Ariana
Carver, Julia Rivera
Prof. Gandara
WGS/BWS
383
28
October 2015
Beauty Standards
Beauty comes in all shapes and
sizes, colors and hues, and lengths and widths. Each culture and society has
their own unique standards of of beauty. In Asian countries, it is
considered beautiful to have extremely pale skin. In African countries,
heavy set women are considered more desirable. History and literature
have repeatedly reminded us that European standards of beauty have infiltrated
many cultures and have dominated the beauty market. Media surrounding
beauty has caused many women of color to doubt their worth and beauty because
of these standards. Women have turned to cosmetic plastic surgery to
alter their appearances. The ideas and culture behind cosmetic plastic
surgery in the United States and Brazil is changing they way women feel about
their bodies. In today’s society there are physical differences in white,
African American and Afro-Brazilian bodies, however, these differences are
perceived and valued differently in their perspective countries.
When you imagine the most beautiful woman, how does she look? Many
would argue that it depends on which ethnicity you are picturing. When asked to
imagine the ideal body of a woman, the current desires are long lean legs, flat
stomach, moderate hip width, a petite rear end and a proportional bust.
Tracey Owens Patton, author of Hey Girl, Am I More than My Hair
says, “Beauty is subject to hegemonic standards of the ruling class.
Because of this, ‘beauty is an elusive commodity’” (Patton 25). In
American history black beauty has struggled to find its strength in society.
Society tells African American women that they are only beautiful if they
are, “nearly indistinguishable from a woman…” (Patton 26). This means
straight hair, smaller facial features and lighter skin. The bodies of
black women are starkly different as well, being larger in most areas such as
hips, thighs, and butt. Throughout the ages black women have struggled to
define their own beauty and be recognized as beautiful. They are overly
sexualized in the media and are often disregarded when one thinks of standard
American beauty.
As we have discussed in class, white western culture has also
infiltrated Brazilian women and their beauty standards. The article about
top model Emanuela de Paula is an example how women of African descent struggle
to find their beauty. De Paula talks about how she had to prove her
beauty to her country because she did not fit the fair skin/straight hair mold
of the typical Brazilian model. On top of being black, she was also poor
which was displayed in her appearance during the beginning of her career.
Even when she became more successful her peers continued to questioned or
insulted her beauty. She tells a story about how one of her colleagues
called her a “macaca” meaning monkey, mocking her African features. She says in
spite of “all of her experiences and everything that she was were reduced to ‘macaca’
(blackwomenofbrazil.co). In American, often times African American women
will buy products to straighten their hair because it’s not straight enough or
lighten their skin because it’s too dark yet they are still not considered
beautiful in the eyes of society. This can be seen when African American
women are told they’re “pretty for a black girl.” The addition of “for a black
girl” shows how African American girls and women are not considered as
beautiful as white women. People do not say “you’re pretty for a white girl”
it’s simply “you’re pretty.”
Plastic surgery has become very popular with women who are not happy
with the bodies they were born with. Plastic surgery used to be used
primarily for people with serious deformities and birth defects, but today
cosmetic plastic surgery occurs more frequently. Some women go to extreme
lengths in order attain the features or bodies they desire. There has
been a rapid growth in the Brazilian cosmetic plastic surgery industry.
Alexander Edmonds, author of The Poor Have a Right to be Beautiful,
explains why he believes that more middle or lower class women are desiring
plastic surgery. He states that a run-down clinic offers free plastica,plastic
surgery, and “a right to beauty is celebrated in a country where human rights
are disparaged…”(Edmonds 365). Edmonds notes that American media does not
present Brazilian cosmetic surgery in a good way, but that Brazilians are
excited about its recent growth in their country.
Throughout the article Edmonds discusses about how he believes that the
plastic surgery boom in Brazil is pushed by capitalism and the desire for
“social mobility, glamour, and modernity” (Edmonds 366). He attributes
the shift in health care and “the feminization of the working class” to the desire
the right to be beautiful (Edmonds 366). The jobs that women do hold as
maids, receptionists, and secretaries, places an emphasis on the appearance of
the woman. Sexual desire or youthfulness can add to the interaction
between customer and worker. Many women desire breast augmentations or
nose jobs and these procedures are extremely inexpensive. This idea of
altering one’s appearance to attract sexual attention seems to be the same
within American and Brazilian culture. The difference, however, tends to be
that upper class women in the United States are more likely to undergo surgery
than lower class women to attain the sexual desire.
It is interesting to think about how beauty standards can be influenced
and changed so quickly and how it affects the self-esteem of a population.
Women of color are continuously struggling to find define their beauty as
well as make the world understand it. Plastic surgery has become a staple in
some societies to enhance or alter appearance. Some believe that it is beneficial
while others believe that it is just a mask to cover up a bigger problem.
It will be interesting to see what the future hold for this population.
Will the beauty standards continue to shift? If it does shift, will it have as
big of an impact on women as it does today?
Works Cited
Alexander
Edmonds. “'the Poor Have the Right to Be Beautiful': Cosmetic Surgery in
Neoliberal Brazil”. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
13.2 (2007): 363–381. Web…
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. Web...
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