Beauty and the Beast: Ending the Love/Hate Relationship Between Girls and Their Bodies is a book published by Tiberious Publishing about the way that girls relate to their bodies and why. When writing the book, I essentially knew from the beginning that I wanted to have a website about it. There were things I wanted to include for my readers that I just couldn’t and the topic was so large that I also recognized instantly that the book would not even begin to cover it. Here I’ll update articles and sites I find that relate to my book, as well as post information about the book itself. It’s a work in progress, but take a look around!
Fotoshop by Adobé January 12, 2012
I recently ran into a commercial spoof that sums up unrealistic beauty standards really wonderfully:
I would love to see this spoof of a make up commercial actually on television. It is a great parody of an advertisement and allows for an effective delivery of its message: beauty standards aren’t realistic. It successfully argues that you need photoshop to live up to the ideals that celebrities and the media are holding up for us.
I have been writing about the “magic tricks” involved in the illusions of Western beauty. This video shows one of the main tricks: digital manipulation. We’re so used to digitally re-touched images, we don’t realize that what we’re seeing is computer fakery. We think that the images we’re seeing are attainable, but it’s often not the case. When we need photoshop in order to live up to (or size down to) the beauty ideal, you know there’s something seriously wrong.
Beauty as a Barrier to Leadership January 12, 2012
(below is the article I wrote for Antigone Magazine’s fall 2011 Body Image issue)
Feminism has opened many doors for women and girls in North America. Growing up in Canada, young women are encouraged to believe they can be anything. However, they will face an ever-present expectation to maintain a feminine, Western beauty standard while they follow their dreams.
The media’s treatment of female leaders is a prime example of the challenges that beauty creates for women attempting to be seen and heard in our society. The expectation of beauty before all else can have a silencing effect, especially on young women, who may respond by withdrawing or taking up less space.
To lead, girls and women must want to be seen and demand to be heard. If beauty is standing in the way, we must continue to critique idealized standards of women’s beauty and challenge its limiting effects.
You can be anything, but first you must be pretty
Barbie has long been a negative symbol of Western body standards within the feminist movement. What is not mentioned as often is that there are many versions of the Barbie doll. There is Doctor Barbie, Scientist Barbie, Veterinarian Barbie, Flight Attendant Barbie, Teacher Barbie… the list goes on. The variety of occupations for this single doll could be seen as supportive of women’s empowerment across many fields – there’s even an American President Barbie! – but it can also be argued that this example only serves to emphasize the importance of the Barbie body shape. A woman can become anything, so long as she is pretty doing it.
In her 2008 book, Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body, Courtney E. Martin writes, “We are the daughters of feminists who said, ‘You can be anything,’ and we heard, ‘You have to be everything.’ ” The pressure for perfection has contaminated our society’s view of success. The apparent requirement of perfect beauty in order to achieve success takes a toll on many important areas of girls’ and women’s lives.
Leadership, Power and Self-Esteem
This year, the documentary Miss Representation has inspired conversations about the impact of representations of women on our ability to hold leadership positions. On the film’s official site, the documentary makers argue that “in a society where media is the most persuasive force shaping cultural norms, the collective message that our young women and men overwhelmingly receive is that a woman’s value and power lie in her youth, beauty, and sexuality, and not in her capacity as a leader.” This is an important insight into the challenges facing would-be leaders in our communities.
If we define power for women as something that comes in a lipstick tube or dress size, is it surprising that young women are so focused on their appearance? If this is perceived as their only avenue to power, then it is logical that empowerment comes to mean making themselves attractive to men at all costs – and I do mean all costs.
The diet industry reportedly makes 40 billion dollars a year with help from this ‘logic,’ and the YMCA released a study in 2008 finding that American women spend a collective 7 billion dollars a year on cosmetic and beauty products. For young women it’s not surprising that diets, eating disorders, expensive beauty products, complex and sometimes painful beauty rituals, and the endless policing of beauty standards seem much more strategic than joining a club, volunteering, voting, or getting your voice heard. How can we expect girls and young women to desire leadership when we are constantly telling them to focus on being desired?
In addition, if a woman thinks she is ugly, or fears others finding flaws in her appearance, how likely is she to make herself seen or heard? Beauty, and the fear it causes, can actually impact how a girl may express herself and her abilities. For example, women in a study who were required to complete a math test while wearing a swimsuit scored worse than their sweater-wearing peers.
