Women are the majority at 52.4 percent. This begins to explain the huge backlash of the beauty myth. The power could tip the other way and flip the scales, which was feared. Has the current percentage of women to men changed? Sources I have looked at so far say that there are now more men than women in the world (only roughly 2%)
'The Professional Beauty Qualification'
"There was clearly a defined class of those explicitly paid for their 'beauty'". These would be in fashion, escort services, modelling/advertising etc.
It was disguised under the notion that is was a requirement of the type of job. However, it was exclusively applied to women. One could argue that this no longer applies as men face the same scrutiny in more recent years. As there are also job for men within these industries, their 'beauty' is also a factor in employability. Both genders face being scrutinised against typical gender constructs and expectations e.g masculinity suggests a strong physique and well defined features. Typical femininity suggests a slim, slender physique and softer features. It is important to realise that these are not common body types.
The beauty myth suggested that "the closer that women come to power, the more physical self-consciousness and sacrifice is asked of them". You can see proof of this in famous women of each age. They all represent what an era defined as 'beautiful'. Body types have changed with unhealthy expectations and as the women's movement progressed, the more drastic these expectations became. An example of this would be the drastic change in the frames of models in the 80s and 90s - a repercussion of the changes in women's rights in the workplace and slight shift in power.
"In 1971, a judge sentenced a woman to lose three pounds a week or go to prison"
"In 1972, 'beauty' was ruled to be something that could legally gain or lose women their jobs"
These were the kinds of laws spurred second wave feminists into action. Women's bodies were being subject to judgement more harshly than ever before and they were no longer in control of how they wanted to look. This coincides with women being able to properly join the workforce without being stuck at an entry level position and having the opportunity to further their education.
"In 1972 the Equal Employment Opportunity Act was passed in the United States; Title IX outlawed sex discrimination in education. By 1972, 20 perfect of management positions in America were held by women". This sounds like good news, but as I outlined in the paragraph above, there were also downsides. The 70s were full of ups and downs for the women's movement. Women lost their jobs or had offers withdrawn on the grounds that they were "too fat" or didn't meet the companies "appearance standards". In contrast to this, in 1979 the National Women's Business Enterprise Policy was created to support women's businesses but in the same year, it was ruled that businesses could set their own appearance standard. These various changes/rulings about work place appearance had never happened before and was just another set of hoops for women to jump through.
Towards the 1980s, female tv anchors helped define the 'ideal professional woman' - young, 'flawless', slim and covered in makeup. Male anchors however, had no defining characteristics and were seen as a powerful individual with unique traits and features. "The working woman is visible, but insecure, made to feel her qualities are not unique" - replaceable?
"To tell a woman that she is ugly can make her feel ugly, act ugly and, as far as her experience is concerned, be ugly, in the place where feeling beautiful keeps her whole."
Sexual harassment and sexual attraction were often confused in laws and many disputes ended in the woman made to feel guilty because of her "unique physical characteristics". Because society was so obsessed with how a woman looked, her gender was completely overlooked and instead the dispute became about her appearance. Often what a woman was wearing and how she looked in those clothes were admitted as evidence to prove that she "welcomed rape from her employer".
It could be argued that women do not have to comply with these ever changing ideals. They aren't being physically forced to put on makeup every morning or wear clothes they don't feel particularly comfortable in but who can blame them? The unwritten rules that women are not to be taken seriously if they appear too feminine, too business-like, too plain or too sexy, pressures these women to find the balance in her appearance (according to men) so that she may be worthy of her rights.
Reading The Beauty Myth has really opened my eyes to the discrimination that happened to women only ten or so years before I was born. I have definitely found a subject I am passionate about and I am both horrified and intrigued about the fight for women's rights. It only reminds me of how important it is to keep people talking about it. The biggest issue I have found so far however, is that there aren't many in depth texts on the early stages of the women's movement - perhaps it simply wasn't deemed important enough to be published at the time.
"In 1971, a judge sentenced a woman to lose three pounds a week or go to prison"
"In 1972, 'beauty' was ruled to be something that could legally gain or lose women their jobs"
These were the kinds of laws spurred second wave feminists into action. Women's bodies were being subject to judgement more harshly than ever before and they were no longer in control of how they wanted to look. This coincides with women being able to properly join the workforce without being stuck at an entry level position and having the opportunity to further their education.
"In 1972 the Equal Employment Opportunity Act was passed in the United States; Title IX outlawed sex discrimination in education. By 1972, 20 perfect of management positions in America were held by women". This sounds like good news, but as I outlined in the paragraph above, there were also downsides. The 70s were full of ups and downs for the women's movement. Women lost their jobs or had offers withdrawn on the grounds that they were "too fat" or didn't meet the companies "appearance standards". In contrast to this, in 1979 the National Women's Business Enterprise Policy was created to support women's businesses but in the same year, it was ruled that businesses could set their own appearance standard. These various changes/rulings about work place appearance had never happened before and was just another set of hoops for women to jump through.
Towards the 1980s, female tv anchors helped define the 'ideal professional woman' - young, 'flawless', slim and covered in makeup. Male anchors however, had no defining characteristics and were seen as a powerful individual with unique traits and features. "The working woman is visible, but insecure, made to feel her qualities are not unique" - replaceable?
"To tell a woman that she is ugly can make her feel ugly, act ugly and, as far as her experience is concerned, be ugly, in the place where feeling beautiful keeps her whole."
Sexual harassment and sexual attraction were often confused in laws and many disputes ended in the woman made to feel guilty because of her "unique physical characteristics". Because society was so obsessed with how a woman looked, her gender was completely overlooked and instead the dispute became about her appearance. Often what a woman was wearing and how she looked in those clothes were admitted as evidence to prove that she "welcomed rape from her employer".
It could be argued that women do not have to comply with these ever changing ideals. They aren't being physically forced to put on makeup every morning or wear clothes they don't feel particularly comfortable in but who can blame them? The unwritten rules that women are not to be taken seriously if they appear too feminine, too business-like, too plain or too sexy, pressures these women to find the balance in her appearance (according to men) so that she may be worthy of her rights.
Reading The Beauty Myth has really opened my eyes to the discrimination that happened to women only ten or so years before I was born. I have definitely found a subject I am passionate about and I am both horrified and intrigued about the fight for women's rights. It only reminds me of how important it is to keep people talking about it. The biggest issue I have found so far however, is that there aren't many in depth texts on the early stages of the women's movement - perhaps it simply wasn't deemed important enough to be published at the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment