The Burden of Beauty (Personal Writing Sample)

This piece uses scholarly articles to explore the implications of beauty practices and standards.

Scholarly studies have greatly altered the way in which beauty is thought of. We now know that beauty is not simply a mere activity of personal fulfillment, but instead a very powerful institutional power, and social currency. Beauty is not just the practice of grooming oneself, putting together a fashionable outfit, or even engaging in wellness. Beauty is an all encompassing socially constructed ideal that affects both intrapersonal and interpersonal relationships, social mobility, and cultural identity. Our body does not just belong to us, instead exists as a site for cultural impression. This paper will examine how gendered and cultural power relations are influenced by the social construction of beauty ideals found in beauty advertisements, and how these hegemonic ideals are exemplified through the body as a cultural text.

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To understand just how powerful beauty ideals are, we must first understand the role of the body within culture. By examining the way an individual acts towards their body, how they dress, and the body rituals they perform, we can make inferences about their culture. This is what Susan Bordo discusses in her text “From Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body”. In her work, Bordo defines the body as a cultural text. The word “text” here means: a set of shorthand code that everyone understands, a set of rules, or a code of behavior (Jhally, 2009). Bordo states that the body is “a surface on which the central rules, hierarchies, and even metaphysical commitments of a culture are inscribed and thus reinforced through the concrete language of the body” (Bordo 1993, 2362). This expression of cultural normativities regarding beauty behavior lends itself to the idea that to practice beauty, is to practice gender display. Gender display can be defined as “the process whereby we perform the roles expected of us by social convention” (Jhally, 2009). It is this gender display that is so prevalent in beauty advertisements and that “function as a backlash phenomenon, reasserting existing gender configurations against any attempts to shift or transform power relations” (Bordo 1993, 2363). In other words, beauty is directly attached to accepted forms of femininity, and the reproduction of patriarchal power. It is only after viewing the body as a figure for analyzing socially constructed cultural hierarchies and gender roles that we can begin to consider the implications of beauty advertisements on gendered power relations. But what is social constructionism and how does it work?

Stuart Hall answers this question in his work Representation; Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. According to Hall, culture is not the beliefs, art practices, rituals, or normalities of a common people, but rather the process of making meaning of people and objects through representations. These meanings are “produced at several different sites and circulated through several different processes or practices” (Hall 1997, 6). Individuals, or cultural groups, themselves do not inherently hold cultural meaning, it is society that imposes these meanings onto them. To simplify, a red curb does not hold any significant meaning until it is placed in the context of parking laws. Then, it is symbolic of cultural parking standards; the red curb signifies that the parking zone is reserved for emergency vehicles. This same logic can be applied to gendered power relations within the media. Away from the context of society, femininity and masculinity have no inherent or biological meaning. Representations of women in the media attach meaning to femininity, and give society the notion that in order to be feminine you must also be beautiful. The circuit of culture is a model of how these symbolic meanings are made, and how language serves as a representational system that enables the construction of meanings. Hall states that “the question of meaning arises in relation to all different moments or practices in our ‘cultural circuit’- in the construction of identity and the marking of difference, in production and consumption, as well as in the regulation of social conduct” (Hall 1997, 4). Media is the largest engine responsible for the circulation of these meanings. The meanings created by society are reflected in the media, produced on a mass scale, and then received by consumers. These received media representations, or meanings, shape cultural identity and thought processes. This circulation of representation means that culture reproduces itself, and its own meanings. These meanings hold immense power as they exist not only on an immaterial level, but “organize and regulate social practices, influence our conduct, and consequently have real practical effects” (Hall,1997). Cultural meanings and their effects on power relations can be studied through the role of the body and its relation to beauty in beauty advertisements.

