Beauty Standards : Women And Women

Expectations on women to appear a certain way remain evident in society since the beginning of time. The evidence lies in the modern surge of eating disorders, cosmetic surgery, and excessive makeup application. All further enforced by stick-thin, photoshopped models and celebrities in media. Now more than ever, societal pressures regarding beauty lead women to take extreme actions.

By lightening one’s skin and relaxing the unruly curls, Afro-Brazilians believed they were one step to achieving the nation’s approval. From the colonial period through independence and all the way up to the 1970’s hair straightening treatments became ingrained into the black culture. Traditionally, as like in the United States, the hot comb was the fundamental tool used to straighten hair, but Brazil soon turned to chemicals for a more radically (read: permanent) change. Hair relaxers were used to alter the hair’s biochemical structure to unwind curls into straight strands. These hair relaxers dominated the beauty markets, and many times the chemicals were not entirely safe and would harm the user’s skin, and radiate toxic fumes that affected lung function. Similarly, skin bleaching was also a popular trend that’s harmfulness was outweighed by its highly sought after benefits. Although skin bleaching wasn’t technically advertised by the government, there were little restrictions on the industry which made the market full of unsafe products. By altering these two fundamental traits of the black phenotype, people felt as if they were advancing and lifting the black race into something more respectable. The beauty industry within the black community became it’s own subculture and part of daily life. Even those who lived in the favela, or had little income, made a point to always keep their hair polished. Whether it be keeping their hair tied up, flat ironed, or investing in skin bleach, the black race had collectively agreed to buy into euroscintelsim. By (perhaps unconsciously,) supporting this beauty industry they in turn supported a market that only existed to serve as an ansistientis of their natural

While beauty is not limited to social media and online authority but has started from the ground up in stores such as Claire 's and Sephora which birth new trends and encourage women to “Be Yourself”. Claires, a store generally shopped at by pre-teens, has began created light BB & CC creams for sheer to light coverage. In Claire 's there are less than 2 Deep complexion shades for these young pre-teens… With the simple act of secluding African and African American teens from shopping at Claire 's diminishes their confidence in their skin from such a young age. With in-store technology advancing the precise matching of skin complexion Sephora has continued to break skin shade boundaries… or so we think. In a recent interview with a Sephora employee she states, “When an African American walks in looking for a complexion product the girls run away because they “can do it” (Amy). Sephora does offer a mandatory SkinIQ matching class which does show how to properly match shades (which also matches undertones). Shea Moisture (A hair and skin brand known for being African and African American promoted) created a groundbreaking commercial showing race being a divider

The topic of beauty standards and body image is a pressing matter regularly discussed in today’s society. However, the concept of black beauty (those of African descent), both its internal and external components, has yet to be explored thoroughly. I aim to discover the motives of black women who wear protective styles—wigs, weaves, and braids. Do black women in the Syracuse area wear protective styles as a physical protective style to shield their natural hair from the harsh and sporadic environment or do they wear it for psychological reasons to shield their emotions from the harsh critics and scrutiny that black women face in a Eurocentric environment? This study is done with the purpose to bring to light the opinions of black women, whose feelings are frequently ignored and undermined in our society. In

The beauty standards set for African American women has shifted drastically in the past decades due to the change in popularized stereotypical images portrayed through the explicit lyrics of hip hop and rap music. How African American women are portrayed in the music industry has had a profound impact on how black women view themselves as well as other races, it promotes unrealistic body sizes/images, and colorism in the black community because of how the new age rap and hip hop stigmatizes and sexualize the Black woman’s body as a whole. Not only are males rap artist contributing to the exploitation of African woman but also the women of rap as well are adding to the derogatory and disrespectful image that is perceived by society.

All American females live in a society that puts undue pressure on women to accommodate an unreasonable ideal, and the Euro-American standard of beauty has dominated popular culture causing devastating economic, physical, and psychological effects, particularly on African American women, who should embrace their natural beauty. African American women make destructive changes to their body that will break down their bank accounts, and the woman's physical body appearance to the naked eye. Rhinoplasty, breast augmentation, and botulinum toxin are just some of the costly surgeries that have major changes and that can cost up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Physically, African American women begin

Since I began my natural hair journey I am persistently overshadowed with a multitude of confused stares from strangers in public, and unfiltered conversations from Black men and women pertaining to my decision to be “Natural”. Those experiences launched my curiosity about the politics of Black women’s natural hair in America. Instead of considering that Black women who opt to wear their natural hair may have begun a journey to true acceptance of themselves, they are shunned upon for not conforming to Society’s westernized standards of beauty. Thus, Black women’s natural hair are identified as employing a form of resistance to our cultural history of oppression.

