Caribbean

Studies Internal
Assessment
Name: Ruth-Ann Lambert

Teacher: Ms.Campbell
Student: Ruth-Ann Lambert
Caribbean Studies Internal Assessment First Draft

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................4
Literature Review........................................................................................................................................5
Data Collection Sources..............................................................................................................................7
Interview Questions.....................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
The idea of being beautiful has always been something both women and men have strived. However, the
media has painted an image in our heads that only women strive to be beautiful and suffer in the conquest.
This internal assessment wishes to disprove this notion. This topic needs more exposure and attention
than it is getting. Not many males speak out about body image and this internal assessment is about
giving a voice to the persons who are silently suffering from trying to achieve the cultural beauty ideal or
for a better word physical attractiveness. The researcher wishes to get a qualitative understanding of how
these ideals are affecting them (males) and their health.
The researcher wishes to focus on The influence of cultural habits and value systems specifically beauty
ideals on the physical health of Jamaican males and critically and objectively analyze the statement
above. The study will try to understand different beauty ideals and what are their thoughts on these
cultural ideals. It will also try to understand how these persons idea of beauty have been shaped and
influenced by cultural definition and values, how far would these persons go to obtain to be the ideal
beauty and why. This research will also ask how cosmetic changes in the name of beauty affect physical
health.
This study is of importance since knowledge is power this internal assessment could only be the
beginning of cultural awareness and how harmful cultural ideals can hurt Jamaicans, especially those who
have a hard time expressing themselves. This not also raises awareness to problems but also gives an
opportunity for solutions to arise.

Literature Review
Beauty has always been an important discussion in any culture. There is nothing wrong with wanting to
be beautiful and there may be positive attributes in wanting to be beautiful, however, when persons will
go to extremes to fit the description of societys beauty ideal, there lies the threat to the health and wellbeing of that person and others and around them. According to Hoffman (2004), severe body insecurity
from exposure to the medias portrayal of physical perfection drives some young men to restrict their
dietary behaviors to dangerous levels. Though only 10% of reported teenagers with eating disorders are
male, experts believe that the number of boys affected is increasing and that many cases are not reported
due to male reluctancy to acknowledge an illness that is primarily associated with females. Hoffman has
received her information through surveys and observation.
Persons may not even know that there own perception of beauty is due to cultural and societal influences.
Through research it was seen that there was direct link between cultural beauty ideal and what women
found attractive. Women, on average, tend to be attracted to men who are taller than they are, display a
high degree of facial symmetry, masculine facial dimorphism, and who have broad shoulders, a relatively
narrow waist, and a V-shaped torso. The minister of Youth and Culture Lisa Hannah (2013)has stated in
an interview that the misconception of beauty held by young teens today must be adjusted and fixed. She
argued that the concept of beauty stems from Jamaicas cultural heritage, underlined by the plantation
regime, noting that in the plantation regime, beauty by non-Europeans was seen within the context of
having straight hair, straight nose and light skin. Ms. Hanna was indeed correct that their needs to be a
change in how were perceive beauty in Jamaica and the Caribbean as a whole, however she fails to
include the males and the pressure being pushed upon them in recent times to be the beauty ideal. Thus,
this brings about the core importance of this Internal Assessment, Jamaican men need a view and a voice
on how cultural definitions of beauty impacts them.
Krystal Tomlinson (2013) mentions that Culture is directly related to beauty Miss Tomlinson said.
Although distorted beauty ideals have been known to affect women mostly, Hoffman (2004) challenges
this and describes the pressure to be perfect in societys eyes to be equal. Hoffman (2004) mentions that
the pressure on young men to become perfect has increased over the years as advertising and other media
images idealize muscular men. This noted increase in pressure on men could be because they are exposed
to the media since the Internet has become a world-wide phenomenon. Magazines and other media outlets
target men to lose weight with many products that they say will help them to achieve their dream
body. These pharmaceuticals may be harmful. This idolization of the dream body has led many young
men to begin taking steroids, specifically, oral anabolic steroids.
According to Dowshen(2013) Anabolic steroids are synthetic hormones that can boost the body's ability
to produce muscle and prevent muscle breakdown. Steroids are illegal, and they can damage a person's
health, especially if used in large doses over time. Also, the health problems caused by steroids may not
appear until years after the steroids are taken. Steroids can produce very serious side effects. Using
steroids for a long time can negatively affect the reproductive system. In males, steroids can lead to
impotence, a reduction in the amount of sperm produced in the testicles, and even reduced testicle size.
Steroids taken for an extended period of time also can result in liver tumors, abnormal enlargement of the
heart muscles and violent, aggressive behavior and mood swings.

