Women are expected to wear makeup in order to cover up the flaws that society deems unattractive. The beauty industry is flourishing on the insecurity of women and the human need to feel accepted by society. However, women go to dangerous lengths in order to achieve an unhealthy and unattainable beauty standard. This picture depicts an exaggeration of the beauty application process and the physical pain it causes. The most important details in this picture are the names of the featured products: “Naked” and “They’re Real”. While nudity can symbolize purity, vulnerability, and simplicity, it can also symbolize sex and seduction, along with the pops of red visible on her nails and lips. From an early age, women are taught to measure their worth by their ability to attract the opposite sex (K.A. Martin, Luke, & Verduzco-Baker, 2007). The model appears to be naked as if her clothes have been stripped away and all that remains are layers of makeup, masking her face. The mascara is ironically called “They’re Real”, demonstrating that the makeup industry markets their products as “natural” in order to make their customers believe that covering up their flaws and enduring physical pain is natural and should be expected. These high end beauty products, her gel manicure, and her colored hair also symbolize the amount of money women spend in order to look a certain way. Her eyebrows are much darker than her hair indicating that blonde is not her natural hair color. Women spend hundreds of dollars and hours a year damaging their hair with harsh chemicals to achieve their desired hair color, or the hair color society prescribes as most beautiful. Heavy contour exaggerating her bone structure make her cheeks appear sunken in and her face to appear skinnier. Many women are anxious that they will not measure up to society’s beauty standards which can cause eating disorders, drug abuse, and suicide. The measuring tape binding her wrists and wrapped around her neck imply that she is constantly measuring her worth in terms of her beauty and comparing her beauty to others. However, this mindset , like the tape binding her wrists and neck, is very restricting and only allows her a certain range of motion. The only way to break the bond of the measuring tape is by no longer prioritize beauty and society’s opinion over her own well being. She continues to apply the mascara despite the obvious pain and tears it is causing her, displaying that women continue to wear makeup and prescribe to beauty standards even when they know it is hurting them.
5 comments:
Photographer: Zachary Tennant
From amber. This picture stereotypes how the world wants women to be. Men see us as objects. We go to extreme lengths just to have a man look at us and to make us feel better about ourselves. For example, look at her face. It looks like she has different shades of makeup going across her face. Different shades like she trying to find herself. Also look how her hands are tied together? It looks like she also has it going around her neck as well, like shes being strangled by society. They want her to be pretty but hidden behind all the makeup. She also has the mascara running down her face like shes been crying, but shes still applying the makeup trying to hide her pain.
From: Katie
This photo provides such a powerful representation of the beauty standard toward women. In the photograph, it also seems as though her hair on her left side is slightly more disheveled than on her right, which may display the constant struggle it is to live up to these standards. No matter how much effort and time women put into their daily routine, it seems like they’re still falling short of what you see on television. In hair care commercials you always see touched and retouched models or celebrities with perfect, flyaway-free hair that shines like a gem. There’s no doubt that this is to persuade the viewer to buy their product, and convince them that adding countless other products will make them desirable. It’s a common marketing tactic to play on a woman’s insecurities to sell cosmetics and other beauty items, when in fact they should start changing direction to appeal to the creative and artistic aspects.
From: Becca
The message of beauty being or causing pain is so evident and powerful through this photo. Women and young girls slave away at presenting themselves as what they believe to be beautiful. But beauty has been twisted and made into something controlled by the media, celebrities, and greedy companies. Outer beauty has become the sole focus. This photograph captures the pain and struggle of covering and hiding behind makeup. The nakedness of the girl and the makeup name shows the degree that women go to by starting out raw. While I love how the girl takes up the whole frame of the picture, which would normally show her power, the spotlight that is being shown on her is as if she is being watched and forced to apply the beauty on herself. SHE is not in focus, but the makeup. Her raw self is blurred while cosmetics take the focus.
The measuring tape symbolizes the issue of anorexia and weight control side of beauty. Over decades, we see a change in what weight or size a woman is is considered attractive. Women force themselves to stay a certain size and sometimes will do whatever it takes to lose weight. The tape is strapped around her as if to keep her the size she is.
It can also represent the fact that we are trapped in our bodies. Measuring tape, while it may not be as strong as handcuffs or chains, has a strong hold on who we are. Our weight and size become more important than our health. Our bodies scream at us for proper care but sometimes the idea that beauty is pain becomes more important to us.
From: kayla
The picture basically tells a thousands words. You can see how much pain she is going through just to be "beautiful" in a society that constantly judges woman.
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