Feminine beauty ideal

The feminine beauty ideal is "the socially constructed notion that physical attractiveness is one of women’s most important assets, and something all women should strive to achieve and maintain”.[1] Feminine beauty ideals have always been prevalent, in every culture, in every society, in every time period. Women conform to beauty norms to fit into the crowd and to simultaneously show themselves off as being desirable.[2] The feminine beauty ideals are rooted in heteronormative beliefs, yet they still heavily influence women of all sexual orientation. According to the Adaptationist theory, “human males have evolved psychological mechanisms that selectively detect and respond to certain specific characteristics of a woman's body.”[2] The characteristics that males respond to- young, symmetrical, healthy, fit, child-bearing- are the underlying influences of feminine beauty ideals. These ideals are exposed to children from an early age through fairy tales and Disney princesses. The feminine beauty ideal has become more ingrained and cohesive in recent decades because of the expansion of technology and the relevance of mass media. Research has shown that the pressure to conform to a certain definition of beautiful has had drastic psychological effects. These ideals have been correlated with depression, eating disorders, and low self-esteem starting from an adolescent age and continuing into adulthood.

History of the Ideal

In the 1890s fashion revolved around wide skirts, high heels, floppy sleeves, small waists, and high bodices. This look soon gave way to the famous “S” shape.[3] At the beginning of this decade, hair was tight and frizzy. As the decade went on, Marcel Gateau, a French hairdresser, introduced a new trend where curled hair resembled “watered silk”. Contrary to our ideals today, gray hair was considered very attractive because it made women appear “softer and younger”.[3] At this time, society frowned upon cosmetics unless they were used for health reasons. A curvaceous body type was favored, with a corset pushing breasts up but also showing no cleavage.

In the 1900s clothing was much looser and the “S” shape changed to the empire line. The ideal of fashion at this time was dubbed Edwardian Fashion.[4] This was the time that fur became an extravagant commodity and was seen on every movie star that could afford it. At this time, large swept up hairstyles with loose curls and fake hair was popular. The cosmetic beauty ideal was still the pale, delicate, translucent skin that was seen in the Victorian era. At this time the curve of the bosom was the main focus, but still without any cleavage showing. “Suggestion, rather than definitive statement, was the real drive behind it all.”[3]

Between 1910 and 1919, female clothing became more masculine, due to work uniforms that were worn while the men were away at war. “The First World War was in many respects the dividing line between the nineteenth century and the modern era”.[4] Before the war, there was a great interest in the exotic and colorful. After the war, the fashion became simpler; skirts and sweaters were now being worn every day. The essence of practicality and simplicity was also seen in the hairstyles of this time. Many women cut their hair and the “Madonna” became a very popular hairstyle. Before the war, the cosmetic industry was starting to become more popular but after the war makeup was frowned upon. The body image during this time period changed from “barrel and tunic” to an emphasis on showing skin and binding of undergarments.[3]

The 1920’s saw the beginning of the chemise. The dresses were considered skimpy because they revealed the legs of women. A tank top and low waist were also incorporated into the design also made them revolutionary. The “Eton crop” became a popular hairstyle; this involved the shearing of one’s hair. Makeup came into the spotlight once again and young, sporty looks were the ideal looks for women. Women attempted to look flat and shapeless during this time.[3]

The 1930’s saw incandescent, shimmering clothes with bare back and simple jewelry. Fur was considered the height of fashion during this time period. Hair was grown out and slightly curled. Platinum blonde became the most desirable hair color. Cosmetics became more outrageous with celebrities sporting wild nail colors and bright eye shadow and lipstick shades. During this era, the body image was still shapeless, but in a less constructive way. Cleavage became popular and was now visible to the public.[3]

During the 1940’s, practicality and simplicity again came into play during the war. Clothing was sporty, but there also was a rise in popularity of the peasant skirt. Hair was long and wavy, top-knots became popular due to their practicality when working in factories. This was a time of “practicality, and conservatism in hair”.[3] Cheaper versions of popular makeup were created due to rationed resources and tighter budgets. During this era, there was a new trend of leg makeup due to lack of stockings and socks. Practicality was also seen in the popular body images. Physically toned bodies were popular because it was also practical for the working women.[3]

