Representations & Culture WMST 301 Prof. Lawston

Overview Cultural ideas about what it means to be a woman and what it means to be a man affect everyone in the society. Powerful cultural institutions like the media shape how we see ourselves and the world around us.

Images of Women What are beauty ideals in western society, for women? How do these ideals affect us, our identities, and our view of ourselves?

The Beauty Myth The thin body ideal has been referred to as the tyranny of slenderness, or the beauty myth, according to feminists.   Thinness is not necessarily inherently beautiful. Rather, at any given time and place, social norms and institutions dictate what is thought to be attractive. Among others, consumers and mass media promulgate and reinforce this thin ideal. Yet precisely because it is a mutable social construction, it can be challenged, however difficult this task may be because of the embedded social structure.

The thin ideal is a contemporary phenomenon limited to affluent Western nations (Rothblum 1990). In the 17th century, the female beauty ideal represented in, for example, Renoir’s paintings was fleshy, voluptuous, and full-bodied. An emphasis on a slender ideal emerged in the late 19th century/early 20th century, partly as a result of the development of mass-marketing in the fashion industry, a middle- class aesthetic, and a distinct youth culture (Seid 1989; Walden 1985; on the history of fat and dieting, also refer to Stearns 1997; Schwartz 1986).

In some non-Western cultures, individuals continue to covet fat as a sign of wealth and health and eschew thinness because of its association with poverty and malnutrition (Rothblum 1990). For example, in the Andes mountains fat symbolizes strength and well- being (Weismantel 2005) and Nigerian Arabs revere fat as sexy (Popenoe 2005). In Central Africa, there are festivals that still celebrate the voluptuous woman. In short, the thin ideal is a construction specific to both time and place. It is structural, but affects all of us at the individual level.

As countries become more westernized, and the skinny, tall body becomes the ideal, countries become plagued by eating disorders. You see this in some Asian countries, such as China, where eating disorders are on the rise.

Take also Fiji. Fiji did not have access to TV until 1995, when a single station was introduced. It broadcasts programs from the U.S., Great Britain, and Australia. Until that time, Fiji had no reported cases of eating disorders. A study conducted by anthropologist Anne Becker showed that most young girls and women in Fiji were comfortable with their bodies, no matter how large. In 1998, just three years after the TV was introduced, 11% of girls reported vomiting to lose weight, and 62% of the girls surveyed reported dieting during the previous months.

While the media effects on our psychological processes are complex, studies show that higher levels of exposure to media imagery correlates with girls’ and women’s body dissatisfaction (refer to Grogan 2008: 108-135). Weight concerns are so prominent among women that some scholars refer to it as a “normative discontent” for women (Rodin, Silberstein, and Striegel-Moore 1985).

The Supermodel Most runway models meet the body mass index physical criteria for anorexia. Whereas twenty years ago the average fashion model weighed 8 percent less than the average woman, today she weighs 23 percent less, at 5’11” and about 117 pounds. Ten years ago, plus sized models averaged between size 12 and 18. Today, the majority of plus-sized models on the agency boards are between a 6 and 14.

Research shows that there is still very little diversity of race, sexualities, ability, ethnicity, class, and even age in the media today. Who do we mainly see represented? (white, young, middle class, heterosexual, able bodied, very, very thin, breast implants, etc).

Plastic Surgery In 1989, 681,000 surgical procedures were performed. In 2001, 8.5 million procedures were performed. In 2012, more than 13.1 million procedures were performed, in the U.S. alone. 91% of these are performed on women.  

The majority of plastic surgeries are considered minimally invasive The majority of plastic surgeries are considered minimally invasive. Botox is the most popular (5.4 million), followed by soft tissue fillers (1.8 million), chemical peel (1.1 million), laser hair removal (938,000), and microdermabrasion (825,000). Of the 1.5 million procedures considered more invasive, breast augmentation (296,000) was at the top of the list, followed by nose reshaping (252,000), eyelid surgery (209,000), liposuction (203,000), and tummy tucks (116,000). Nearly 210,000 cosmetic plastic surgeries were performed on people age 13 – 19 in 2009.

The bar of what we consider perfection is constantly being raised – by cultural imagery, by surgeons’ recommendations, and by eyes that become habituated to interpreting every deviation as “defect”. In Susan Bordo’s research, one surgeon reports that, “plastic surgery sharpens your eyesight. You get something done, suddenly you’re looking in the mirror every five minutes at imperfections nobody else can see.”(Bordo xvii). Shows like Dr. 90210 encourage women of all ages to get plastic surgery, to “correct their imperfections.”  

In addition to high rates of plastic surgery, virtually every celebrity image you see in magazines, videos, and sometimes in movies, has been digitally modified. You should let this sink in. It is not just a matter of deception, it is perceptual pedagogy, as Susan Bordo argues…. In other words, it is a lesson in how to interpret your body, 101. These images are teaching us how to see. Filtered, smoothed, polished, softened, sharpened, rearranged, they are teaching us what to expect from flesh and blood. They train our perception in what is a defect and what is normal.

Cosmetic Surgery and Beauty Image As argued by Debra Gimlin (in your reading!), the women who had plastic surgery were largely satisfied with their results, but they believed they had to defend their decision to others, so the surgery itself could not make them entirely happy. Some of the women chose to have cosmetic surgery in order to boost their self-esteem and improve their social interactions. None of the women believed they had the surgery to please others. Each woman believed that the aspects of her body with which she was unhappy were beyond her control and inaccurately reflected her identity. The women were not necessarily interested in becoming beautiful, but they wanted to look “normal,” which primarily meant having young Anglo, feminine features. Many who had plastic surgery believed that a person’s body was a physical manifestation of their character.

Beauty and Hair According to Ingrid Banks’ research (your reading!) Black women understand that their hair is an important demonstration of their relationship with the world, particularly concerning their race, gender, and sexual orientation/preference. Banks argues that society has often judged black women using the white female body as the standard. This reminds us that race, ethnicity, and class are important aspects of American beauty ideals. See Chris Rock’s documentary Good Hair for more on this.