StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Social Identity through Creating the Beautiful Body - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
This essay "Social Identity through Creating the Beautiful Body" discusses a part of the core of how identity is created and defined within society in beauty. The level of importance that is conferred upon beauty is shown through the levels of pain that people are willing to endure to attain beauty…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.9% of users find it useful
Social Identity through Creating the Beautiful Body
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Social Identity through Creating the Beautiful Body"

?Social identity through creating the beautiful body: Radical alterations of the body in order to conform to constructs of the social definition of beauty Introduction Beauty is a concept that is defined by a society where the norms of one social group do not necessarily conform to the norms of another. There are examples throughout history of radical, and often painful, changes made to the body in order to create a representation of what is considered beautiful in a time and place and to provide a sense of identity to an individual. The concept of mutilation in one culture may be a source of great status and class within another. In understanding beauty and the sacrifices that are made for representing what is beautiful, it can be seen that most cultures have supported alterations of the body in order to attain the essence of beauty as it is defined within the social construct, creating identity and status through those sacrifices. The value of beauty is so high that great pain has been endured in order to attain that representation The concept of beauty would seem a simple concept to define, however beauty is sociologically relevant to the culture that defines it and has an evolving meaning that changes through time. At the center of modern Western society is the beauty salon. According to Black (2004), “The beauty salon stands at the intersection of a number of techniques of the body, which in turn relate to gender, the body, sexuality, class, commodification, leisure practices, consumption, and so on” (p. 7). Current Western society also supports the use of painful surgical remedies to alter the physical form and create a more beautified appearance. However, pain has been collateral to many of the ways in which beauty has been chased throughout the centuries. While contemporary society may frown upon some of the methods that have been used throughout history, the current trends are actually a continuation of culturally accepted concepts of the discomfort and pain that can be experienced in the pursuit of what is physically beautiful. The Beauty Salon in Western Society The core of the creation of beautiful through physical change within contemporary Western society is the beauty salon, a place where the hair, skin, and nails are attended to in order to project a more beautiful exterior presence. The salon is a social center, as much as it is a utilitarian entity. According to Black (2004), as she quotes Yvette, an owner of a salon, “Ordinary people come through here The desire of these ‘ordinary people’ is for pleasure and escapism” (p. 2). While what is done there occurs in order to emerge into society with the intention of the results having an impact on the way in which one is viewed, what happens within the salon is as much a part of the identity as the effect of the result. A relationship is developed between the staff and the client, a connection that is made in order to form a social contract where the professional expertise of the staff member becomes the center of the development of an intimacy with the client, the commodified relationship as emotional as it is purposeful. Often the relationship that one has to their beauty professional is as much emotionally therapeutic as it is physically therapeutic (Black 2004, p. 7). What occurs within the salon is often uncomfortable, if not painful, that level of suffering helping to form the bond between the beauty professional and the client. What is experienced and sacrificed in order to attain the result helps to create the intimacy through which the social contract is established. Furthermore, there is a sexuality that is established within the confines of the experience. The salon professional often must inflict pain in a very intimate way in order to achieve the goals of the session. The pain is endured, the recipient developing a dependency on the one inflicting pain as the release of that sensation is within the control of the professional. This pain can become a deep resource of connectivity between the one inflicting the pain and the one who is receiving it, the power and control being centered around the salon professional, thus creating a dependency within the client (Brewis and Linstead 2000, p. 130). The History of Pain and Beauty Pain and beauty have been intimately associated throughout history. There have been many time periods in which the pursuit of beauty has required very painful alterations of the body which can still be seen reflected in contemporary society. Men and women constricted their body within a garment that was cinched tighter and tighter, inhibiting bone growth, cracking and deforming the body until breath and bone structure were stolen from the person within the confines of its constricting intent. According to Thesander (1997), “The heavily corseted body was not an expression of a strict morality in the eighteenth century: it was a social symbol that marked class difference, an aesthetic ideal and a means of elaborate self-expression” (p. 36). However, when the corset became out of fashion, a new mentally inflicted pain began to emerge as the expectations of the physical form did not change, but the method through which it was attained was no longer available. Without the corset, a man or a woman had to create a physical discipline that would create the same body type (Fields 2007, p. 62) The majority of the Western world has never achieved this goal and has long suffered because of the shame of not being able to attain a thin waist, their self-esteem affected and identity impacted by the denoted lack of control and self discipline that is perceived when the waist does not meet the expectations set up by the corset. The corset, however, is not the only way that constricting and transforming the body through the pressure of binding has been used to create a beautification of the body. Women in China suffered through the ritual of binding feet, an act that would begin when a child was very young, perhaps at the age of three or four. The goal was to attain ‘golden lotus feet’ where the bones had been wrapped and warped until the foot was only three inches long. The term, ‘golden lotus’ is associated with spiritual enlightenment within the Chinese philosophical framework, the achievement of having feet that represented this definition or for a man who has a woman with such feet, suggesting a level of spirituality has been conferred upon them (See Yan Ma 2010, p. 152). In this extreme, spiritual elevation, or the achievement of good, is specifically associated with physical alteration which is defined as beautiful. The sacrifice of the female and the possession of that female giving a sense of identity within the culture. It must be mentioned that the Chinese government outlawed the practice in the early twentieth century. Some Asian and African cultures have used the concept