Leadership in particular can be a vulnerable position that requires the self-esteem to risk being the first to speak up, defend a position, or act bravely. The burden of the standards of beauty on self-esteem is a weight familiar to girls and women. The Dove Real Truth About Beauty research found that girls in Canada are more likely to avoid social activities that put pressure on them to be beautiful, and that by 14 years old just over half of the girls reported feeling the stress of beauty expectations. Studies typically find that women become more dissatisfied with their body with age, which shows that this isn’t just a phase. It’s a problem.
We ask women to step forward and take the reins, but we must also acknowledge that in doing so they are opening themselves up to further scrutiny of both their actions and their physical appearance than they might otherwise face. This may dissuade them from taking on leadership positions where they may be needed. During Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the Democratic nomination, her femininity was constantly questioned because of her choices of clothing and demeanour. What did her wardrobe have to do with her qualifications? She had failed at being a proper, attractive woman. Sexism revolving around appearances isn’t new to politicians, though. In fact, it’s one of the reasons this magazine was founded.
Too Pretty to Lead
An important further obstacle is that being too attractive also discredits women. Female politicians, like all women, are attacked from both sides: sexualized if they are pretty, but considered ugly and unfeminine if they aren’t. Leadership requires credibility and respect, but stereotypes of bimbos, tokenism and ‘dumb blondes’ can chip away others’ confidence in a woman’s abilities. Can you win a beauty pageant and still be taken seriously in a boardroom or a press conference?
Although there are many advantages to being perceived as pretty there are also many disadvantages. Take, for example, the media’s treatment of former MP Belinda Stronach who was thought to be stupid because of her blonde hair or the way that pop culture has fetishized Sarah Palin’s beauty, going so far as to make her the subject of pornography. This treatment makes it clear that catering to feminine beauty ideals can also get someone into trouble. A pretty woman may become a sex object instead of a respected candidate, co-worker or peer.
Redefining ‘Success’
Despite coming from different political positions and different political parties female political candidates all face the challenges of the beauty ideal and the barriers it creates for women who seek leadership.
Beauty is arguably one of the first social requirements of being a woman. We must be ready for the male gaze at all times, ready to be beautiful and attractive and properly feminine.
As judges, as janitors, as teachers, as athletes, we must be beautiful before we can be considered successful women. The constant physical and emotional energy, not to mention time and money, required to maintain the standard of beauty has been proven to be a drain on girls and women, impacting their self-esteem, opportunities, finances and views of their own abilities.
Imagine a world where that effort was put into working towards a better future for us all. While we encourage girls to dream big, enter new fields and take on leadership roles, we must also combat the beauty ideal that will make them targets, demand perfection and limit their potential.
Antigone’s Body Image Issue November 23, 2011
So, when I’m not attending class, I’m often working with an organization called the Antigone Foundation, which hopes to increase the leadership opportunities for girls and young women across a variety of fields. One of the main initiatives is Antigone Magazine, which I have been involved with in the last few years. This semester, I was the guest editor and I got to be the captain of the issue. Of course I chose to talk about body image!
Image by Emily Hancock
The Body Image issue is going to go out to subscribers soon and is already out on the University of British Columbia campus. I am incredibly proud of the hard work of our writers and editors. I think we took a look at body image that did justice to some of the experiences women face, covering topics like fat activism, mental health, and how the white beauty standard impacts women of colour. I also wrote about how beauty can be an obstacle to leadership opportunities and I will be posting my article here shortly. Here’s an excerpt:
“… If we define power for women as something that comes in a lipstick tube or dress size, is it surprising that young women are so focused on their appearance? If this is perceived as their only avenue to power, then it is logical that empowerment comes to mean making themselves attractive to men at all costs – and I do mean all costs. The diet industry reportedly makes 40 billion dollars a year with help from this ‘logic,’ and the YMCA released a study in 2008 finding that American women spend a collective 7 billion dollars a year on cosmetic and beauty products.
For young women it’s not surprising that diets, eating disorders, expensive beauty products, complex and sometimes painful beauty rituals, and the endless policing of beauty standards seem much more strategic than joining a club, volunteering, voting, or getting your voice heard. How can we expect girls and young women to desire leadership when we are constantly telling them to focus on being desired?…”
Anyway, there’s the news of what’s going on in my world! I’m excited to continue my work fighting for healthy, positive body image. Doing it in a zine was a lot of fun!