The 1950’s saw an increase in “femininity and refinement” [3] with trends like stilettos and cardigan-jacket suits becoming popular. Hair during this period was ever changing, thus any and every hairstyle was in. “Egyptian shape eyes” were popular, with women putting on heavy eyeliner and shadow. Bodies became more muscular, toned, and womanly than the 1940s. Curves were again emphasized, but in a more athletic fashion than the early 1900s. With movie stars like Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly, the "hour-glass" body shape became the ideal body.[5]

In the 1960’s, the “mini” became popular in every social class. This era was influenced by space travel with the appearances of flared pants, boots, gogo skirts, and capes. Wigs were worn to give the illusion of changed personalities and were extremely popular among younger women. Body painting, frosted colors, false eyelashes, and pale lips and skin were among the most popular trends of this decade. These trends were used to emphasize large eyes and a youthful look. “Gangly” and “waif-like” became the ideal body image of this time, again emphasizing youth.[3]

The 1970’s saw the rise of platform shoes, layers, smock dresses, punk fashion, and disco clothes. Perms, geometric cuts, bobs, crimping, tiny braids, layers, and bright hair colors were all in popular demand during this decade. Face painting, contouring, iridescent colors, and lip gloss were the popular makeup techniques that were seen.[3] The 70’s also saw a rise in anorexia, which could be due to the body image of the time, which was thin and tall.

In the 1980’s, shoulder pads, short skirts, ballgowns, and fake fur became popular fashion trends. For younger women, hair was long, loose, and usually blonde. Older women practiced back-combing, blow-drying, and perms to fit into the trends of this time. Cosmetics took a turn during this era. Natural looking colors were more popular, with an emphasis on tanning and thick eyebrows. During the 80’s, there was an increase in knowledge about fitness and dieting so the ideal body image was the perfectly toned and tanned woman.[3]

In the 1990’s, fashion became more about individuality. Hair also saw the influence of individualism, but emphasized the importance of silkiness and softness. Experimenting with cosmetics became popular, along with cosmetic surgery and tattoos. Models again became waif-like, as did the ideal body image. With the increasing knowledge of eating disorders and skin cancer, this body image came under scrutiny and more cosmetic products included sunscreen.[3]

Not as much research has been done on the current fashion trends. This history is also focused mainly on westernized beauty ideals and is lacking information about other cultures (i.e. African, Asian, Latin-American, etc.).

The ideal in fairy tales

The feminine beauty ideal is portrayed in many children’s fairy tales. When fairy tales were solely written down, beauty was a prominent theme.[6] It was common for female characters to be beautiful and for physical attractiveness to be rewarded.[7] Years later, these fairy tales were adapted into film, where people actually saw what it means to be beautiful. In fairy tales, "beauty is often associated with being white, economically privileged, and virtuous."[7] From fairy tales, the feminine beauty ideal and what it takes to be beautiful is defined to girls starting at a young age.

The Brothers Grimm fairy tales were written by Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm in Germany at the end of the 18th century and first translated into English in 1823.[8] Their fairy tales usually involve a beautiful heroine. In each tale, there are certain sets of physical characteristics that the heroine has. Since these heroines are also called "beautiful" and "pretty," it can be inferred that their physical attractiveness is defined by these traits. In the story Snow White, the protagonist Snow White is described as being "white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony wood" and "as beautiful as the light of day."[9] This fairy tale is defining beauty as being Caucasian with rosy cheeks and black hair. Little girls reading this tale will believe that in order to be good, pretty, and wanted, they must have these physical characteristics as well. On the other hand, the antagonist of Brothers Grimm fairy tales is frequently described as ugly, leading readers to relate beauty with goodness and ugliness with evil.[7] Ultimately, this correlation puts an emphasis on the importance of being beautiful, as defined by fairy tales.

