Beauty standards of the World

So, I've decided to do my web essay on the different beauty standards across the globe. They very significantly from what we see here in the US. Being unaware and close-minded to all the types of beauty out there causes lots of girls to be insecure and hurt themselves. If we were more aware that the unattainable, stick thin, tall, blond, large breasted girl we see in the media is NOT the only type of beauty, we all would feel better about ourselves.

I first googled the terms "world beauty" but got several websites for beauty products and companies.

So I added the word "standard" at the end and BINGO! lots of websites if will use for sure in my web essay! Several blogs pop up, and lots of sites of pictures.

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/3798150-beauty-ideals-around-the-world/content/36379108-beauty

I LOVE these images!! This is exactly what I'm looking for...lots of examples and visual examples of how the beauty standard varies around the globe.

My hope is to give girls the confidence to go out and be proud of who they are and how they look.


Unhealthy U.S. body images affect world beauty standards

Beauty Standards in the World of Subcultures

And although I do not admire her much:


VH1's 'Price of Beauty,' hosted by Jessica Simpson, is ditzy look at international beauty standards

Proving that this:

is NOT what beauty means to everyone!

Barbie's Kniky Queer Accesories: relating the 2

Reading through Barbie's Queer Accessories and Kinky continues to bring up this idea I read in the very first chapter of of Rand's book. She is talking about the marketing strategies of Mattel vs. those of other projects, like Etch-A-Sketch. She compares them and says:

In contrast, the traffic in Barbie is far more complicated, and many features that distinguish it from the traffic in the Etch-A-Sketch are features generally understood to characterize hegemonic discourse. The first lies in the language of infinite possibility that Mattel uses to camouflage what is actually being promoted: a very limited set of products, ideas, and actions. Mattel promotes Barbie to consumers the way capitalists promote capitalism to the people who least benefit from it. The discourse maintains that the limits come only from withing you- you can be rich if you set your mind to it; you can make Barbie be anything you want her to be. The goal of this discourse is to mask external limits so that you have appeared to choose freely actions- working for low wadges, buying Malibu Barbie- that will benefit the discourse spinner. (p. 28)

This marketing makes so much sense. You can make Barbie into whatever you want her to be as a young child. This way of marketing her works with the imaginations of children and the adults who buy her for their young children. They may be dressed as Malibu Barbie, Wedding Barbie, Black Barbie or Beach Party Ken, but the children who play with them can let their imaginations run wild. What a PERFECT way of selling a child's toy.

Likewise, almost every poem in Kinky is titled and about a particular Barbie. They are made sexual (very often in this book) as well as given many races, religions and interests. Regardless of the title they are sold under, they are turned into whatever fill in the blank Barbie the player decides.

Take a list of titles as proof (in no particular order, but those I found most interesting in the collection):
-ONE AFTERNOOON WHEN BARBIE WANTED TO JOIN THE MILITARY
-ORIENTAL BARBIE, BLACK BARBIE HISTORY, HISPANIC BARBIE, NATIVE AMERICAN BARBIE (these in their specific order and placement in the collection)
 -BLINDFOLD BARBIE
-KINKY (which by the way is such a good title for the collection and a great poem to highlight)
-BICENTENNIAL BARBIE
-PLANNING THE FANTASY WEDDING
-ANTICHRIST BARBIE (particularly interesting)
-BARBIE MOLESTER
-MATH CLASS IS TOUGH
-MORMON BARBIE

Reading both books simultaneously is an awesome way of getting to think about the Barbies we all thoughtlessly desired and played with; how they were marketed to make us want them so bad, how they designed and modeled them and most of all the negative aspects of Barbie and Mattel when given a closer look. Verrrrrrry interesting.......

Unelievable video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn7Yu4jzWZM

We viewed this video in my deviant behavior sociology class. It absolutely shocked me! To see women treated so horribly IN PUBLIC! Most of the footage is from a Gay Rights rally in NYC's central park. The men in the video are adopting a group think mentality and believe that they can act however they wish. They sexually assault a huge number of women. The video compares many of these men to ones we see in hip hop and rap videos. It goes to show that the media and society drill into people's minds that women are sex objects and men are the possessors. That they can act as they wish and should act aggressively and sexually towards women. I was absolutely appalled at the footage in the documentary and immediately though of sharing it on my blog.

Autobiography for me.

I am a genuinely good person. I care about the people in my life and try my hardest to make them feel comfortable and loved.

I am a psychology major, planning to work in a high school and help kids, like my younger brother, who have learning disabilities and have to overcome them (on top of peers trying to bring them down.)

I also deem myself the councilor-in-house where I live. My futon is always open when girls are having a hard time. Not to pump myself up, but it seems that people feel comfortable talking to me. I'm a listener, which is good, seeing as my future profession calls for lots of listening. I am hardly trained and I know my counseling skills will continue to improve through school, but I am on the right track. It feels good to know that already people trust me with their problems and can come to me when they don't know what to do. I don't offer much advice (because I'm not a trained councilor) but people seem to feel a little better after letting out their stress or frustration. I always feel better after venting to a friend or parent, so I know it helps to have an open ear that wants you to feel better.

That is why I know I am on my way towards the right profession. I always thought I was going to be a teacher. My mom is a teacher, as well as several aunts, my grandmother and many close family friends. It was all I knew, so I resorted to it when people asked. One day, I think during my junior year of high school, it hit me! That was THE LAST THING I WANTED TO DO WITH MY LIFE! Psychology, especially in schools, is not far off from teaching so getting to know my brother's councilor and seeing what he did felt right. It was such a relief coming into college knowing what I wanted to major in and every psychology class I take gets me more excited for the future.

That was a lot of personal rambling, but writing exercises like this are powerful. This post is not meant for anyone else. It is meant for me. I can reread it and know that I am on a good life track.

on the other hand.....

http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2005/07/22/dove


This is condemning the ad for selling cellulite cream and telling women that they can be curvy and natural, but god forbid they have cellulite.

check this out!

So I remember being in the subway in NYC in high school and seeing this ad for Dove soap. It made a positive impression on me and was a big hit in the media. The use of "normal" everyday women as models in their soap ads, was a wonderful idea to go against the negative body image that we get from most ads today.

BLOG #2

Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed that weather change (from 90s to 50s within a week). It has made my allergies go crazy!!

Anyways, I really liked the reading "Strip!" in Body Outlaws. I have always found transgendered and transexual individuals fascinating. I have a very liberal outlook and find myself accepting gender differences and wanting to know more. As embarrassing as it is, I got into the show Nip Tuck this summer (I rediscovered the local library and all of their TV series rentals). I watched the show, not because I like the idea of plastic surgery. I think it is appalling that people will pay so much money to change their boobs, butt, thighs or cheeks so much and expect the surgery to make them happier. The show brought up some very controversial topics, like gender reconstruction surgery. In it, the two main doctors help several transexual individuals with their reconstructive surgeries because they had perviously gone through secretive, unsanitary and unqualified means for surgery and had ended up mutilated, embarrassed or dead. This is a problem in our society because people do not accept these individuals and may deny them the right to change their bodies into what is comfortable for them.

The show is very sexual and drama filled, but I like that they expose viewers to unconventional people and ideas, hoping that we can change societies views and become a more accepting people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nip/Tuck_characters

Have any of you watched the show? Thoughts?