Bordo's writing aims to engage audiences beyond the academic sphere while remaining firmly rooted in theoretical frameworks.
[5] Her work draws on philosophical discourse to examine issues such as rationality, objectivity, and mind-body dualism, situating the body within historical and cultural contexts.
[6] Bordo argues that throughout history, the body has been constructed as separate from the "true self"—variously conceived as soul, mind, spirit, will, creativity, or freedom—and as an entity that undermines the efforts of that self.
[8] Bordo has examined the dualistic nature of the mind-body relationship through the philosophies of Aristotle, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and René Descartes.
According to Bordo, these dualisms have positioned men as aligned with intellect and the mind or spirit, while women have been associated with the body, often the subordinate and negatively connoted term in this dichotomy.
Bordo has compared to the body as a text to be inscribed upon and interpreted but emphasizes its material and situated nature within Western culture.
According to Bordo, "the rules of femininity have come to be culturally transmitted more and more through the deployment of standardized visual images,"[15] with mass media insidiously imposing ideals of bodily beauty that are perceived by those affected as freely chosen options.
"[16] Bordo has written in favor of Foucault's conceptualization of power as a network of decentralized forces for understanding the formation and regulation of gender.
"[2] She argued that while these disorders may appear to resist dominant ideological constructs, they simultaneously reveal the damaging influence of cultural norms on the female body.
In this updated edition, Bordo further examined cultural representations of the female body through the lenses of patriarchy, contemporary feminism, and postindustrial capitalism.
She advocated for a renewed concept of "truth," emphasizing the importance of teaching future generations to critically evaluate and "see through the illusions and mystifications" of an image-dominated culture.
The book analyzed representations of the male body in mass media, highlighting that concerns about bodily form and beauty affect men.
She aims to dismantle the "sedimented mythology turned into 'history' by decades of repetition" and presents Boleyn as an ambitious woman striving for power, free from the distorted imagery often associated with her appearance.