Culture of Beauty
1.
A
1. Hair Care
2. Makeup
3. Skincare
5. Shaving
1.
2.
3.
4.
B
$187/month
$242/year
$135/year
$43/few months
1.
2.
3.
4.
C
6hrs/month
124hrs/year
11.7hrs/year
10hrs/year
2.
A
1.Skincare
2.Shaving
B
1. $39/year
2. $22/year
C
1. 15hrs/year
2. 60hrs/year
3. In comparison to the total time of each chart, I have spent about 76.7 more hours per year
in my beauty rituals. The concept of masculinity and feminity drastically differs when it
comes to the definition and “meaning” of how it's portrayed today. Masculine
characteristics and beauty rituals mostly focus of going to the gym and showing the bare
minimum effort of basic hygiene, whereas feminity is centered around creating this
façade of perfection as displayed within the media and capitalist consumerism. Whatever
is trending, whatever product is deemed hot- or will give you “sexier characteristics” and
make your skin just as flawless and bare like a 10-year-old little girl- is often more sought
for to appease the male gaze or appease the idea of what is socially acceptable or
presentable for a woman. In place of this time, I would much rather read a book, or build
new hobbies for myself to enjoy my life and not waste time and energy appeasing that
little voice in my head that occasionally worries about how others perceive me- and even
if I'm valuable enough. Society participates in these rituals as a collective to uphold the
false narrative that beauty is perfection. This leads to unnecessary judgement, as well as
competitiveness against other women sometimes. Naomi Wolf says, “...the imaginary
weapon being ‘beauty’... This constant comparison, in which one woman’s worth
fluctuates through the presence of another divides and conquers. It forces women to be
acutely critical of the ‘choices’ other women make about how they look. But that
economy that pits women against one another is not inevitable” (pg284). Beauty becomes
almost a social power within the Patriarchy. Instilling unrealistic social standards in
which women must adhere by to obtain some sort of value or worth not only oppresses
women day by day- but also somewhat imprisons women.