Starting almost 100 years after the Grimm Brothers wrote their fairy tales, the Walt Disney Animation Studios adapted these tales into animated feature films.[10] Because these stories became motion pictures, the viewers are able to see exactly what it means to be beautiful, rather than interpreting it from written tales. About forty percent of Disney movies made from 1937-2000 had "only dominant cultural themes portrayed."[11] Because the majority of characters are white, "the expectation [is] that all people are or should be like this."[11] Furthermore, only about 14 percent of the Disney movies from 1937-2000 represented non-Western beliefs.[11] These movies full of beautiful female characters are defining the Caucasian race as the ideal and most attractive race. Other common traits of female Disney characters are thin bodies with impossible proportions, long, flowing hair, and large round eyes.[12] The constant emphasis on female beauty and what constitutes as being beautiful contributes to the overall feminine beauty ideal.

The ideal in mass media

Mass media is one of the most powerful tools for young girls and women to learn and also understand feminine beauty ideals. "Before mass media even existed, our ideas of beauty were limited to our own communities."[13] Because of that, people would stick to seeing each other in person in order to form beauty ideals. But as mass media develops, the way people see feminine beauty ideals changes as does how females view themselves and one another. Each day, girls are exposed to images of beautiful models and advertisements about beauty and fashion. “The average teen girl gets about 180 minutes of media exposure daily and only about 10 minutes of parental interaction a day," says Renee Hobbs, EdD, associate professor of communications at Temple University.[14] In most advertisements, female models portray the same kind of look. That is they have an ultra- thin body with an hourglass figure, beautiful soft and smooth skin and hair, and looking absolutely flawless. Because of the images that young girls are exposed to, they start to believe that physical appearance is highly seen upon every female in society. “Girls today are swamped by [ultra-thin] ideals not only in the form of dolls but also in comics, cartoons, TV, and advertising along with all the associated merchandising.”[15]:290 In addition to this, the feminine beauty ideal in the mass media is manipulated by technology. Images of women can be virtually manipulated creating an ideal that is not only rare but also nonexistent.[16] The Encyclopedia of Gender in the Media states that “the postproduction techniques of airbrushing and computer-generated modifications 'perfect' the beauty myth by removing any remaining blemishes or imperfections visible to the eye.” [17] In addition, mass media is a way to advertise cosmetic products, clothing, fashionable items that girls can purchase in order to become more like the ideal. Advertisements would “[t]arget markets to sell products such as diets, cosmetics, and exercise gear [which helps] the media construct a dream world of hopes and high standards that incorporates the glorification of slenderness and weight loss.”[18] And because of that, girls can be persuaded by media, which may cause them to spend time and money in pursuit of certain kinds of products that may or may not lead to the results advertised. With a focus on an ideal physical appearance, the feminine beauty ideal distracts from female competency by prioritizing and valuing superficial characteristics related to beauty and appearance. When physical beauty is idealized and featured in the media, it reduces women to sexualized objects.[19] This creates the message across mass media that one's body is inadequate apart from sex appeal and connects beauty and sex.[19]

Psychological effects of the ideal

Feminine beauty ideals have shown correlations to many psychological disorders including lowered self-esteem and eating disorders. Western cultural standards of beauty and attractiveness promote unhealthy and unattainable body ideals that motivate women to seek perfection.[20] Since 1972 there has been a dramatic increase in the percentage of women in the United States who experience dissatisfaction with their bodies.[21] Research indicates that women’s exposure to television, even for a very short time, can experience decreased mood and self-esteem.[22] In fact, it has been consistently found that perceived appearance is the single strongest predictor of global self-esteem among young adults.[21] Awareness of the ideal female shape is linked to increasingly negative self-esteem.[21] Through peer interaction and constant comparison to those portrayed in the media, women often feel inadequate and thus their self-esteem can decrease from their negative self-image. A negative body image can result in adverse psychosocial consequences including depression, poor self-esteem, and diminished quality of life.[23]