The beauty standards constructed by society are physically impossible to obtain, and because practicing beauty is deemed a necessary component of femininity these standards oppress women by directly linking “worth” to physical appearance. The ideal women portrayed by the media is one of sheer physical and mental perfection. Her characteristics include slender, and lacking the natural curves of the human body. She is flawlessly light skinned, vulnerable enough to stay submissive to men, but strong enough to care for her children; the perfect balance of sexy and modest, holding on tight to her virtue while at the same time providing an outlet for the male gaze. These impossible beauty standards have been named “The Beauty Myth” by third wave feminist writer and journalist Naomi Wolf in her book The Beauty Myth. Wolf speaks on gendered power relations and beauty by stating that beauty is used as a political tool to keep women at the bottom of the hierarchy. An example of this is the media’s insistent focus on what Hillary Clinton wore, and the extent to which she adhered to socially constructed beauty ideals, as opposed to what she said during the 2016 presidential campaign. Here, beauty as a necessary form of femininity, and its impossibility is used as an oppressive force to undermine the progress of women. This same discrimination is seen throughout beauty advertisements. Very rarely are there advertisements showcasing women using beauty products in a position of power, instead advertisements show women making beauty the center of their world while they maintain their domesticality. According to Wolf this vehement insistence on beauty practices as a form of femininity is a “violent backlash against feminism that uses images of female beauty as a political weapon against women’s advancement” (Wolf 1990, 10). By way of explanation, the body within beauty advertisements is a cultural text that reflects political discourse surrounding gendered power relations.

For this essay I will focus specifically on two perfume advertisements, one produced by Versace in 2008, and the second produced by Calvin Klein in 2015, and analyze how these advertisements use the gender display of feminine beauty traits to reinforce gendered power relations of male dominance. In the Versace advertisement, a professionally dressed man holds onto the slender figure of a women, turning her face away from the camera, and curving her perfectly photoshopped body into his. The look on his face is stern, and the look on hers emanates feminine lust and vulnerability. In this advertisement, the female model’s beauty and sexuality is used prop to advertise Versace perfume while her sexuality maintains her vulnerability and feminine inferiority. The placement of the male model’s hand around her neck places him in a position of dominance over her, and by turning her head away from the camera he demands her attention be on him and not the world surrounding. The stark juxtaposition of female nakedness with male professional dress sends a subliminal message of men being of higher status than women. The clothing difference suggests that men are more suited for professional dress while women are more suited for nakedness. The Calvin Klein ad does not vary much in its form. It shows a stern looking man dressed in professional clothing powerfully grasping a naked women and turning her away from the camera. The similarity in visual representation of male and female characters between the ads provides many of the same messages and thus works in a similar way. Both advertisements serve to reinforce the inferiority of women while still using beauty and sexuality to make a profit. These two advertisements exemplify Katie Ellis’ statement in her chapter “Contemporary Beauty-ism” found in her book Disabling the Beauty Myth. In this chapter, Ellis explores the role of women in advertisement by stating “male characters drive the narratives and female characters are acted upon” and as a result “spectators take on a male subjectivity regardless of their actual gender and sexuality” (Ellis 2015, 3). The continual reproduction of images similar to these two perfume ads, with such a strong male focus show the cultural receptiveness of the existing gendered hierarchy in which men hold the highest position of power.

Beauty’s position as an intersectional force prompts the idea that beauty does not only affect gendered power relations, but cultural power relations as well. The push for white beauty is aggressively inundated within beauty advertisements. Even with the recent push for diversity within advertisements, media rhetoric associates “whiteness” with value. This association continuously reproduces white privilege and colorism, and supports unequal cultural power relations. The idea that white beauty is the only kind of beauty, is the type of thinking that transnational feminists denounce. By focusing solely on white beauty, the media constructs the thought that colored beauty is somehow different, establishing the existence of an “other”. Following this thought process, society begins to adapt the collective thought that because women of color do not match up to the white standard of beauty they must be biologically inferior, that their physical characteristics must be deterministic of their character. Shehzad Nadeem describes media’s insistence on white beauty and denouncing of dark skin as a signifying practice that comes to signify darkness “not only [as] underprivileged and bad birth, but all sorts of earthy, voluptuous, and carnal things” in her work “Fair and Anxious: on mimicry and skin-lightening in India” (Nadeem 2014, 13). These media representations shape public opinion and influence the socio-political atmosphere and have real institutional effects. “In reality and in advertising fantasy, then, skin color functions as a form of symbolic capital that shapes life chances” (Nadeem 2014, 3). Interpreting this idea, the media’s representation of beauty as being white effectively correlates whiteness with desirable and blackness as undesirable. This discrimination against dark skin can be seen not only in relations between whites and those of color, but overwhelmingly within colored communities. This prejudice towards women with dark skin among darker skinned groups is known as colorism.