(P.S. If you are interested in subscribing to our magazine and keeping our little feminist organization going, please contact antigonefoundation(at)gmail.com or me at beauty_vs_beast(at)ymail.com. It’s 12$ (CAN) for two issues a year. Next semester, we’ll be talking about women and the environment. See old issues here)
(P. P. S. Antigone is a Greek figure in mythology who stood up to the king (her uncle) and did what she felt was right. Now, in the fashion of Greek ancient tragedies, her end was… well, tragic. However, she is a figure who did whatever it took to follow her beliefs. You can see why we might name something after her.)
More examples of white-washing November 9, 2011
I ran into a fantastic post at Beauty Redefined today about the treatment of women of color in the media. I made a post about this issue before (check it out here) but this is a great post that should see wide distribution. Why are women of color so pale?! Because the Western standard of beauty isn’t just about being thin. It’s about having the “right” body, and that means that it is often about being seen as white. Beauty shows its ugly side when it becomes about racism and ignoring the gorgeous women of color all around us.
Why is Rhianna so white-washed in the recent Vogue UK cover? Because beauty standards aren’t about what’s beautiful.
Rihanna rocks? Then put her on the cover, not your preferred version of her. I wouldn’t have recognized her if you hadn’t told me it was her.
Awesome Episode of “Arthur” Gives Girls a Starring Role October 5, 2011
Check out this episode of popular and long-running cartoon, Arthur. It’s a great story where several girls on the show get sick of seeing terrible portrayals of women in movies and decide to do something about it. THIS is the stuff that kids need to be watching, and emulating.
Women of Color on the Eurocentric Beauty Standard September 25, 2011
I love this mini-documentary. Eleven minutes and more than worth your time. In the video, women are discussing the racist implications of the beauty standard that demands whiteness and privileges being lighter. They also take on the term “exotic” and the class implications in many places due to skin colour. Fair or Not? The Snow White Complex is a full 11 minutes of important viewing.
Magic Trick #2: It’s a Wonderful World September 22, 2011
The second magic trick I think the media and society often tries to pull is the idea that Everything is Great. They argue that there’s no need to fight racism, sexism, classism, ablism (discrimination based on ability), heterosexism (prejudice against those who don’t appear heterosexual), etc. The world is portrayed as discrimination-free. Everything’s wonderful! What are you all complaining about?
This strategy lowers our guard as we look at the world. It makes us less likely to ask questions about what the media is showing, or what the people around us believe. It makes class differences seem natural, as opposed to facilitated by history and institutions. This trick tries to convince us that “feminist” is an insult, and that the women’s movement is over. It wants to hide the racism present in our everyday lives.
It’s easy to fall for this trick, especially if you don’t face a lot of discrimination yourself. Of course you want a world where these things don’t exist! It would be lovely to think that we’ve achieved it, but that’s not the reality. The reality is that inequality is still part of many, many lives.
This magic trick can make it very uncomfortable to speak up when you see something wrong with the world. It puts pressure on people to go along with the story that everything’s working just fine, and it privileges people who don’t have to deal with the discrimination that they’re ignoring. It also offers a candy-sweet story that’s much easier to swallow than the truth that change still needs to come. Refusing to take what’s being fed isn’t always fun, but it’s necessary.
Part of my love of feminism is that it made the world make sense. Finally, I had people who would agree that there’s problems with the world, and they’re even trying to solve them! Kindred spirits. I met fellow believers at book signings, presentations, in classes and online. There are people who are looking at the world critically and doing more than pretending that we live without prejudice – they’re working to help create that world. Dismissing the illusion that the world is just wonderful made me able to understand the world around me.
Edit: Check out FeministFrequency, a great feminist youtube channel, for a video about how “straw feminists” are used in media to convince people that feminism is irrelevant and unnecessary in our “equal” world.
Magic Trick #1: Disappearing Acts August 10, 2011
Inspired by the title of The Illusionists, a documentary in the works that is going to be a must-see, I’ve decided to start a new series of posts called Magic Tricks. It’s about deconstructing the illusions of beauty and media, so that we can see through the “magic” of beauty standards, advertising and celebrity culture. Once you know how a trick works, it’s not so magical anymore.
