“Real Women Have Bodies” by Carmen Maria Machado is told in the present and from a first person point of view. In The Memory Police, the narrator is speaking using past tense because she fully disappears at the end of the book, whereas in “Real Women Have Bodies,” the narrator does not fade and relates everything as it is happening. This made the story feel more personal and emotional, emphasizing the fact that Petra fades yet the narrator continues on, solid as stone.
I found it interesting that the women in this story are simply fading; they can still be seen and exist but have become something hard to see and understand. The narrator does not realize that they are part of the dresses until she is shown, and then she can suddenly see them as a part of everything, even if it may be part of her imagination, as demonstrated on page 136.
“I walk past the heavily scented entrance of a JCPenny cosmetics counter, and imagine customers uncapping tubes of lipstick and twisting the color free, and faded women squeezing up around the makeup, thumbs first.”
The idea that women are often judged and perceived differently for the way that their bodies look is not new, and Machado takes this even further by introducing Casey and Chris. Both of these characters ridicule and make comments on a few different occasions, all in reference to the way a girl looks, and if it pleases them. This is also true for the way that faded women are described and talked about by others, as seen on page 146; it is very similar to the idea of survivors of sexual assault being at fault or being blamed.
“They are talking about how we can’t trust the faded women, women who can’t be touched but can stand on the earth, which means they must be lying about something, they must be lying about something, they must be deceiving us somehow.”
Women do not often feel that their body belongs to them. Fashion and beauty trends easily sweep women up into unattainable standards that they feel that they must meet. Many struggle with body image and resort to eating disorders or plastic surgery in order to try and meet those standards. These trends and beauty standards fluctuate often, so it becomes a never ending cycle. Similar standards are also in place for those who wish to express their sexuality, and often they are stereotyped or made to feel different when they go against what is considered the norm. They all fade into the background, not relevant or good enough for enough people.