of the neck ring in order to attain a certain level of beauty. Neck rings are placed around the neck of very young girls and gradually increased in number in order to elongate the neck. The process can also cause damage to the collarbone and ribs which are pushed down during the process (Allan 2003, p. 184). The creation of a deformed body in order to create a sense of beauty is part of the ‘masquerade’ of fashion, the identity transformed by defining the physical image. According to Barnard (1994), fashions are defined by the ability to conceal or reveal, to create identity through a constructed physical image (p. 166). In hiding the neck and elongating it in this manner, a mystery is created that requires inquiry, thus a sense of beauty has been attained. Modern Body Alteration These practices, at first glance, may seem to be far beyond the boundaries of Westernized concepts of beauty. However, the Western aesthetic includes a great deal of transformation and change. If one looks at the practices of exercise, at the extremes to which some people go in order to attain a certain body type, parallels can be drawn with the pain that is endured by those who have bound their feet or elongated their necks because of the consequences of altering the physical form. According to Craik (1994), body building “entails self-denial, purity, pain, a sense of the body as alien, and mastery”(p. 68). Extreme alteration of the body’s natural course of development is exhibited, the muscles enhanced to an unnatural level and the physical form transformed. While the extremes of history seem far-fetched and alien to contemporary thoughts of beauty, the truth is that current beliefs of what is beautiful and how to achieve that goal include extremes of mutilation at a level that is beyond those of history. Plastic surgery entails the body to be invaded, to be surgically altered from beneath the skin. The desire to define oneself according to the ideals of beauty has reached a proportion in which the physical form is no longer just dressed or cosmetically enhanced, but the structure of the body is broken and reconstructed in order to create an altered image. According to Barnard (1994), fashion and beauty are a performance, an ongoing theatrical experience that provides a construction of the identity within society (p. 167). Through applications of plastic surgery, an individual will create a new identity, a permanent character through which to enter the continuing theatre of society. The relationship between feminism and plastic surgery has been primarily negative. According to Pollack (1996), “Traditionally, the relationship between feminism and plastic surgery has been extremely volatile and contentious” (p. 155). The French artist, Orlan, revealed the nature of plastic surgery, the ugliness of post-surgery healing through which at the far end comes the hope of a beautiful result. According to Pollack “Because Orlan challenges the logic of a system which privileges form over matter, male over female, she exists as a prime example of how this injunction systematically strips the female artistic subject bare of her position within the critical discourse of contemporary art”(p. 153). The identity of the female is objectified, her body becoming more important than her substance, her beauty the value upon which she is judged. The identity becomes an extension of the physical, rather than an extension of the individuality of the person. Thus, this comes in conflict with the ideals of feminism, the person less than the physical exterior, the female objectification the primary concern of the operative experience. Through the use of plastic surgery, some celebrities have formed their identities. Examples of these celebrities would include Dolly Parton, Liz Taylor, Joan Rivers, and Victoria Beckham. Dolly Parton, in particular, has created a career in which her talent had to be strong in order to defy the objectification that was a result of her extreme physical attributes. According to Miller (2008) “While acknowledging that this emphasis on image risked trivializing her craft Dolly had no regrets because she believed it was necessary in order to achieve recognition; a sad, but realistic reflection on the entertainment business” (p. 281). For many celebrities, the sacrifices that are made to have surgery are far less important than the benefit of increased public representation through beauty. Moreover, sometimes the increased publicity from the surgery carries a benefit that extends beyond the simple beautification of the body. Conclusion The importance of beauty is part of the core of how identity is created and defined within society. Fashion and appearance are so intrinsically linked to the construction of identity that no sacrifice seems to large to attain beauty. On a deep level, society defines beauty as good, while ugliness and deformity can be defined as evil. Enlightenment has helped members of contemporary society to look beyond the physical to see that this is not true, but on a instinctual level, this is the first level of reaction to what is visually perceived (Detsi-Diamanti, Kitse-Mytakou, and Yiannopoulou 2009, p. 88). The level of importance that is conferred upon beauty is shown through the levels of pain that people are willing to endure to attain beauty. Those who have endured the sacrifice, earn the accolades that come with the effects of that sacrifice. While physical beauty that is natural and unintended is at the highest level of value, having endured the many sacrifices that are required to attain artificially created beauty has its social rewards as well. Resources Allan, Nigel. 2003. Pearls of the Orient: Asian treasures from the Wellcome Library. London: Wellcone Trust. Barnard, Malcolm. 1994. Fashion as communication. London: Routledge. Black, Paula. 2004. The beauty industry: Gender, culture, pleasure. London: Routledge. Brewis, Joanna and Stephen Linstead. 2000. Sex, work, and sex work, eroticizing organization. London: Routledge. Craik, Jennifer. 1994. The face of fashion: Cultural studies in fashion. London: Routledge. Detsi-Diamanti, Zoe, Katerina Kitse-Mytakou, and Effie Yiannopoulou. 2009. The future of flesh: a cultural survey of the body. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Fields, Jill. 2007. An Intimate Affair: Women, Lingerie, and Sexuality. Berkeley: University of California Press. Miller, Stephen. (2008). Smart blonde - Dolly Parton. London: Omnibus Press. Pollack, Griselda. 1996. Generations and geographies in the visual arts: Feminist Readings. London: Routledge. See Yan Ma, Shirley. 2010. Footbinding: A Jungian engagement with Chinese culture and psychology. London: Taylor and Francis, Inc. Thesander, Marianne. 1997. The feminine ideal. London: Reaktion Books. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“HOW ARE FASHION AND APPEARANCE CENTRAL TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL Essay”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/environmental-studies/1407224-how-are-fashion-and-appearance-central-to-the
(HOW ARE FASHION AND APPEARANCE CENTRAL TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL Essay)
https://studentshare.org/environmental-studies/1407224-how-are-fashion-and-appearance-central-to-the.
“HOW ARE FASHION AND APPEARANCE CENTRAL TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/environmental-studies/1407224-how-are-fashion-and-appearance-central-to-the.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Social Identity through Creating the Beautiful Body

