Feminism, Femininity, and the "Beauty" Dilemma

As one of my favourite topics within the media course is gender (partically post-feminism and feminism) I enjoy watching the ITV program Loose Women. This is a lunchtime type of chat show where four women talk about a range of issues such as daily topics that arise in the media, sexism and interview a wide range of celebrities.
One particular episode which caught my attention, was on the topic 'How Much Pain Would You Endure For Beauty?' (May 10th 2010). This caught my eye, as I have previously looked at how much women change themselves for the view of men. This linking to the theorist Laura Mulvey. I have also looked at how men barely do anything for the view of women in comparrison, linking to the theorsist Susan Brownmiller. Along with having a keen interest in beauty it got me thinking how much I actually do myself to be part of the society and view of how women are 'meant' to look.



After watching this and doing some reading about on the topic, I came across and article by Steve Craig, from the University of North Texas called;
Feminism, Femininity, and the "Beauty" Dilemma: How Advertising Co-opted the Women's Movement
where he opened the article with an apt quote from Susan Brownmillar.

"As a matter of principle I stopped shaving my legs and under my arms several years ago . . . but I look at my legs and know they are no longer attractive, not even to me. . . . To ease my dilemma, in the summertime I bleach my leg hair to a golden fuzz, a compromise that enables me to avoid looking peculiar at the beach. Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only woman in the world who puts color into the hair on her head while she takes color out of the hair on her legs in order to appear feminine enough for convention."

Susan Brownmiller's experience summarizes the dilemma that many feminists in the 1970s faced when they were forced to confront the conflict between a feminist ideology that rejected sexual objectification and the deeply- ingrained American cultural definition of femininity denoted as a particular kind of commercialized feminine beauty. This paper explores that dilemma and how it was exploited by the beauty industry to turn feminism to its own commercial ends.

To read more click the link below.

http://www.feministezine.com/feminist/fashion/The-Beauty-Dilemma.html