Colorism also affects gendered power relations. “Skin color discrimination or colorism, much like the standards of weight in modern beauty and fashion norms, is a gendered phenomenon that has affected women to a much greater degree than men” (Radhika 2015, 223). Advertisements for skin lightening cream in India, artlessly illustrate the linking of whiteness with superiority. For instance, the globalized company Garnier Fructis releases ad after ad blatantly promoting the idea that to be white is to be superior, but these ads rarely feature men as their main focus or consumer group. The stress to be light, beautiful, and thus successful is a burden placed unequivocally on female bodies. Most of them follow the same formula. A darker skinned women is feeling noticeably upset about her current circumstances. She is often portrayed as simple-minded, uncherished, and belittled by members of her culture, especially by her family and friends. Enter Garnier Fructis’ White Complete skin lightening cream that promises to transform your skin two shades lighter within two weeks. Once fair skin is achieved suddenly the women at the beginning the commercial is not only lighter, but markedly happier, more successful, and less lonely. These visual representations forthrightly state the hegemonic ideal constructed by the white elite class that once lighter, life transforms and individual character improves. In other words, white is superior. Markedly, every single top executive of L’oreal is white. (L’oreal). To emphasize hegemonic ideals being represented by the media, and then being adopted by popular culture, this paper will draw attention to the makeup of L’oreal’’s executive board. Found on lorealusa.com, L’oreal’s official website, a photo collage of top executives can be found. Markedly, every single one of them is white.

These stresses reflect the cultural desire to control a woman’s body, and exemplifies how the body can be seen as a cultural text or site of social control. “The discipline of the female body has to be acknowledged as an amazingly durable and flexible strategy of social control” (Bordo 1993, 2363). Colorism is yet another discriminatory practice that undermines feminine power, and colored power thus lending itself to the power of the white patriarchy.

The burden of beauty placed on women, particularly women of color, has enormous real life effects. This cultural and political burden can be examined by analyzing the body as a cultural text. Once the body’s importance can be seen past the physical realm, its importance in feminine control is uncovered, and becomes clearly represented within the media. The beauty ideals found in the media support the patriarchy and the continuous oppression of women by constructing narrow definitions of successful; femininity and promoting the idea of beauty as a social capital.

References:

Bordo, Susan “Unbearable Weight : Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body.” (1993): 2362-2363.

Ellis, Katie. “Contemporary Beauty-ism” Disabling the Beauty Myth. (2015).

Hall, Stuart. “Representation; Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices.” (1997): 6. Nadeem, Shehzad (2014): Fair and anxious: on mimicry and skin- lightening in India, Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, DOI:10.1080/13504630.2014.881282

L’Oréal Group. "Diversity, Inclusion, Top Executives, Interview - L'Oréal Group." L'Oréal, World Leader in Beauty: Makeup, Cosmetics, Haircare, Perfume - L'Oréal Group. Accessed December 10, 2018. http://www.lorealusa.com/group/diversity-and-inclusion/top-executives-endorsement.

Radhika Parameswaran and Kavitha Cardoza, “Melanin on the margins: Advertising and the Cultural Politics of Fair/Light/White beauty in India” Journalism & Communication Monographs (2009): 223 DOI: 10.1177/152263790901100302

Nadeem, Shehzad (2014): Fair and anxious: on mimicry and skin- lightening in India, Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture (2014): 13. DOI:10.1080/13504630.2014.881282

Wolf, Naomi. “The Beauty Myth” (1990): 10.