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Human beauty[edit]

Main article: Physical attractiveness

Beauty standards are rooted in cultural norms crafted by societies and media over centuries. Globally, it is argued that the predominance of white women featured in movies and advertising leads to a Eurocentric concept of beauty, breeding cultures that assign inferiority to women of color.[1] Thus, societies and cultures across the globe struggle to diminish the longstanding internalized racism.[2] The black is beautiful cultural movement sought to dispel this notion in the 1960s.[3]

Exposure to the thin ideal in mass media, such as fashion magazines, directly correlates with body dissatisfaction, low self esteem, and the development of eating disorders among female viewers.[4] [5]Further, the widening gap between individual body sizes and societal ideals continues to breed anxiety among young girls as they grow, highlighting the dangerous nature of beauty standards in society.[6]

The concept of beauty in men is known as 'bishōnen' in Japan. Bishōnen refers to males with distinctly feminine features, physical characteristics establishing the standard of beauty in Japan and typically exhibited in their pop culture idols. A multibillion-dollar industry of Japanese Aesthetic Salons exists for this reason. However, different nations have varying male beauty ideals; Eurocentric standards for men include tallness, leanness, and muscularity; thus, these features are idolized through American media, such as in Hollywood films and magazine covers.[7]

Eurocentrism and Beauty[edit]

The prevailing eurocentric concept of beauty has varying effects on different cultures. Primarily, adherence to this standard among African American women has bred a lack of positive reification of African beauty, and philosopher Cornel West elaborates that, "much of black self-hatred and self-contempt has to do with the refusal of many black Americans to love their own black bodies-especially their black noses, hips, lips, and hair."[8] These insecurities can be traced back to global idealization of women with light skin, green or blue eyes, and long straight or wavy hair in magazines and media that starkly contrast with the natural features of African women.[9]

Similarly, internalized colorism is rooted in Indian culture, in which prevailing value placed on fairer skin tones fuels the skin whitening industry; products like Fair & Lovely thrive in India, with endorsement from Bollywood celebrities, as well as a general idealization of fair women throughout the film, media, and advertising industries.[10] Thus, such Eurocentric beauty standards are maintained through Indian culture, and encourage women to artificially change their appearances to adhere to beauty norms and ideals. Further, a societal divide exists between the northern and southern regions of India, as fairer complexioned North Indians are culturally associated with beauty, intelligence, and wealth, based merely on adherence to Eurocentric beauty ideals.[11]

In East Asian cultures, familial pressures and cultural norms shape beauty ideals; professor and scholar Stephanie Wong's experimental study concluded that expecting that men in Asian culture didn’t like women who look “fragile” impacted the lifestyle, eating, and appearance choices made by Asian American women.[12][13] In addition to the male gaze, media portrayals of Asian women as petite and the portrayal of beautiful women in American media as fair complexioned and slim-figured induce anxiety and depressive symptoms among Asian American women who don’t fit either of these beauty ideals.[12][13] Further, the high status associated with fairer skin can be attributed to Asian societal history; upper class people hired workers to perform outdoor, manual labor, cultivating a visual divide overtime between lighter complexioned, wealthier families and sun tanned, darker laborers.[13] This along with the Eurocentric beauty ideals embedded in Asian culture has made skin lightening creams, rhinoplasty, and blepharoplasty (an eyelid surgery meant to give Asians a more European, "double-eyelid" appearance) commonplace among Asian women, illuminating the insecurity that results from cultural beauty standards.[13]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Harper, Kathryn; Choma, Becky L. (2018-10-05). "Internalised White Ideal, Skin Tone Surveillance, and Hair Surveillance Predict Skin and Hair Dissatisfaction and Skin Bleaching among African American and Indian Women". Sex Roles. 80 (11–12): 735–744. doi:10.1007/s11199-018-0966-9. ISSN 0360-0025. S2CID 150156045.
  2. ^ Weedon, Chris (December 6, 2007). "Key Issues in Postcolonial Feminism: A Western Perspective". Gender Forum Electronic Journal.
  3. ^ DoCarmo (December 20, 2007). "Dr. DoCarmo's Notes on the Black Cultural Movement". Bucks County Community College. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ "Media & Eating Disorders". National Eating Disorders Association. 2017-10-05. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  5. ^ "Model's link to teenage anorexia" (Document). May 30, 2000. {{cite document}}: Cite document requires |publisher= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |access-date= and |url= (help); Unknown parameter |website= ignored (help)
  6. ^ Jade, Deanne. "National Centre for Eating Disorders - The Media & Eating Disorders". National Centre for Eating Disorders. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  7. ^ "The New (And Impossible) Standards of Male Beauty". Paging Dr. NerdLove. 2015-01-26. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  8. ^ West, Cornel (1994). Race Matters. Vintage.
  9. ^ "Shibboleth Authentication Request". search.proquest.com. ProQuest 233235409. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
  10. ^ Shevde, Natasha. "All's Fair in Love and Cream: A Cultural Case Study of Fair & Lovely in India" (PDF). Advertising & Society Review. 9: 1–9.
  11. ^ Youth, Awaaz. "50 Shades of Colorism in India". infoweb.newsbank.com. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
  12. ^ a b Wong, Stephanie N.; Keum, Brian TaeHyuk; Caffarel, Daniel; Srinivasan, Ranjana; Morshedian, Negar; Capodilupo, Christina M.; Brewster, Melanie E. (December 2017). "Exploring the conceptualization of body image for Asian American women". Asian American Journal of Psychology. 8 (4): 296–307. doi:10.1037/aap0000077. ISSN 1948-1993. S2CID 151560804.
  13. ^ a b c d Le, C.N (June 4, 2014). "The Homogenization of Asian Beauty - The Society Pages". thesocietypages.org. Retrieved 2018-12-01.

https://search.proquest.com/socabs/docview/2116545171/334D89ECD5AB4AF8PQ/3?accountid=11243

http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=9&sid=74bf334d-78e3-4c24-b5ab-d26b6e983d12%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=2017-18106-001&db=pdh

http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=14&sid=74bf334d-78e3-4c24-b5ab-d26b6e983d12%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=pdh&AN=2009-04868-001

http://www.michelepolak.com/200fall11/Weekly_Schedule_files/Sheyde.pdf

https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/media-eating-disorders

Awaaz, Youth. “50 Shades of Colorism in India.” NewsBank, HT Digital Content Services, 17 July 2017,infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&t=continent%3AAsia%21Asia%2Fcountry%3AIndia%21India&sort=YMD_date%3AD&maxresults=20&f=advanced&val-base-0=colorism&fld-base-0=alltext&docref=news%2F165B3F3483519048

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