Cultural and social experiences - Body image

The essay analyzes the concept of body image in fashion.... body image is one of the key concepts that are associated with identity and one's relationship to others in society.... The concept of body image becomes important through different formats, such as mass media.... hellip; This essay talks about body images and explores the different formats such as media, fashion and the displays that are showcased in a variety of areas....
12 Pages (3000 words) Essay

Is Modern Fashion Enslaving or Liberating

Whether it is Victorian body-deforming corsets, Chinese foot-binding, tribal teeth sharpening or neck lengthening or modern leg-breaking stilettos, all these are usually very strongly related to culture but in most cases are accompanied by enormous pain all in the name of fashion or, even more, in the name of beauty.... Women suffer from pain, discomfort and health problems to feel beautiful, appreciated or fashionable.... Fashions are also introduced through campaigns by fashion houses in order to publicize fashion and to make people dependent on it....
20 Pages (5000 words) Dissertation

The Compromise of Self and Identity within Indonesian Contemporary Art

Although curator Jim Supangkat was not the pioneer of ‘contemporary art' during the significant shift in Indonesian art; however, during that time, through his views and in supporting other artists, he was... The essay analyzes The Compromise of Self and identity within Indonesian Contemporary Art.... … This essay explores the Indonesian Contemporary Art and Compromise of Self and identity.... The essay "The Compromise of Self and identity within Indonesian Contemporary Art" talks about Indonesian Contemporary Art in the context of Compromise of Self and identity....
20 Pages (5000 words) Essay

Contrasts between Experience and Visual Representations in Photographic Editorial

Running Head: VISUAL CULTURE The female body and the female: Contrasts between experience and visual representations in photographic editorial The female body and the female: Contrasts between experience and visual representations in photographic editorial Introduction The female body has been used in the popular media as a form of sexualized object from which the power of that sexuality is conferred upon the product that is being sold.... The human body has been an object of sexuality that confers power, which in turn has become associated with wealth....
7 Pages (1750 words) Research Paper

Characteristics of Business Leadership

The body Shop is scintillating example of such leadership initiative which has constantly set standard for businesses across globe.... The paper would be discussing The body Shop and Roddick's leadership traits that had promoted high standard of ethics and quality within the organization.... Business initiative The body Shop, started in 1976 from home by Anita Roddick, was a passionate venture that was focused on the wider welfare of women.... The body Shop cosmetics were launched with a strong entrepreneurial instinct that natural ingredients would be most beneficial for taking care of body and remain beautiful....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

Dove Strategic Brand Management

This is the province of strategic brand management: that is how to generate value through proper brand management (Keller 1992, pp.... According to this model, building strong brands entails four steps, including: (1) ascertaining the proper brand identity, in terms of depth and breadth brand awareness, (2) crafting suitable brand meaning through unique, favorable, and strong brand associations, (3) obtaining positive and accessible brand reactions, and (4) fashioning brand relationships with clients which are characterized by passionate and active loyalty....
12 Pages (3000 words) Essay

Fashion and Muslim Traditional Dress

Muslim cultures are attempting to shield women from Western values that objectify the body and strip from them their protections that define their status in Muslim society.... through innovative and creative design, fashion for Muslim women is becoming modernized while retaining its modest purpose.... In defining female dress for modern contexts, the nature of fashion and Muslim tradition comes together to place women of Muslim into relationship with modern ideals while retaining elements of tradition that are important for Muslim identity....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Body Art & Its Art

This paper, body Art & Its Art, highlights that The history of body art can be traced back to ancient civilizations.... nbsp;… According to the paper, body art has evolved itself from a tribal identity to a more cosmopolitan identity.... nbsp; Now what exactly made body art come into existence is not answered by history.... nbsp;body Art, in its avatar of makeup, is a modern development....
25 Pages (6250 words) Assignment
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us