The Social Construction of Feminine Beauty
“Ambrose Bierce (1958) once wrote, ‘To men a man is
but a mind. Who cares what face he carries or what he
wears? But woman’s body is the woman.’ Despite the
societal changes achieved since Bierce’s time, his
statement remains true.” (Saltzberg & Chrisler)
“In recent decades the beauty ideal has combined such
opposite traits as erotic sophistication with naïve
innocence, delicate grace with muscular athleticism, and
thin bodies with large breasts.” (Saltzberg & Chrisler)
Beauty as internalization (beauty standards are learned)
Beauty as externalization (beauty is done)
Beauty as objectivation (beauty is an institution that acts on
us)
Beauty is connected to social control (ugliness is
punished)
Beauty is connected to stratification (beauty is stratified
by race, class, gender, etc.; other resources are
stratified by beauty)
Beauty is justified by institutionalized ideologies
Ford and Beach’s (1951) study of “primitive” societies
found no universal standards of “sexual allure” among
women.
Body trait
Number of societies
that admire trait
Slim body build
Medium body build
Plump body build
5
5
13
Narrow pelvis and slim hips
Broad pelvis and wide hips
Small ankles
Shapely calves
1
6
3
5
Upright, hemispherical breasts
Long and pendulous breasts
Large breasts
2
2
9
Large clitoris
Elongated labia majora
1
8
Source: Hatfield & Sprecher. 1986. Mirror, Mirror. SUNY
Press.
Paul Campos (The New Republic, Jan. 13, 2003) claims that
medical research has not shown that being overweight is a
health risk of any kind. (Sedentary lifestyle and bad diet are
health risks.) Some evidence suggests that overweight
people live longer than people who are “fashionably thin.”
People who lose weight lower their life expectancy,
possibly because of the negative effects of dieting and diet
drugs.
According to new government standards even sex symbols
like Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Michael Jordan are
“overweight.” Sammy Sosa and 3/4 of the NFL are
“obese.”
“Americans think being fat is disgusting. That
psychological truth creates an enormous incentive to give
our disgust a respectable motivation. In other words, being
fat must be terrible for one’s health, because if it isn’t that
means our increasing hatred of fat represents a social,
psychological, and moral problem rather than a medical
one.”