BEAUTY AND
WOMEN IN THE
20TH CENTURY
CULTURE
The attractiveness of women is based on several aspects of a
woman’s physical appearance, namely:
•Body structure and weight
•Hair style and coloring
•Bust size
•Use of cosmetics
FIRST AN
EXPERIMENT!
Two images will be presented to you…
EXHIBIT A
…who measures up to your standards?
E
X
H
I
B
I
T
B
LET’S TRY AGAIN, SHALL WE?
OUR FIRST MODEL
OUR SECOND MODEL
HER HAIR
 Straight, long to shoulder length hair
 A layered cut
 A blonde or brunette hair color, using
high and low lights or complete
coloring
 Use of hair extensions to lengthen hair
for special occasions and give
appearance of straight hair
USE OF COSMETICS
 Cosmetic industry is booming
 Men prefer women who use
only some make-up
 At least 35% of women have
tried anti-aging products
 Men dislike women with
wrinkles and facial hair
An example of too much make-up!
Do you prefer a woman who wears...?
A lot of make-up
1%
Some make-up
78%
No make-up at all
21%
Which of the following features would turn
you off (percentages total more than 100
because respondents were asked about
each feature)?
Facial hair
73%
Hairy legs
51%
Hairy armpits
50%
Cellulite
31%
None of the above
4%
Body Structure and Weight
 Most men prefer women age 16-24 to have a
smaller dress size
 As women age, desired dress size increases only
slightly to medium
 Most women who would opt for surgery would
like to have surgery on their stomachs.
Most men who alter a women’s body
surgically would also opt for the stomach
Most women
want to lose
between 15 and
30 pounds.
Most women think
they weigh too
much.
Desired Size 16-24 years 25-34 years 35-44 years 45-54 years 55-64 years
Small (8-10)
54% (66%) 39% (43%) 30% (33%) 22% (27%) 21% (7%)
Medium (12-16) 46% (34%) 61% (57%) 69% (66%) 77% (73%) 75% (89%)
Large (18+)
1% (1%)
1% (0%)
4% (4%)
*Bracket percentages are women's responses
Bust Size
 Most men prefer medium-sized breasts
 Most men rate breast implants as just as
good or better than natural breasts
 Men and women both agree that men are
most turned on by a woman’s bust
What sort of breasts do you prefer?
Small
8%
Medium-sized
71%
Naturally big
20%
More “Support”
How men rate implants look & feel over natural breasts.
1 being awful and 10 being excellent.
523 Total Votes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
6%
29
1%
7
4%
23
6%
29
7%
37
4%
23
8
9
10
12%
61
18%
92
11%
57
165
32%
BEAUTY
AND THE
AFRICAN
AMERICAN
WOMAN
 Hair style and coloring
 Use of cosmetics
 Body/Facial structure
 Skin tone
 Bust size
Hair Style and Coloring
 African-Americans spend over 2 billion
dollars on health-beauty aids; 41%
on hair products alone
 59% of people polled believed that
blacks who straighten their hair are
more attractive
 39% polled believe the media says black
women who don’t straighten their
hair are ugly
Hair color
experimentation is
popular, especially in
vibrant shades of red
and brown
POLL RESULTS
What do you think about black women who perm and straighten their hair?
It makes them more attractive. (49%)
They shouldn't do it. It's degrading and upholding unfair beauty standards. (20%)
They're trying to be something they're not. (19%)
What do you think about black women who don't straighten their hair?
It's aNOTA
MUST.
The longer and straighter, the better. (10%)
BENE:
These results were taken from the same
poll.
______________________
All polls on this page and on the following
pages were taken by African-American
men.
They're beautiful with their natural hair. (60%)
As long as it's naturally curly or wavy, then it's okay. (25%)
The 'fro went out in the 70s. Not a fashionable thing to do. (9%)
Somebody buy her a perm ASAP! (4%)
Use of Cosmetics
 Growth in African-American advertised
cosmetics
 The use of false eyelashes
Make-up is more natural in appearance,
using cosmetics to enhance their
natural skin tone with earth, clay
and sand foundation ranges
Body/Facial Structure
 Most men of color prefer women
with full, thick lips
 62% of black men polled find
women with smaller,
narrower, more pointy noses
more attractive than those
with flatter, larger noses
 Black women with a Caucasian
body structure are found more
attractive
(e.g. thinner body, lighter weight, more defined features)
MORE POLLS
I find a small, pointy, narrow nose more attractive than a large, flat, wide nose
YES (62%)
NO (38%)
I find thin or medium lips more attractive than thick lips
NO (57%)
YES (43%)
Considering your responses to the previous questions:
I find Caucasian features to be more attractive (56%)
I find Black features to me more attractive (44%)
Skin Tone
 79% of black men prefer women
of a lighter skin tone
 Black women prefer to have a
lighter skin tone
Honestly, what skin tone do you prefer on a woman?
