Beauty Myth

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-31 14:10

First in Western culture, and now in ours, the myth of beauty is actively spreading. The advertising industry has played an important role in this. The criterion of femininity in the diet and cosmetics industry has become a thin young fashion model. Lately, the criteria for external attractiveness have become strictly regulated, and women are struggling to comply with the strict framework of beauty.

Recently, women have risen quite high on the social ladder. Acquiring material independence and legal rights, women are increasingly becoming dependent on their appearance, from the fear of aging. The more women claim their rights, the more influential the cult of age and weight becomes. To all this are added the unprecedented requirements that are imposed on young ambitious girls today. Older women had the opportunity to explore the best aspects of roles for both genders: they grew up as women and made their way into the male professional environment. They learned to defend their feminine values and mastered the work that men used to do. They were doubly strong, and today's young women are doubly weak: raised in the conditions of forced competition with men in institutions with rigid male models of organization, they must also conform to the standards of impeccable femininity. The demands on the current generation of women have not only been unbalanced, but even doubled: they must behave like "real men" and at the same time look like "real women."

The unprecedented onslaught of the beauty myth is explained by the fact that it is the last of the old ideologies that can still keep women in subjection. Otherwise, they would become truly independent and out of control. The myth of beauty has become a means of pressure and coercion, replacing the myths about motherhood, home, purity and passivity that have lost their relevance.

“One cannot expect the support of the church from a believer if he does not consider himself a sinner, and in the same way, a woman who does not feel defective cannot be expected to spend money on her“repair and restoration”(cited by Naomi Wolf).

The existence of the beauty myth promotes the promotion of goods and services that are necessary to create or correct physical attractiveness. Aesthetic and plastic surgery reinforces the idea of the imperfection of the female body. As a result, a woman begins to struggle not only with objective, but also imaginary flaws in her appearance. Beauty in the mind of a woman acquires the status of an unattainable ideal, to which one must constantly strive. However, this leads to a vicious circle: the standards of beauty tend to change, age-related changes are inevitable, and the consequences of radical interventions in one's physical appearance are often dire.

A woman is afraid to grow old, because in her mind it is tantamount to a loss of attractiveness and desirability. The appearance of the first wrinkles or gray hair is regarded by many women as a real tragedy. The popular injection cosmetology often uses a term such as" title="Image" />

The existence of the beauty myth promotes the promotion of goods and services that are necessary to create or correct physical attractiveness. Aesthetic and plastic surgery reinforces the idea of the imperfection of the female body. As a result, a woman begins to struggle not only with objective, but also imaginary flaws in her appearance. Beauty in the mind of a woman acquires the status of an unattainable ideal, to which one must constantly strive. However, this leads to a vicious circle: the standards of beauty tend to change, age-related changes are inevitable, and the consequences of radical interventions in one's physical appearance are often dire.

A woman is afraid to grow old, because in her mind it is tantamount to a loss of attractiveness and desirability. The appearance of the first wrinkles or gray hair is regarded by many women as a real tragedy. The popular injection cosmetology often uses a term such as

"Erasing age from a woman's face is like erasing her personality and individuality, her strength, her life story" (quoted by Naomi Wolf).

The standards of beauty existing in a particular culture lead to many consequences: anorexia and bulimia, somatic problems due to exhausting diets or the consequences of surgical interventions, emotional disturbances, personality disorders and much more.

Of course, there is nothing reprehensible in the pursuit of physical self-improvement. This natural urge to look more attractive reflects positive self-esteem, love and care for yourself and your body. The problem arises when, without cosmetics, beautiful clothes and the desired weight, women feel inconspicuous and do not meet the expectations of society. If a woman is obliged to take care of herself and take care of her appearance in order to protect her individuality, not to lose her job, and if she should be attractive to her sexual partner, then beauty brings pain and suffering. The beauty myth does not hurt women because it requires them to emphasize their physical attractiveness and sexuality. The real conflict arises between pain and pleasure, freedom and compulsion.

The beauty myth tends to create illusory correlations in the mind:" title="Image" />

The standards of beauty existing in a particular culture lead to many consequences: anorexia and bulimia, somatic problems due to exhausting diets or the consequences of surgical interventions, emotional disturbances, personality disorders and much more.

Of course, there is nothing reprehensible in the pursuit of physical self-improvement. This natural urge to look more attractive reflects positive self-esteem, love and care for yourself and your body. The problem arises when, without cosmetics, beautiful clothes and the desired weight, women feel inconspicuous and do not meet the expectations of society. If a woman is obliged to take care of herself and take care of her appearance in order to protect her individuality, not to lose her job, and if she should be attractive to her sexual partner, then beauty brings pain and suffering. The beauty myth does not hurt women because it requires them to emphasize their physical attractiveness and sexuality. The real conflict arises between pain and pleasure, freedom and compulsion.

The beauty myth tends to create illusory correlations in the mind:

The religion of beauty teaches women to be afraid of their future and their desires. But to live in fear for your body and life means not knowing a full life at all

In addition, there is and is in every possible way cultivated a false correlation between the concepts of beauty and sexuality. This leads women to the mistaken idea that in order to be sexy, you need to be beautiful. However, every woman is endowed with natural, natural sexuality, regardless of the physical perfection of body shapes and the correctness of facial features. Beauty is a fluid stereotype of physical attractiveness, unrelated to the strength of the sex constitution. An established fact is the connection between the strength of the sexual constitution (sexual temperament) and the so-called trochanter index (the ratio of height to leg length). So, among the representatives of a strong sexual constitution, it is much more common to find women of medium and short stature with relatively short legs. In this regard, the stereotype of a sexy long-legged beauty is rather inversely correlated with the strength of her sexual temperament. And the connection of the sexual constitution with the ideal proportions of the body and facial features cannot be judged at all. Although, being overweight, of course, can negatively affect libido. Thus, artificially linking beauty and sexuality, it is possible to create a woman's dependence on a variety of goods and services "necessary" to maintain external attractiveness.

Naomi Wolfe in her book

… You need to choose your own path and set your own goals. When the sense of our own beauty becomes unshakable, we will begin to glorify this beauty, dress it in beautiful clothes, flaunt it, flaunt it and enjoy it."