A Conclusion to My Studies

A Conclusion to My Studies

Regarding Feminism & Beauty Culture

  
       Although I certainly do not know everything, I am very happy to say that I am so much more knowledgeable about certain aspects of feminism and beauty culture. I only skimmed the surface of feminism, however. I had wanted to give a whole background on it, but then I realized that method was taking me literally forever and I needed to condense and focus my information. After reviewing all of these texts and medias, I have come to realize that I will never view any sort of text, media, film, advertisement, etc. the same ever again. I will now always be thinking of how it relates to myself and why it came to be that way. For example, the picture I have posted above is a picture of the artist, Robin Thicke from one of his music videos. This is the type of objectification that we need to focus on ridding the media of. It portrays women as if they are, like I have previously stated, only important because of their bodies and beauty, and there is rarely intellect to match. The girl in this video never gets a chance to display any sort of intellect since she is silent the entire time, however that in and of itself shows how women are silenced on these subjects and treated as though they are petty and unimportant. 
              Of course we are all petty and unimportant until the obsession of the beauty culture consumes a woman who is important to the person that is doubting the ideals. Whether she is lost due to depression of not meeting the beauty expectations of society or becomes anorexic due to trying to hard to fulfill those expectations, body image and beauty culture is a huge deal in our society and greatly impacts women everywhere. After reading these texts by Naomi Wolf, Susan Bordo, Lisa Jervis, Eve Ensler, and Jean Kilbourne, I have actually come to find a peace within myself about my own image.
          I have always been self-conscious since I was younger; people regularly tell me that I shouldn't be but that does not change the way in which I view myself. My insecurities partly have to do with all of the advertising which display women as though they are only one specific body type; the ideal beautiful woman who matches society's beauty standards. I am a short, scrawny girl with somewhat short legs, and a relatively small chest size. I have hair that grows out to about triple its size when I blow dry it because it is curly. None of my natural physical qualities match the beauty expectations of women. However, due to my insecurities, I now have a callus on my right thumb from straightening my hair so much, two enormous scars on the outsides of each of my ankles from my clumsiness while shaving, and I spend an absurd amount of money on Bare Essentials makeup and Victoria's Secret bras and underwear. I know that I am completely entrapped in the game of our beauty culture, however for some reason society sincerely has brainwashed me into thinking that i actually do feel better about myself when I perform these rituals. Before the development of mass media, women did not compare themselves in such harsh ways to other women. It begin in "the 1840s, the first nude photographs of prostitutes were taken; advertisements using images of "beautiful" women first appeared in mid-century. Copies of classical artworks, postcards of society beauties and royal mistresses, Currier and Ives prints, and porcelain figurines flooded the separate sphere to which middle-class women were confined. Since the Industrial Revolution, middle-class Western women have been controlled by ideals and stereotypes as much as by material constraints," (Wolf 15). Back then was when the idea of the ideal beauty image was just forming together. Now, there are many variations of it however they are all still very similar to each other. In the video I have posted above this text, it shows a number of different advertisements that portray women, "beautiful" women, and basically all of them are half naked. Each advertisement basically screams to young women who are watching, "hey, society thinks I'm hot. Don't you wanna be hot too?" The video focuses on how these advertisements impact young girls and the problems that they cause within their self-esteem, like me, and how that continues to impact them as they continue on in life. 
           Beauty culture in feminism is an extremely interesting topic which is seemingly difficult to dissect, given that there are so many media industries who try and justify their objectification of women's bodies. However after studying it, I feel as though all of these "beautiful" women who constantly stare me in the eyes and mock me from their glossy pages or movie screens will be seemingly less beautiful to me, now that I can understand beauty is simply a societal construct...stemmed from male dominance. Thank you again for taking an interest in my project and my studies, I know they have greatly changed the way I view the world, media, and pretty much any woman who is displayed as a beauty icon, and I hope they can do the same for other young women experiencing the same body image issues. 

Sincerely,
Samantha

Below is a list of all of the sources that I have used in my research:

Works Cited

Bennett, Sam. "The Oxymoron of the Sarah Palin "Conservative Feminism" Brand." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 June 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-bennett/the-oxymoron-of-the-sarah_b_611767.html>.

Chen, Joyce. "Christina Aguilera on Her Curvy Controversial Figure." New York Daily News. New York Daily News, 1 Oct. 2012. Web. <http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/christina-aguilera-fat-girl-article-1.1171905>.

Eells, Josh. "Miley Cyrus on Why She Loves Weed, Went Wild at the VMAs and Much More." Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 27 Sept. 2013. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/miley-cyrus-on-why-she-loves-weed-went-wild-at-the-vmas-and-much-more-20130927>.

Ensler, Eve. The Good Body. New York: Villard, 2004. Print.

"Feminism." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

"Feminism." Urban Dictionary. N.p., 31 Jan. 2010. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism. New York City: W.W. Norton &, 2007. Print.

Handy, Bruce. "A Bunny Thing Happened: An Oral History of the Playboy Clubs." Vanity Fair. Vanity Fair, May 2011. Web. 02 Dec. 2013. <http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2011/05/playboy-clubs-201105>.

Hollandsworth, Skip. "Toddlers in Tiaras." Good Housekeeping Aug. 2011: n. pag. Academic Search Premier. Web. <http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.cabrini.edu/ehost/detail?sid=639687bb-9595-4669-8b4c-7b99505fe05b%40sessionmgr4003&vid=9&hid=4104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=65433775>.

Jervis, Lisa, and Andi Zeisler. Bitchfest. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. Print.

Kilbourne, Jean. "Beauty...and the Beast of Advertising." Center for Media Literacy. Center for Media Literacy, n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. <http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/beautyand-beast-advertising>.

Patton, Tracey Owens. "Hey Girl, Am I More than My Hair?: African American Women and Their Struggles with Beauty, Body Image, and Hair." NWSA Journal 18.2 (2006): 24-51. Academic Search Premier. Web. <http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.cabrini.edu/ehost/detail?vid=4&sid=40f92601-c71c-4306-aea0-f28d0e6d8b61%40sessionmgr4003&hid=4104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=22056097>.

Rampton, Martha. "The Three Waves of Feminism." The Magazine of Pacific University. Pacific University, Fall 2008. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.pacificu.edu/magazine_archives/2008/fall/echoes/feminism.cfm>.

"Robertson Letter Attacks Feminists." The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 Aug. 1992. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

Trincia, Michelle. "TLC's 'Toddlers in Tiaras,' a Twisted Parallel Universe." The Review. The University of Delaware, 23 Nov. 2009. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://www.udreview.com/editorial/tlc-s-toddlers-in-tiaras-a-twisted-parallel-universe-1.944520>.

Watson, Elwood, and Darcy Martin. "The Miss America Pageant: Pluralism, Femininity, and Cinderella All in One." Journal of Popular Culture 34.1 (2000): n. pag. Academic Search Premier. Web. <http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.cabrini.edu/ehost/detail?sid=a7c47c07-f10b-49d5-b54b-8c4aaa8fe30f%40sessionmgr4003&vid=8&hid=4104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=4250958>.

Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. New York: HarperCollins, 2002, 1991. Print.