Eurocentric beauty standards are perpetuated around the world due to colonization and the major influence of Europeans. These beauty standards have forced women of all backgrounds to chemically alter their skin and hair and promotes self-hatred in women of darker complexions. Particularly, American Black women hold many of the lasting effects that the Eurocentric beauty standards caused. There are still issues faced today in which some black women are uncomfortable in their skin, are not fond of their hair and are victims of colorist biases.

Society, especially western, conceptualizes beauty through the use of publicity and cinema. We are under constant bombardment from consumer related magazine ads, billboards, television commercials, and movies about what “beautiful” people look like and how we should imitate them. This standard is overwhelmingly portrayed as white beauty. Starting from a young age this standard of beauty is forged in our minds; we want to look like these actors and models; we want to be thin, fit, youthful looking, have a symmetrical face and possibly even posses a particular race. We accept this beauty standard; we notice our various faults among ourselves and self-critique. We try to emulate the models as best we can and we fail to realize that these

The women in the 17th century were incorrectly accustomed to the necessity of becoming a picture perfect person; which is a bad habit that only a handful of people are able to fathom. Perfect is an expectation that you can’t achieve in life until you realize to accept yourself for who you are. The conjecture of beauty and our bodies is set at a level that is insurmountable. To fathom this we can look at today’s society, if we aren’t what society wants we aren’t accepted. Society’s idealistic view on beauty is something we should not tolerate because we should accept people for who they are within themselves. In the dramatic monologues “Barbie Doll,” “Cinderella,” and “Applicant,” they are expected to either be something they aren’t, or desiring someone who isn’t even real.

Beauty standards are portrayed everywhere: on magazines, social media, ads, commercials, and even flaunted among peers. While the ideals are supposed to promote health awareness, fitness motivation, and self love, it unfortunately results in many unfavorable consequences. Women are constantly “penalized for not being beautiful and at the same time are stigmatized, even pathologized, for not feeling beautiful, for having low self-esteem, for engaging in behaviors like dieting and excessive exercising, or for having eating disorders” (Johnston and Taylor 954). Beauty standards are unrealistic and unhealthy to pursue, and misinforms the public on what true beauty is. While not all beauty image ideals promote negative feelings and dissatisfaction, many believe that the negative effects far outweighs any positive effects.

As a consequence of history and European standards of beauty upheld in society black women are conditioned to loathe attributes “distinctive to their race” which, therefore, leads to low self-esteem. Black women today have a plethora of advertisements thrown at them that white-wash, body shame, and encourage them to assimilate to European standards of beauty for example straightening their hair which ultimately alters a woman’s outlook on self.

It does not come as a surprise that women, in large, are dissatisfied with their bodies. This widespread body dissatisfaction amongst women was coined “normative discontent” (Rodin, Silberstein, & Streigel-Moore, 1984). Although body dissatisfaction seemingly plagues women as a whole, there are several factors that can either serve as a protective factor or a risk factor for the development of body dissatisfaction. Much of the research regarding this normative discontent excludes culturally relevant factors for African American (Black) women. Looking specifically at African American women, the factors that affect body image and body dissatisfaction greatly differ from those that affect non-minority White women. Skin tone or complexion,

The Standards of Beauty In today’s society, women are defined by their beauty; or what society deems attractive. This socially accepted beauty is exactly what the feminist movement tries so hard to explicate to many- women are more than looks. However, this movement became embraced more recently compared to the past. Dating back to the time of the booming Greek mythology, women are expected to be beautiful and please those around her-

Beauty standards have been socially constructed in diverse and various shapes in every society or culture in the world, and cause people to think they are not beautiful if they do not fit the common standard of beauty that has been set by the society. Most people are pressured into the standard by the social milieu. The people who are different from the socially pursued standard of beauty do not think the standard itself is absurd, but they rather tend to be insecure about their appearance. Once people see the beauty through individual’s perspective, not through the socially constructed standard, they would realize how much they have unconsciously forced each other to be fit in the beauty standard. This is something that I have also experienced. I was not a person who fit in the standard of beauty, and that made me shy and timid. However, once I saw myself through a different perspective of beauty, I could see it as a social problem that unconsciously forces one particular standard of beauty.