The Beauty Ideal

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• Does anybody ever attend a party where the first thing you do is look
around and compare yourself to how other women at the party look?
- I have a friend:
“She’s not even that pretty.”
“Its okay, you’re prettier than her anyway.”
She seems to believe that physical attractiveness is really all that matters.
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The Beauty Ideal do is look around and compare yourself to how other
women at the party look?
• Beauty is an idea and a function of culture.
• When ideas about beauty make powerful impacts they are
considered beauty ideals.
• Therefore, those who try to “find” beauty are trying to live up to an
ideal.(uen)
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What is Beauty? do is look around and compare yourself to how other

women at the party look?
• Beauty is:
o Not Tangible
o Not Objective
o Not Real
o No one can totally achieve the idea of beauty because there is not
one set definition. It is an opinion.
o “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
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Everyone is Beautiful do is look around and compare yourself to how other

women at the party look? No one is Ugly
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Beauty Ideals Have Changed Throughout History and Are Different

Amongst Cultures
• The “Fashion Silhouette”
• Affects the natural look of the body to mold into social standard.
(Thomas)
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Chinese foot binding Different Amongst Cultures

A Chinese woman’s foot was considered beautiful if it was small, so foot
binding was incorporated into the culture and took place for about 1000
years. Around the age of six, small girls feet were wrapped in tight
bandages, so they could not develop normally. They would break and
become deformed. These feet remained small and dysfunctional and prone
to infection, paralysis and muscular atrophy. The feet usually stayed
between 4-6 inches long.
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Lip Plates Different Amongst Cultures

Many African tribe women have had their lips supported and stretched by
metal rings (lip plates) since early childhood. In adulthood their stretched
lips express the ultimate in beauty. (able)
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“Giraffe necks” are common in a tribe living close to the border of Thailand
and also in many African tribes especially in Kenya and Tanzania. (able)
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The Elizabethan Era the border of Thailand and also in many African tribes
especially in Kenya and Tanzania.
“What was considered beautiful for an aristocratic Elizabethan woman in
Tudor England involved whitening the face, plucking eyelashes, and
shaving back the hairline to show a prominent forehead.”
(Shaw)
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Georgian Wig Vanity the border of Thailand and also in many African tribes
especially in Kenya and Tanzania.
In the late 1700s, women began to wear their hair along with fake hair up in
a giant wig that took hours to prepare. Women often had to sleep sitting up
and scratched their scalps with a tool resembling back scratchers of today.
The hair could be built up to 30 inches tall and lice and persistent head
aches were common. (Thomas)
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Corsets. Not only did they make it hard for women to move freely or sit
down, but they also damaged internal organs and restricted air flow. This
lead to fainting and less energy than they would have otherwise. It would
take about 2 years for internal organs to be “trained” into a smaller position
around the waste and about a year of not wearing a corset for the internal
organs to settle back into regular positions. (Thomas)
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In the 1920s, flappers were “in” and many women opted for breast
reductions or binded theirs to fit in with the social standard. Yet, not much
after that larger breasts were the norm and women began going under the
knife for breast enhancement.
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Today, girls (I say girls because it all starts when one is young), in our
society are being constructed to constantly strive for a slimmer figure.
Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia have evolved into somewhat of an epidemic.
I would also like to point out that the average woman who usually is a
healthy size 12-14, may have a low self esteem because of the normalized
beauty ideal to be thin.
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Though there are many examples that could still be given, one can
conclude from all of these that women have and are still being oppressed
through the beauty ideal.
One may also conclude that it needs to be stopped.
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Women and Oppression through the beauty ideal one can conclude from
all of these that women have and are still being oppressed through the
beauty ideal.
“The Beauty Ideal works to limit women, encourages competiveness and
ultimately tends to lower women’s self-esteem.” (247)
The supporting argument behind this statement begins with the products
and rituals that are marketed to women. These standards are not created
by the women they affect but by those with power and influence who
“create these trends and options and enforce the standards.” (235)
Disciplinary practices
1) Time- shaving, make-up, ironing/straightening hair, plastic surgery
2) Effort- Once one devotes this much time to something it becomes part of
who they are. As if this is naturally what they are supposed to look like.
3) $
4) An overall view of ourselves as not being good enough. –We are not
good enough the way we are but need certain products to improve the way
we look. (237)
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Why may it be this way? one can conclude from all of these that women
have and are still being oppressed through the beauty ideal.
• “Society has responded to the gains of the marginalized groups
through “distractions” that focus energy on the body.” (231) Societal
standards can humiliate those who do not or can not fit them.
• Men as a group have been able to project their fears and anxieties
about frailty and mortality onto women’s flesh.
• Patriarchy has shaped women to-stay small, “not to take up too much
space,” stay young, body hair is not acceptable----These are all ways of
staying more youth-like and powerless.
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The Real Truth one can conclude from all of these that women have and
are still being oppressed through the beauty ideal.
• Throughout these many cultures and times each “fashion silhouette”
has molded many different views of beauty.
• All of these women were considered beautiful for adhering to each
social standard.
• It is foolish for one to know that beauty can be all these different
things and still believe the beauty construct that she or he has eternalized
is the right one.
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In Conclusion one can conclude from all of these that women have and are
still being oppressed through the beauty ideal.
It would be ignorant not to acknowledge the fact that if women ignore
cultural expectations for female appearance “they may pay a price in lost
wages, diminished marital prospects, lowered status and so on.” Yet, if they
conform and follow cultural expectations, they pay a price in time, money,
energy and overall a lower self esteem. (279)
If we cannot totally deny these societal norms for risk of being chastised for
it, what we can do is at least be aware of these unnatural standards. We
can do this by not let them take over who we are or how we look at and
treat others.
We also must work together to stop these institutionalized ways of thinking
to not leak into future generations. We must let them know that they are
beautiful just the way they are; to save them from a lifetime of self-
deprecation and unfair judgment of others because of their looks.
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By Kirsten one can conclude from all of these that women have and are still
being oppressed through the beauty ideal. Anderberg
(www.kirstenanderberg.com)
• I want to be really ugly today Just to stick it to The Man I want my
ugliness on display Just to fuck with The Man's plans
• I want to be like Miss Jane Hathaway Or Aunt Bea, or Alice, the maid
For whatever it was Marilyn Monroe had It sure was quick to fade.
• I want to invest hours preparing My ugliness on parade My head to
toes Just so everybody knows
• I want to wear really geeky glasses Not the anarchist horned rim chic
I want to be the bearded lady Not some guy's girlfriend on which he cheats
• I want to stand in a pile of ripped up newspapers And to bathe in
shreds of magazine ads I want to be so ugly you yell at me in crosswalks I
want to be so ugly I am banned.
• I want to wear my ugliness Like a badge of honor and pride As a
statement against capitalist bullshit And letting others control my in and
outsides
• Beauty is skin deep Ugly is profound You cannot get ugly in a bottle
downtown
• I want to be so ugly it is beautiful Behind the ugly, I feel safe to hide
Committing crimes of which no women dare speak Pursuing ugliness
during her beauty make-up time
• I'm gonna be really fucking ugly today Just so everyone knows I'm
gonna pursue it like others do beauty Just to stick my thumb to my nose.