Disappearing Acts
In my opinion, one of the most threatening things about how we currently imagine beauty for/as women is that there is no size that is too small. There’s a definite “too big” in society, but girls and women are encouraged to shrink and shrink and shrink… until they disappear. Check out Beauty Redefined for examples of photoshop making women tinier than they are.
[Sidebar: Sure, when extreme eating disorders become visible on a body in an undeniable way, people may finally admit that someone can be too skinny - but those with anorexia will often receive compliments up until weeks before they're hospitalized. It's also true that some people with a naturally very thin frame are in fact harassed by others, who label them with eating disorders that they don't have. However, losing weight is giving an immediate positive connotation in most of Western society. ]
As a woman who wants to take up space, I find the urge to disappear disturbing. I mean, we have a size 00 – size less then nothing. It strikes me as incredibly bizarre. As we try to increase the number of women in professional sports, laboratories, board rooms and legislative assemblies, it seems that Western women are spending even more time trying to decrease the number on their scale and their dress size. We need women to take up space, be present and unapologetic about their bodies, but instead we are constantly told that we are too much.
To be feminine and beautiful, we are told to be “less,” less fat, less masculine, less angry, less emotional, less demanding. Of course, there’s a list of “more” as well, but I want to focus here on the ways that we try to make women small. The “ideal woman” almost always achieves the adjective “petite.” Her feet are small, her hands are small, her waist is small, her nose is small, her mouth is small, her thighs are small, her ears are small, her height is small, and her stomach is non-existent. It’s ridiculous and I think it actually has real consequences for women as they try to take up social space and join fields frequently requiring a person to be big – in personality and in physicality.
Compare this beauty standard to the growing requirement for men to be huge. As women are told to shrink and take up less space, boys and men feel an increasing pressure to work out and measure their masculinity in the amount of weight they can bench press. Men are increasingly expected to have a buff body, but it requires hours at the gym, specific diets, and sometimes even steroid use.
Taylor Lautner (left) is best known as Jacob Black in the Twilight series of movies. He’s said to have put on 30 lb of muscle after the first movie in order to retain his role for the later films. In the year or so between films, he packed on muscles and he’s been rewarded with a lucrative film deal and millions of fan girls drooling over his abs. This transformation into the “ideal man” was not without effort and sacrifices, and has to be constantly maintained. It’s starting to sound a lot like our ideal woman, except that we demand that men become “more.”
Bigger is constantly equated to better for men, putting pressure on shorter and less muscular men to conform to this new he-man stereotype. The toys marketed to young boys are increasingly muscular, with G.I. Joe and Superheros gaining muscle mass with every coming year, and I find it hard to believe that this isn’t having an impact.
I see the shrinking of women and the bulking up of men as a result of trying to police gender roles through our bodies. As men and women blur traditional gender roles in other areas, our bodies – the most biological ties we have to gender performance – remain a battlefield for gender conformity. For me, this is why women are told they that can be judges and politicians and police officers, but simultaneously told that they must still conform to the “ideal beauty” at the same time. Success only counts if you still “look like a woman” doing it. To retain the supposed separate-ness of masculinity and femininity, society encourages extreme differences in the ideal male and female form.
Of course, “ideal” doesn’t really exist. That’s the trick.
Beauty Redefined August 1, 2011
I am currently in love with the non-profit project out of Utah, USA called Beauty Redefined. They’re following a mission very close to my own and with the support of a lot of great people, they’ve just put up billboards around their state that challenge beauty and its impact on women. It tells people that “There’s more to be than eye candy” and “You are capable of much more than being looked at” and “If beauty hurts, you’re doing it wrong.” It’s a really positive message and it’s getting a decent amount of local press. If you want to learn more, here’s their press release on their fantastic website. I’m very excited to see where this campaign goes in the future!
How Beauty and the Beast Overlap July 28, 2011
Another diagram from Indexed (thisisindexed.com) that was too perfect not to re-post. I have a lot of content I want to put up here, so keep an eye on this blog for upcoming posts, but for now enjoy the webcomic. Although the “beast” being used here is different from how I use “beast” in my book, I love this diagram for making binaries overlap. Also, the title of the comic is “Feisty in Nature” which I love as well.
