What does You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine have to say about femininity and the female body?

How the Feminist Body is Viewed in “What does You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine.”
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How the Feminist Body is Viewed in “What does You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine.”
Alexandra Kleeman uses this book to show how female gender is used in controlling the consumerism behavior in the society. The female body has been used as a tool that has never had freedom immediately one is conceived. In fact, the main character labeled A complains about the situation in which she finds herself being out of her control. The book has three featuring characters who are used in developing the theme of consumption and beliefs directed towards what people see to be beautiful and most appealing to their eyes. The characters in the book are A, who lives with another lady named B. C, the boyfriend to A is another character who helps Kleeman to accomplish her themes in the novel. There is the issue of imitation by the characters, submissive basing on the societal setup, and the purchasing power influenced by what people see as appealing through the television.
In the first part of the novel, B is seen to imitate everything that A does ranging from food to dressing just in the name of looking similar. The author describes that the two ladies, A and B looked similar, as they were all short, pale in color and dark haired. However, A has a boyfriend C, who keeps coming to see her (Kofman, 2015). B does not feel okay about it as she assumes that A is more beautiful than she does, and she tries all means for them to look alike.

In fact, they are all eating the same foodstuffs; Popsicles. B is using fruits as the main meal to ensure she looks similar to A. From this scene; A has realized that she is totally similar with her roommate, and she wonders if she will ever have something of her own. She believes that B might snatch her boyfriend from her as C would get confused in differentiating between A and B. The body of women, have remained to be used by other people. For instance, B is working hard to resemble A so that she can also attract the attention of C. It is ironical that women try copying everything they see on television just to look appealing just as A get addicted to watching the programs on the televisions.
Women are seen as submissive to the societal set up as they lack freedom. An always feel uncomfortable from the activities of B who even wakes up to make noise to her just in the name of getting attention. A has confirmed that she feels better when her boyfriend comes in or when they go out. Feminism is seen in this scenario where women tie their pleasure to the men. Besides, most of the activities that women do are out of their will but, initiatives to please men. A finds herself having sex with C even when she did not want to have a baby or to get any infections. She could avoid herself from risking the two dangers by abstaining, something that she finds impossible. A complains of having been a slave of many things due to the factors surrounding women; “A woman’s body never really belongs to herself. As an infant, my body was my mother’s, a detachable extension of her own, a digestive passage clamped and unclamped from her body. My parents would watch over it, watch over what went into and out of it, and as I grew up, I would be expected to carry on their watching by myself” (Fischer, 2015). The situation continues when she grows up finding herself in sex with her boyfriend C. She indicates that she was not sure what to do when she was on her own, meaning that she was a dependent in her entire life. Kleeman achieves her mission of pointing out the position of women in the society through the experiences seen in A and B.
Cultural beliefs and behavior towards consumerism have been attributed to perception on what is aired on television as being beautiful. Women have been used in many promotional activities thus influencing what people buy even without the justification of the importance of such products. The body of women are used as objects of sex as well as for business purpose at the expense of their lives. When looks at the cartoons on the television and most of the female figure on television, she realizes that she is starving to death especially on seeing the pale tangled form on the television screen (Kleeman, 2015). From this novel “What does You Too Can Have a Body like Mine” the resemblance of character A and B have been seen as socialists as they look thin and pale skinned (Kofman, 2015). The type of food that they take is aimed at maintaining their body figure even though the food are unhealthy, and they keep on using them. C is addicted to pornography videos which influence him to have sex with A.
In precise, Kleeman illustrates many themes through the novel, with the body of women being used to control the way people purchase and consume products. Lack of freedom and submissiveness is also seen in the book through the experiences that A and B endures. Similarly, women are subjected to unknowing exploitation in which they undertake activities that exploit them in the name of remaining beautiful and appealing to men.

References
Fischer, M. (2015). This Novel Nails the Weirdness of Being Female in a Culture Obsessed With Your Body. Slate Magazine. Retrieved 26 November 2016, from http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2015/08/you_too_can_have_a_body_like_mine_by_alexandra_kleeman_reviewed.htmlKleeman, A. (2015) You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine Is Fight Club for Women. Vogue. Retrieved 26 November 2016, from
http://www.vogue.com/13295412/alexandra-kleeman-you-too-can-have-a-body-like-mine/
Kofman, A. (2015). Feministing Reads: You Too Can Have A Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman. Feministing. Retrieved 26 November 2016, from http://feministing.com/2015/09/11/feministing-reads-you-too-can-have-a-body-like-mine-by-alexandra-kleeman/