Light skin that is tanned, or "golden brown". (60%)
The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice. (21%)
The lighter, the better. (19%)
I find lighter skin more attractive than darker skin
YES (61%)
NO (39%)
Bust Size
 Most men prefer medium sized
breasts
 Men do not necessarily prefer
women with implants over
those without
BEAUTY
AND THE
LONG NECK
TRIBES
OF
THAILAND
 Reasons for wearing the rings
 Beauty of the rings
 Affect of the rings on the body
 Disappearance of a culture
Reasons for Wearing the Rings
 To prevent the women from becoming
slaves in neighboring tribes
 To prevent them from marrying outside
of the tribe by making them
unappealing
 Tradition
 In imitation of the mother of their tribe, a
dragon with a long neck
 To prevent tigers from attacking their throats
Beauty of the Rings
 Addition of rings signifies the eligibility
of a woman in the tribe
 The women also wear arm and leg rings to
enhance their beauty
 Feel beautiful for imitating the long neck
of the mother of their tribe
 Wear the traditional vibrant color garb
common to tribes of Northern
Thailand
Women continue to
add rings until their
wedding. The night
prior to the wedding
the rings are
removed and their
necks and rings are
cleaned.
The long neck is
actually only an
illusion!
Affect of the Rings on the Body
 The rings do not actually lengthen or stretch
the neck
 The rings crush the collarbone and
compacts the ribs
 Once on, the rings are on for life and cannot
be removed because of the loss of
muscle to hold up their head
 The women are able to lead semi-normal
lives, but must drink through straws
and clean and dry the rings daily
Women who
committed adultery
had their rings
removed and
suffocated to death.
“I will experience globalization first-hand through this longneck
tribe. I wonder, beneath the hill tribe villager’s sweat, is there a
Thai person grateful for these wells and farm, or are we forcing
western culture on traditional Thai culture and destroying this
tribe?” —Lori Sitko, University of Alberta
Disappearance of a Culture
 Increased globalization has led several
women to break away from
tradition and decide against
wearing the rings
 Some believe tourism is keeping the
dying culture alive
Western 20TH Century
African-American
Darker skin tone
Lighter skin tone
Simplicity in jewelry
Bling-bling
Arm, leg, neck rings
Dyes/streaks hair blonde
Vibrant reds
All natural
Diversity in attire
Diversity in attire
Vibrant clothes
Longneck Tribes
N/A
Western 20TH Century
African-American
Desire for beauty
Desire for beauty
Straight hair
Straight hair
N/A
Medium bust
Medium bust
N/A
Slight makeup
Slight makeup
Don’t wear makeup
Thick lips, thin nose
Thick lips, thin nose
Longneck Tribes
Desire for beauty
N/A
In researching the cultures of Western 20th Century, AfricanAmericans, and the Longneck tribes of Thailand, Jackson’s
theories prove to be true: most cultures have similar views of
physical attractiveness, which one sees through the desire of
each culture to have similar characteristics. For example,
African-Americans desire to become more European, and the
Longneck tribes are progressing toward a more western culture
through globalization. However, each culture’s idea of
perfection of female beauty is not necessarily similar, retaining
individual ideas of beauty—ranging from the “bronze beauty” of
Western 20th Century culture to the lighter skin tones of AfricanAmericans and to the bronze rings of the Longneck tribes.
Within these differences, these cultures are able to remain
unique.
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Written, Directed, and Produced by:
ApRil
BeN
KyLe
OUR PROJECT
Don’t you guys
have any other
homework?
And you guys are in honors?
Thank you
Sarah for all of
your insightful
comments ….
…. and not
laughing at us
too much.
“We have a lot of pictures.” – Ben “Uh huh and no evidence.” – Kyle
“Hurray for you and your lack of a life.” – Ben to Kyle
“I know what a phlebotomy is. I don’t know about a phlebotomine…”
– Ben “What’s a phlebotomy?” – April “It’s a…oh wait—that’s a
lobotomy.” – Ben
“Thanks Paige, uh April…whatever the hell your name is!” – Ben
“You are so [censored] weird!” – Ben to April
“[censored] shut the [censored] up! I will eat your brains!” – April
“I’m a woman of color—a woman of white color!” – April
“You are embarrassing me! Calm it sparkies!” – April to Ben and
Kyle
“What’s with you and death?” – Ben to April
“The rings are beautiful to them!” – Ben “Not at first! It was an
acquired taste!” – April