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THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY

SO4025 Lecture 7

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What’s so wrong with beautyWhat’s so wrong with beauty/ / fashionfashion?? Criticisms in the popular press

– Insensitivity to historical injustice and social problems

Feminist critiques– Fashion reinforces status quo– ‘Real’ vs. ideal– Extent of female body practices– Femininity requires continual bodily

surveillance

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What’s so wrong with What’s so wrong with beautybeauty/fashion/fashion??

Feminist critiques (continued) Economics of beauty

– Alliance of patriarchy and capitalism (Bartky 1982)

– Beauty efforts seen as ‘frivolous’ (Rothblum 1994)

Globalisation of beauty (Chapkis 1986) Beauty linked to economic value (Wolf

1991)

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Women and Beauty/FashionWomen and Beauty/Fashion Business opportunities for

women (Peiss 1986)

– Early feminists: Helen Landsdowne Resor• Tensions for women

in the beauty industry

– Efforts to present ‘new’ images of women

– African-American women: CJ Walker

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Women and Beauty/FashionWomen and Beauty/Fashion

Pampering, relaxation (Sharma and Black 2001)

Pleasure, creativity (Wilson 1990; Fisher and Davis 1993)

Self-reflecting subjectivity (Finkelstein 1997)

Women do not simply accept beauty imperatives (Gaines 1990)

– They can turn them to their own purposes (McRobbie 1991)

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Beauty and Power Is creative interpretation sufficient? Women can be positioned within

systems of power without having power.– Power is not a possession.

– Power recreates itself.

– Creative interpretation does not ‘make’ difference valuable.

– Rather, change is achieved through political struggle (Bordo 2004).