Feminist's Oppression Of Sexuality In The Film Fat Girl

This masculine dominance over women is present in the film as Elena tells Fernando to “be gentle” and Fernando responds with “no!” (Fat Girl). Anaïs heard this as well and thus as she is raped in the woods by the stranger, she equates this to how her sister lost her virginity, in a vicious and forcible manner that which the woman (in this case Anaïs) has no control or voice in how it commences. This is the feminine or woman experience developed within patriarchal society by men. Whether there is consent to sex or not, male is the decider, sex begins when he penetrates and ends when he orgasms, a woman only has very limited sexual power (Beauvoir). In this sense, particularly when a woman loses her virginity, it is rape in every case because

A man has significant and virtually all the power in sexual relationships and women often lack agency in their sexuality. However, in Fat Girl, Breillat disproves this claim showing that strong female characters who refuse to conform to societal expectations and who possesses realistic views can gain significant agency as they do not allow themselves to be raped, oppressed, tricked, or controlled. As a woman loses her virginity, she cannot possibly completely consent to sex because in society, women often have a fantastic view of sex and lack control in their relationships. Believing in fantasy can make a woman susceptible to abuse. Elena is forced to suffer due to fantastic dreams that society had groomed her to believe in. Fat Girl shows the viewer that reality always conquers over fantasy. Moreover, those who possess fantastic views are more susceptible to the oppression placed against women in society. Elena believes in the fantasy and is murdered and Anaïs survives. However, this is just one film and society has many other ideals that women are expected to conform

Cléo, the main character, is a pop star who represents the ideal, in that she is a tall, blonde, white, thin, and heterosexual woman (Neroni 102). Cléo represents what women should aspire to because it is often thought that women exist in society to be sexual objects and serve men’s needs. Cléo is immensely interested in her appearance, constantly checking how she looks in mirrors, trying on and buying clothes, and talking about her beauty. One of Cléo’s songs shows how interested she is in her looks as she sings and walks down the steps in the park, “my precious and capricious body, the azure of my darling eyes, my alluring body, is the fate that will never deceive. Everyone longs for a taste, the flavor of my lovely lips” (Cléo From 5 to 7). What is even more appalling is the fact that society has groomed Cléo to be so self-conscious about her looks that even while she is anxiously awaiting potentially terminal test results, she is fixated on her looks (Cléo From 5 to 7). According to Beauvoir, it is women’s role within society to present herself to others and within the process, women are constantly competing with one another (Beauvoir 587). Women enjoy being watched because society conditions them to. Cléo is a social and pop star, constantly feeling as if people are looking at her and thus she feels very self-conscious about her looks. This is represented in the film as the camera angle