Beauty ideal, from an intersectional approach, explaining its impact on women’s lives.

The beauty ideal in our modern society projects the “ideal woman” as having the thick hair, wide eyes, thick lips, round breasts, flat stomach and long legs.  Commercialism teaches young girls of the perfect body image with their first barbie doll.  Living up to those expectation as the ideal woman is burned into their brains making them feel that if they do not meet this mold, they are outcasts.

As women in most countries age, they are looked upon as old and typically ugly.  This is proven over and over again in the television new stations.  Their wisdom in most arena’s is ignored.  They are not only ugly but stupid and not useful to society.  This perception causes such bad self images from young to old, the old trying to look young again, the young trying to lose weight to the edge of death by bulimia and anorexia.  Seems that men are portrayed as “distinguished” as they age with their salt and pepper hair that is a no no for women.    

“The body is a place where sex, socially constructed gender, and sexuality comes together.  From society to society across social time.”  The irony of this is how history shows such a different picture of perfection, for example, in the era of Michelangelo as the Sistine Chapel and other now famous paintings were being done, the perfect woman was what we would call today, fat.  Their round faces and bottoms were beautiful, what would those artist’s think today if they saw our “super models” with their ribs showing and their legs knocking. 

With most of our population being overweight, I can understand demeaning gluttonous lifestyle, however; healthy weight should be projected as the norm, not the skeleton look.

(Kirk Gwyn: Okazawa-Rey - pg 149 Women’s Lives. New York: McGraw Hill higher education, 2010)