There is a lot of pressure for girls to conform to the feminine beauty ideals and since thinness is prized as feminine, many women feel dissatisfied with their body shape. Body dissatisfaction is viewed as a serious concern because it has been found to be a precursor to serious psychological problems such as depression, social anxiety, and disordered eating.[24] Researchers have found that magazine advertisements promoting dieting and thinness are far more prevalent in women’s magazine than in men’s magazine, and that female television characters are far more likely to be thin than male characters.[25] Eating-disordered behavior stems from individual body dysmorphia, or an excessive preoccupation with perceived flaws in appearance.[20] Researchers suggest that this behavior is directly associated with societal pressure for women to live up to the standards of beauty set by a culture obsessed with being thin.[20] Research has shown that people have subconsciously associated heavier body sizes with negative personality characteristics such as laziness and lack of self-control.[26] Fat-body prejudice appears as young as early childhood and continues into adult years.[26] Body image becomes a major issue as females go through puberty; girls in adolescence frequently report being dissatisfied with their weight and fear future weight gain.[27] The lengths adolescent girls go to in seeking society’s beauty ideal, such as developing eating disorders and seeking plastic surgery, are argument enough that the preoccupation with beauty can become dangerous. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), the age of the onset of eating disorders is getting younger; age 11 to 17 is identified as the time of increased vulnerability.[20] Girls as young as elementary-school age report body dissatisfaction and dieting in order to look like magazine models.[26] Social comparison theory would predict that women compare themselves to societal standards of beauty in order to assess their own level of attractiveness.[28] By promoting an ideal of feminine beauty that is impossible to achieve for the average woman, the media creates increased dissatisfaction with one's body which may lead to weight control behavior and increased risk for developing eating disorders.[29]

Gallery

  1. ^ a b c d e "A Timeline of Sexy Defined Through the Ages". Discovery News. StyleCaster. 19 March 2010. Retrieved 3 March 2014. 
  2. ^ a b "The Ideal Woman Through the Ages: Photos". Discovery News. Discovery Communications. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2014. 

