Putting makeup on is a common practice throughout the female gender, specifically in the world of glamour sports such as acrobatic gymnastics. In this sport, points are deducted for those who walk onto the mat with “naked” or “bare” faces, thus persisting the idea that women must keep up appearances. In many of the glamour sports, men do not have the same expectations as women. In this photo specifically, you see two girls with makeup on, and one boy with no makeup on, meaning that women are expected to do more to earn the same score. As is in the picture, young girls are trained by their older female role models, magazines and other media in the art of hiding ones imperfections and maintaining facades. In the sport of acro, female and male partners are expected to wear the same leotard in the same color; however, it is not uncommon to see that women have bedazzled uniforms whereas their male counterparts do not. Rudman and Glick illustrate this concept by stating “by early adolescence, magazines for girls heavily promote attractiveness and dating as constant themes…” (215). All of the leotards and makeup scattered throughout the background represent how many products women actually have to buy to keep up with beauty standards. Males in this sport are fortunate enough to be able to wear no makeup and looser leotards with no rhinestones, whereas women are expected to do these things for fear of getting points deduction. Similarly, in culture, women dress up and wear makeup for fear of males rating them as less attractive or less desirable. The leotards that the female athletes wear are form-fitting and mostly are manufactured with rhinestones, and thus, women do not always have other options available to them even despite the rhinestones giving them a great deal of discomfort. The primary reasoning behind the bejeweling of leotards is to draw more attention to the woman wearing it. This concept is mirrored in society with women in the work force often wearing heels or other elements of uncomfortable clothing because they are “willing to endure considerable discomfort or outright pain as they strive to embody cultural ideas of beauty and femininity” (Rudman and Glick 241). The focal point of the photo is the girl who is getting her makeup done, and judging by her uncomfortable leg posture, she does not necessarily enjoy the process. She looks as though this is something she has sat through many other times, but yet, it still is averse to her. Society as a whole pressures women into compromising positions much like the girl in this photo. Gender schemas are indoctrinated early on so that women grow comfortable in the uncomfortable. Peer socialization teaches both genders which activities are appropriate in displaying their masculinity and femininity. Thus, women tend to participate in contact sports less, and glamour sports more. We should learn to accept women more as they are- naturally beautiful—and less as we want them to be so they can feel beautiful on and off the mat.
2 comments:
From: Jessica
First off, I would like to say that I love this phot. While scrolling down the page of entries, this one caught my eye- the brightness of the leotards contrast beautifully with the gray hues in the background of this photo. Generally, our view in society is that anything bright colored has a cheery connotation. In this photo you specifically combat this. While the orange of the leotards bounces off the screen, the people within these brightly colored outfits look anything but happy. This suggests that in society we try to impose this type of happiness upon people that may not want it. Girls, especially, are pressured to uphold this type of standard that suggests that activities such as gymnastics and dance make us happy when the truth usually isn’t that. Many young girls are even pressured into these activities as they are seen by many parents as normal things for little girls- activities that girls should WANT to do. I think the male watching in the background also is very stunning and an integral part of this photo. He has some of the orange on him which suggests that he is part of this sport but maybe not fully. The boy being half-dressed in the photo symbolizes the extent to which parents and society as a whole keep little boys out of activities that are often seen purely as girl-dominated. His gaze suggests not only a feeling of confusion but also of awe and wonder. While society doesn’t hold men to the same beauty standard as women, the beauty in and of itself still fascinates men in general. In this photo, his expression of wonder symbolizes how foreign and, in some way, secretive the beauty culture within competitive sports such as dance and gymnastics can be to those who are outside of it.
From: Casey
A few things stood out for me on this photo. First off, the amount of sheer, nude fabric on not only the woman’s costume, but the small girl as well. It does not seem necessary to the sport that the little clothing worn should be sheer, and paired with the heavy makeup it makes my mind wonder who this sport is really catering to, the athletes or males that watch. In addition, the American flag patch sewn on to the child’s sheer panty hose arm caught my eye. I am unable to ascertain why it is there, maybe it is an international competition and she needs it to be differentiated from, but to me it says that maybe we need to rethink the ideals we set forth in this country. If a barely clothed and heavily made up child is no reason to shudder by itself, let alone with our nation’s flag sewn onto the arm of her get up, I am not sure what is. I also noted that the woman painting the child’s face has her jaw locked tight, and appears quite focused and tense. The little girl looks stoic as well. To me, it makes it look as though they are taking this all very seriously, and not having fun, in contrast to the guy in the photo who appears more light and easygoing. This says to me that women do sometimes tend to take things on simply because they are expected to or because they think it fit their gender role image, and not because they enjoy it.
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