Men may also turn to cosmetic surgery. One extreme example of this is the live-male Ken doll, 32 year
old, Justin Jedlica, who, according to Dailymail.co.uk (2013) spent $100,000 dollars on cosmetic surgery
to reach his goal of ideal beauty. Surgery is a risky process and can lead to death someone is not careful.
A peculiar thing to note is the Wodaabe tribe in Niger. The Wodaabe tribe in Niger, Africa has an
extraordinarily different perspective on beauty. In this tribe, it is the men who have to wear the make-up,
the special outfits and have to compete in beauty pageants known as Gerewol to impress potential lovers.
The Wodaabe women have to judge the beauty pageants and then can choose the man they are most
impressed by to be a husband or lover. The men use many different techniques and resources to attract the
attention of the women such as black, yellow and white patterns to enhance facial symmetry, long braids
to symbolise wealth and fertility and black lipstick because it will make their teeth look whiter
Jane(2011) This is an extreme case of pressured males in a culture to be the beauty ideal of that society. In
the Woodabe culture, To ensure a child's future beauty, a mother will mold the skin and bones of her
infant by pressing the nose, or stretching the limbs to make her child more attractive.

It is thus seen through previous literature that there is indeed an increased influence on males to be a
specific societal beauty. It was indeed difficult to find previous literature on this subject matter, which I
believe is very important.

Data Collection Sources

The point of data collection was to investigate the impact of culture and value systems on persons
perception of beauty and how this in turn affected their health. Data collection sources were both primary
and secondary sources. Primary sources used were interviews diaries, observation. Secondary sources
were web page articles and news paper articles. Both Primary and Secondary contributed to design and
completion of the study. Primary sources allowed for both qualitative and quantitative data that were easy
to manipulate and understand. Primary sources gave more in depth answers. Secondary sources were not
as in depth but this gave body to the study. Primary sources may have been more accurate than the
secondary sources used as the data collection methods for secondary sources were sometimes not
revealed.
In a structured interview, the researcher asks a standard set of questions and nothing more. Face -to -face
interviews have a distinct advantage of enabling the researcher to establish rapport with potential
participants and therefore gain their cooperation. These interviews yield highest response rates in survey
research. They also allow the researcher to clarify ambiguous answers and when appropriate, seek followup information. Disadvantages include impractical when large samples are involved time consuming and
expensive. (Leedy and Ormrod, 2001).In interviews information is obtained through inquiry and
recorded. Structured interviews are performed by using survey forms, whereas open interviews are notes
taken while talking with respondents.
The secondary sources where accessed by visit to the school library and the World Wide Web. A major
downfall was that the researcher was unable to gather information from a source within Jamaica and
much wider the Caribbean.
The article written by Aimee Nicole Hoffman contributed mainly through the description of the typical
male beauty ideal and how this affected them. However, her article was more having to deal with
American men and not necessarily those living in the Caribbean.
The article on the JIS website written by Tashika McCarthy dated August 9,2013 was helpful as it
narrowed down beauty ideals and its impact on health specific to the Caribbean however, she focused
only on the impact it had on women and failed to note how this affected Caribbean/Jamaican men .

Interview Questions
(Only men all differing in age)

1. On a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. How much do you worry about
physical attractiveness/appearance?
2. Explain you answer above. Why is your score there?
3. What measures do you take to fix your physical appearance?
4. If possible, could you locate the reason for wanting to attain these physical characteristics? From
whom/where is the influence coming from? Eg: Friends, women, parents, church, television,
music, social media.
5. How do these unattainable beauty ideals affect you emotionally/psychological? Do they affect
you at all?
6. Do you believe there has been an increased pressure on males to be societys definition of beauty
over the years. Explain your answer.
7. Do you believe that societys definitions of beauty affect male or females more?

Presentation Of Data

Phenotypes
Muscular Body

Beautiful Hair

Being Tall

Handsome Face

12%
37%
24%

27%

Doughnut Chart Showing graphical representation of what males in the Jamaican Society
considered beautiful/physically attractive. Age of men varied. 37% said a muscular body was
considered to be physically attractive. 27% of respondents said beautiful hair. 24% said being tall
was physically attractive and 12% said a handsome face was attractive.

Graphical Representation showing three male friends discussing the reasons behind why they find
particular attributes of the male body beautiful

Chart Title

35
Yes

30

No

25
20
15
10
5
0

Responses

Bar graph showing the response given by males on if they thought the pressure for men to fit
societys beauty ideal has increased over the past few years. 32 respondents said yes while 15
respondents said no.

Methods used by males to achieve physical attractiveness

11% 2%

Exercising regularly/Gym
35%

Dieting
Regular Grooming

33%

Bleaching
19%

Steroids/Protein Shakes

Pie Chart showing lengths at which men in the Jamaican society would take to achieve physical
attractiveness/beauty. 35% of males said exercising regularly was preferred. This was the highest.
Use Steroid/Protein shake at 2% was the lowest.