Every generation since about 1830’s has had to fight its version of the beauty myth. “It is very little to me,” says the suffragist Lucy Stone in 1855, “to have the right to vote, to own property, etc. if I may not keep my body, and its uses, in my absolute right.” … In spite of the great revolution of the second wave, we are not exempt. Now we can look out over ruined barricades: A revolution has come upon us and changed everything in its path, enough time has passed since then for babies to have grown into women, but there still remains a final right not fully claimed.
The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf (1991)
Everyone wants to feel beautiful, to feel desired and to
feel loved. Although being beautiful is in no way a prerequisite for being
desired or loved, there is a strong correlation between the two that leads
people to believe that they must adhere to certain standards of beauty in order
to be perceived as attractive and desirable. We make assumptions about
beautiful people, often associating beauty with other qualities such as
youthful, elegant, modern (fashionable), sophisticated and
educated/intelligent.
We often hear people state that beauty in the sense of
physical appearance is not important. However, from what I have observed in my
own experiences and from conversations with others, not only does beauty
matter, but it has a significant impact on our identities, social relationships
and lives. Beauty might only be an idea, a construct of our collective imagination,
but it becomes real and concrete by inserting itself into people’s daily lives:
influencing everything from what we wear, to who we marry and how we live (Wolf, 1991). Any kid who has been
bullied in school; anyone who has ever gone for a job interview; anyone who has
ever been on a first date knows that appearances matter.
How we define beauty and the standards of beauty may vary
depending on cultures, personal preferences and current fashions but the
impulse to seek out and appreciate beauty exists wherever we look. The “admiration of beauty, the belief in the
desirability of being beautiful and the practice of self-beautification” are
present throughout history and the world (Ip, 2003). The beauty industry,
known in China as meinu jingi (beauty economy), is composed of some of the
largest and most profitable industries in the world, including diet, cosmetics,
cosmetic surgery, and pornography (Zhang, 2012). The central importance of beauty in the
corporate economy and its institutionalization ensures that the “the beauty myth”
will never die, but will continue to be perpetuated through the media and
popular beliefs.
I wanted to address the topic of beauty – and specifically
the influence of cultural concepts of beauty on our social interactions - in my
China blog because it has been a prominent subject during residency and has been
featured in many conversations with other members of my cohort and our Chinese
buddies. Personally, my own interest in the topic stems from my own feelings of
insecurity that were brought to the surface in China. As a result, the
following posts are a compilation of reflections on cultural perceptions of
beauty as well as my own attempt to understand how beauty concepts influence
how I perceive myself and how I interact with others.
The first post (Girls on bicycles) deals with my own
struggle with feeling insecure and out of place in China; the second (Traditional
on the inside, modern on the outside) discusses linkages between “beauty” and
relationships; the third (And we danced) addresses how beauty interacts with
notions of power, talent and skill; the fourth (Pearls are a girl’s best
friend) explores the transition from “beauty fear” under Communism to “beauty
fever” in modern day society; finally, in the fifth post (HERstory) I take a
look at the post-revolutionary reclamation of “feminine beauty” by Chinese
women writers, activists and leaders in the context of my team’s exhibition
celebrating women in China.
It should be noted that in my posts I write primarily from a
women-centered perspective and draw from examples of how beauty impacts mainly
women’s lives. I write from this stance primarily because I am woman-identified
and so this perspective also reflects my personal experiences. However, I
acknowledge and appreciate that both men and gender queer or gender neutral
people also face similar pressures to conform and meet certain standards of
physical attractiveness. For example, during our team exhibits, one of the teams
whose topic was relationships asked the question: “what do you look for in an
ideal partner?” Many women responded that they wanted someone handsome and
tall. Similarly, I found this personal ad in a park of a woman searching for a
husband who must be at least 1,75m tall. These examples demonstrate that men
are also pressured to appear a certain way and possess certain desirable
attributes.
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But who decides what is desirable? I won’t go into details
about where standards of beauty come from or how they are constructed, but
rather will focus on what kind of impact these constructions have on our social
relations. My musings here are not intended as a comprehensive study on the
topic of beauty, but rather reflect my thoughts and learning while in China.
Nevertheless, my writings will be more academic than usual, since I am, after
all, a master’s student (fake it to make it all the way!). Luckily, most of you
will already be familiar with my philosophical ponderings and feminist rants so
I don’t feel the need to tone it down.
As a final remark, I want to note that although I will be
discussing concepts of physical beauty, there are alternative definitions of
beauty that relate to natural, artistic and human (“inner”) qualities. In this
sense beauty can also refer to the compassion, caring, resilience and
generosity of the human spirit. This is dedicated to all the truly beautiful
people in my life who support and inspire me.
**Ip, H.-Y. (2003). Fashioning Appearances: Feminine Beauty in Chinese
Communist Revolutionary Culture. Modern
China, 29(3), 329-361 DOI:
10.1177/00977004032
***Zhang, M. (2012). A chinese beauty story: How college
women in china negotiate beauty, body image, and mass media. Chinese Journal of Communication, 5(4), 437-454.
doi:10.1080/17544750.2012.723387
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