From: Allison
My photo describes the “Beauty is a Beast” concept. As stated in the reading, “Physical attractiveness is . . . particularly emphasized for women as a requisite for attracting a mate” (Rudman and Glick, 240), which makes it hard on young girls if they don’t fit the norm for beauty standards. There is so much pressure to look a certain way, so if a girl does not fit that mold she could get desperate into trying to solve that problem. Rudman and Glick point out that concept by saying, “. . . Many women are willing to endure considerable discomfort or outright pain . . . as they strive to embody cultural ideals of beauty and femininity” (241).
My picture shows myself with plastic surgery lines on my face, showing that if I am not pretty enough for society then it is easy to fix. The lines are a symbol for girls doing whatever they have to do to look pretty by choosing makeup or plastic surgery to alter their looks. I am standing in a corner because I wanted to show that it’s not easy for girls to accept their bodies or looks, and they are cornered into trying to look like their peers or celebrities. I am looking down in the picture to show that I am submissive to the societal pressure to change my looks. The tile in the background shows that there are other girls who are like me and we are forming a pattern: we change ourselves because we need to fit the mold of beauty standards. I wanted the picture to be in color because it shows that these physical changes are “coming into light.” It’s becoming obvious that it is demeaning and unnecessary for women to change themselves because their original looks show individuality with the unique features.
3 comments:
One of the first things I noticed in the photo was that Allison was standing in a corner and the plastic surgery marks on her face. It automatically made me realize that women in today’s society feel cornered into being attractive in order to be accepted. The tiles in the background are pressed into the cement mold to form a pattern, metaphorically speaking, girls try to mold or shape themselves to fit the beauty standards. By Allison looking down and looking submissive, shows how girls can be pressured into changing themselves, even when they do not necessarily want to change themselves. Allison looks almost sad or expressionless in the photo, possibly hinting towards she does not want to change but feels the need to because of the societal pressures around her.
In this blog it seemed as though the author had a more educated opinion on such a subject on how ideal beauty can pressure women into looking a certain way, or forcing a certain look. I really like how she quoted from the book, "The Social Psychology of Gender". I agreed with Kaitlyn Tolley's comment, "It automatically made me realize that women in today's society feel cornered into being attractive in order to be accepted. I believe that the solution to this is self-love. And this is easier said than done. If women or even men could love their selves then "acceptance of others" would not control us so much. Self love would help me and/or us to not look outside of ourselves to feel good or pretty. Even though self love is fuel hard to find...we could at least try.
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