"Diets Suck!" and Other Tales of Women's Bodies on the Web

The World Wide Web's graphical display, which allows website owners to represent visual images of themselves online, has special resonance for female websters. Like all women raised in cultures that objectify female bodies and faces, they understand that a female image on their site will be seen in terms of its sexual appeal. Webwomen who reject oppressive images of women, especially those who identify themselves as feminist, recognize that in life and virtually, a woman's value is identified with her body, and thus they are especially sensitive to graphical representations of women. In this paper I will consider how these site owners depict women on websites they construct for a largely female audience. My conclusions are based on a study of over 200 women's websites designed by and for women; while the majority of these websites are owned by women from the U.S., the study included several dozen sites from countries throughout the world.