Beauty and misogyny : harmful cultural practices in the West /
Jeffreys, Sheila,
Beauty and misogyny : harmful cultural practices in the West / Sheila Jeffreys. - viii, 206 pages ; 24 cm. - Women and psychology . - Women and psychology. .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 180-194) and index.
The 'grip of culture on the body': beauty practices as women's agency or women's subordination -- Harmful beauty practices and western culture -- Transfemininity: 'dressed' men reveal the naked reality of male power -- Pornochic: prostitution constructs beauty -- Fashion and misogyny -- Making up is hard to do -- Men's foot and shoe fetishism and the disabling of women -- Cutting up women: beauty practices as self-mutilation by proxy. conclusion: a culture of resistance.
"Should western beauty practices, ranging from lipstick to labiaplasty, be included within the United Nations understandings of harmful traditional/cultural practices? By examining the role of common beauty practices in damaging the health of women, creating sexual difference, and enforcing female deference, this book argues that they should.In the 1970s feminists criticized pervasive beauty regimes such as dieting and depilation, but in the last two decades the brutality of western beauty practices has become much more severe. Today's practices can require the breaking of skin, spilling of blood and rearrangement or amputation of body parts. Some "new" feminists argue that beauty practices are no longer oppressive now that women can "choose" them. This book seeks to make sense of why beauty practices are not only just as persistent 30 years after the feminist critique developed, but in many ways more extreme. By examining the pervasive use of makeup, the misogyny of fashion and high-heeled shoes, and; by looking at the role of pornography in the creation of increasingly popular beauty practices such as breast implants, genital waxing and surgical alteration of the labia, Beauty and Misogyny seeks to explain why harmful beauty practices persist in the west and have become so extreme. It looks at the cosmetic surgery and body piercing/cutting industries as being forms of self-mutilation by proxy, in which the surgeons and piercers serve as proxies to harm women's bodies. It concludes by considering how a culture of resistance to these practices can be created.This essential work will appeal to students and teachers of feminist psychology, gender studies, cultural studies, and feminist sociology at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and to anyone with an interest in feminism, women and beauty, and women's health."--Publisher description.
0415351820 9780415351829 0415351839 9780415351836
2005004366
Feminine beauty (Aesthetics)
Human body--Social aspects.
Women--Social life and customs
Women--Health and hygiene
Women in popular culture
Misogyny
Beauty, Personal
Art--Philosophy.
Aesthetics.
Beauty culture.
Body image.
Feminism.
Cultural Characteristics
Western countries
HQ1219 / .J44 2005
306.4613
Beauty and misogyny : harmful cultural practices in the West / Sheila Jeffreys. - viii, 206 pages ; 24 cm. - Women and psychology . - Women and psychology. .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 180-194) and index.
The 'grip of culture on the body': beauty practices as women's agency or women's subordination -- Harmful beauty practices and western culture -- Transfemininity: 'dressed' men reveal the naked reality of male power -- Pornochic: prostitution constructs beauty -- Fashion and misogyny -- Making up is hard to do -- Men's foot and shoe fetishism and the disabling of women -- Cutting up women: beauty practices as self-mutilation by proxy. conclusion: a culture of resistance.
"Should western beauty practices, ranging from lipstick to labiaplasty, be included within the United Nations understandings of harmful traditional/cultural practices? By examining the role of common beauty practices in damaging the health of women, creating sexual difference, and enforcing female deference, this book argues that they should.In the 1970s feminists criticized pervasive beauty regimes such as dieting and depilation, but in the last two decades the brutality of western beauty practices has become much more severe. Today's practices can require the breaking of skin, spilling of blood and rearrangement or amputation of body parts. Some "new" feminists argue that beauty practices are no longer oppressive now that women can "choose" them. This book seeks to make sense of why beauty practices are not only just as persistent 30 years after the feminist critique developed, but in many ways more extreme. By examining the pervasive use of makeup, the misogyny of fashion and high-heeled shoes, and; by looking at the role of pornography in the creation of increasingly popular beauty practices such as breast implants, genital waxing and surgical alteration of the labia, Beauty and Misogyny seeks to explain why harmful beauty practices persist in the west and have become so extreme. It looks at the cosmetic surgery and body piercing/cutting industries as being forms of self-mutilation by proxy, in which the surgeons and piercers serve as proxies to harm women's bodies. It concludes by considering how a culture of resistance to these practices can be created.This essential work will appeal to students and teachers of feminist psychology, gender studies, cultural studies, and feminist sociology at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and to anyone with an interest in feminism, women and beauty, and women's health."--Publisher description.
0415351820 9780415351829 0415351839 9780415351836
2005004366
Feminine beauty (Aesthetics)
Human body--Social aspects.
Women--Social life and customs
Women--Health and hygiene
Women in popular culture
Misogyny
Beauty, Personal
Art--Philosophy.
Aesthetics.
Beauty culture.
Body image.
Feminism.
Cultural Characteristics
Western countries
HQ1219 / .J44 2005
306.4613