1. 1 THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY SO4025 Lecture 7

2. 2 Whats so wrong with beauty/ fashion? n Criticisms in the popular press – Insensitivity to historical injustice and social problems n Feminist critiques – Fashion reinforces status quo – Real vs. ideal – Extent of female body practices – Femininity requires continual bodily surveillance

3. 3 Whats so wrong with beauty/fashion? Feminist critiques (continued) n Economics of beauty – Alliance of patriarchy and capitalism (Bartky 1982) – Beauty efforts seen as frivolous (Rothblum 1994) n Globalisation of beauty (Chapkis 1986) n Beauty linked to economic value (Wolf 1991)

4. 4 Women and Beauty/Fashion n Business opportunities for women (Peiss 1986) –Early feminists: Helen Landsdowne Resor Tensions for women in the beauty industry –Efforts to present new images of women –African-American women: CJ Walker

5. 5 Women and Beauty/Fashion n Pampering, relaxation (Sharma and Black 2001) n Pleasure, creativity (Wilson 1990; Fisher and Davis 1993) n Self-reflecting subjectivity (Finkelstein 1997) n Women do not simply accept beauty imperatives (Gaines 1990) – They can turn them to their own purposes (McRobbie 1991)

6. 6 Beauty and Power n Is creative interpretation sufficient? n Women can be positioned within systems of power without having power. –Power is not a possession. –Power recreates itself. –Creative interpretation does not make difference valuable. –Rather, change is achieved through political struggle (Bordo 2004).