References

  1. ↑ Spade, J. Z., & Valentine, C. G. (2008). The kaleidoscope of gender: Prisms, patterns, and possibilities. Pine Forge Press.
  2. 1 2 Abramson, P. (1995). Sexual nature, sexual culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Mulvey, K., & Richards, M. (1998). Decades of beauty. New York: Checkmark Books.
  4. 1 2 Steele, V. (1985). Fashion and eroticism: Ideals of feminine beauty from the Victorian era to the Jazz Age. New York: Oxford University Press.
  5. ↑ A Timeline of Sexy Fashion Trends Through the Years. (2010, March 19). Retrieved December 4, 2015, from http://stylecaster.com/beauty-high/timeline-sexy-defined-through-ages/
  6. ↑ Spade, Joan Z; Valentine, Catherine (Kay) G (2010). The Kaleidoscope of Gender: Prisms, Patterns and Possibilities (Third ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc. ISBN 978-1412979061.
  7. 1 2 3 Baker-Sperry, L.; Grauerholz, L. (2003). "The pervasiveness and persistence of the feminine beauty ideal in children's fairy tales". Gender & Society 17 (5): 711–726. doi:10.1177/0891243203255605.
  8. ↑ "About the Brothers Grimm". Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  9. ↑ Grimm, J. & Grimm, W. (1857). Snow White. Berlin: Children’s and Household Tales.
  10. ↑ "Walt Disney Animation Studios".
  11. 1 2 3 Towbin, M.A.; Haddock, S.A.; Zimmerman, T.S.; Lund, L.K.; Tanner, L.R. (2004). "Images of gender, race, age, and sexual orientation in Disney feature-length animated films". Journal of Feminist Family Therapy 15 (4): 19–44. doi:10.1300/j086v15n04_02.
  12. ↑ "Unrealistic anatomies of Disney princesses revealed". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2015-12-04.
  13. ↑ unknown, Body Image. (n.d.). - The Media Lies. Retrieved October 26, 2013, from http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/excerpt.asp?id=2
  14. ↑ Heubeck, Girls and Body Image: Media's Effect, How Parents Can Help. WebMD. Retrieved October 26, 2013, from http://www.webmd.com/beauty/style/helping-girls-with-body-image
  15. ↑ Dittmar, H.; Halliwell, E.; Ive, S. (2006). "Does Barbie make girls want to be thin? The effect of experimental exposure to images of dolls on the body image of 5- to 8-year-old girls". Developmental Psychology 42 (2): 283–292. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.42.2.283.
  16. ↑ White, Michele (2009). "Networked bodies and extended corporealities: Theorizing the relationship between the body, embodiment, and contemporary new media.". Feminist Studies.
  17. ↑ Kosut, Mary (2012). Encyclopedia of Gender in Media. Thousand Oaks, Calif :: SAGE Publications, Inc. 2012. pp. 16–17.
  18. ↑ Groesz, L. M.; Levine, M. P.; Murnen, S. K. (2002). "The effect of experimental presentation of thin media images on body satisfaction: A meta-analytic review". International Journal of Eating Disorders 31 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1002/eat.10005. PMID 11835293.
  19. 1 2 Swami, Viren; Coles, Rebecca; Wilson, Emma; Salem, Natalie; Wyrozumska, Karolina; Furnham, Adrian (2010-09-01). "Oppressive Beliefs at Play: Associations Among Beauty Ideals and Practices and Individual Differences in Sexism, Objectification of Others, and Media Exposure". Psychology of Women Quarterly 34 (3): 365–379. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2010.01582.x. ISSN 1471-6402.
  20. 1 2 3 4 Fitts, M. & O’Brien, J. (2009). Body image. In Encyclopedia of Gender and Society. (pp. 82-87). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
  21. 1 2 3 Balcetis, E.; Cole, S.; Chelberg, M. B.; Alicke, M. (2013). "Searching out the ideal: Awareness of ideal body standards predicts lower global self-esteem in women". Self and Identity 12 (1): 99–113. doi:10.1080/15298868.2011.639549.
  22. ↑ Renzetti, C. M., Curran, D. J., & Maier, S. L. (2012). Women, men, and society (6th ed.). Pearson.
  23. ↑ Cash, T. F.; Morrow, J. A.; Hrabosky, J. I.; Perry, A. A. (2004). "How has body image changed? A cross-sectional investigation of college women and men from 1983 to 2001". Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 72 (6): 1081–1089. doi:10.1037/0022-006x.72.6.1081.
  24. ↑ Jefferson, D. L.; Stake, J. E. (2009). "Appearance self-attitudes of African American and European American women: Media comparisons and internalization of beauty ideals". Psychology of Women Quarterly 33 (4): 396–409. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2009.01517.x.
  25. ↑ Jackson, L. A. (1992). Physical appearance and gender: Sociobiological and sociocultural perspectives. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
  26. 1 2 3 Owen, P. R.; Laurel; Seller, E. (2000). "Weight and shape ideals: Thin is dangerously". Journal of Applied Social Psychology 30 (5): 979–990. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2000.tb02506.x.
  27. ↑ Serdar, K. L. (2011). Female body image and the mass media: Perspectives on how women internalize the ideal beauty standard. Westminster College. Westminster Coll., nd Web.
  28. ↑ Chin Evans, P.; McConnell, A. R. (2003). "Do racial minorities respond in the same way to mainstream beauty standards? Social comparison processes in Asian, Black, and White women". Self and Identity 2 (2): 153–167. doi:10.1080/15298860309030.
  29. ↑ Mondini, S.; Favaro, A.; Santonastaso, P. (1996). "Eating disorders and the ideal of feminine beauty in Italian newspapers and magazines". European Eating Disorders Review 4 (2): 112–120. doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0968(199606)4:2<112::aid-erv152>3.3.co;2-y.
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