touches on different ways pin up girls have been observed and received in mainstream culture of the time. For example, she touches on scopophilia (pleasure from seeing) and how one can view a pin-up girl in a more admirable way and simply enjoy her looks and beauty or in a more literal way due to the possibly sexual nature of the pin-up. One of Buszek’s main concerns surrounding the pinup and the often times sexual nature of them was whether or not they were promoting or oppressing women and their social freedom by posing in such ways on their own terms.

            A pin-up that I chose to talk about was one that suggests both a sexual implication(s) as well as reinforcing the domestic sphere of women in the household. For example, an aspect that suggest a sexual nature in the image is the fact that the woman is wearing nothing but an apron, commonly used for cooking or cleaning. She is covered just enough that the image would not (arguably) be considered pornographic but still teases out a more inviting mood as she happily sweeps the floor. The fact that she is also sweeping suggests that she in not only content with cleaning, presumably a home, but that she is also happy enough to do it in a minimally-clothed way so that she is a pleasant site for any who look at her. It is easy to conclude that this pin-up very easily could have been produced in the early to mid-twentieth century based on this underlying theme of domesticity. This image could easily be used as evidence supporting one of Buszek’s arguments that pin-ups have not only promoted a “Monster Beauty” but that they have also reinforced a domesticity for women instead of allocating for more social, political, and economical freedom and therefore reinstating conformity.

 

Citations:

Image: Jomadado, Johnny. “Vintage Pin-up Girls.” Pinterest, 17 Aug. 2013, www.pinterest.com/pin/134967320055867245/. Accessed 21 Sept. 2017.