User:Gigirojas/Feminine beauty ideal

Article Draft

Evolutionary Perspectives of Feminine Beauty (dellrums)

I added "The heteronormative evolutionary perspective suggests that men, over time and across cultures, prefer youthful features (smooth skin, white eyes, full lips, good muscle tone, leg length, lumbar curvature, facial symmetry, long/full hair, feminine voice) as indications of fertility healthy genes. These physical cues pair with behavior cues of youth (high energy, short stride, animated facial expressions) to ancestrally assess a woman's "reproductive value." to the evolutionary perspectives module of the article Feminine beauty ideal. I sourced this information from a textbook written by David Buss titled Evolutionary Psychology. I plan to add more information about the evolutionary perspective, as well as more photos in the article's gallery.

The gallery contains mainly images of European or White American women, and I believe there could be more intersectional representation; photos of women who do not fit the westernized standard of beauty. Only white women are pictured and the timeline ends in the 1980's.

There is also not much commentary on the Racialization of beauty, and if features from one's culture can be used as trends of beauty for another's culture. The debate of cultural appreciation vs. appropriation may have an interesting role in the context of feminine beauty ideals. I was planning on adding to this discourse with reference from Gentles-Peart's Controlling Beauty Ideals: Caribbean Women, Thick Bodies, and White Supremacist Discourse . When analysing cultural beauty ideals that pertain to such a vast group of people, it is important to take the information from a transnational perspective. Swami et. al (2009) examined the effects of manipulating women's profile WHR, breast size, and ethnicity on men's ratings of physical attractiveness and health. A total of 51 African men in South Africa, 56 British Africans, and 114 British Caucasians rated 12 line drawings that varied in two levels of ethnicity, three levels of WHR, and two levels of breast size. Overall, the results suggested that there were cross-cultural differences in preferred body shape, with the preferred body configuration varying as a function of the ethnicity of the figure being rated. In addition, there was a strong positive correlation between ratings of attractiveness and health. These findings are discussed in relation to the interplay between culture and evolution in determining ideals of attractiveness.

Feminine Beauty Ideals for Transgender Women (dellrums)

Transmisogyny and the risk factors of sexual violence is discussed in Crossing boundaries and fetishization: Experiences of sexual violence for trans women of color. To quote the author(s): "Trans women gave accounts of using makeup, clothes, and hormones to [pass as] women. However, many said that they had difficulties in passing as a “pretty girl” or “beautiful woman” within the confines of archetypal White femininity, which was seen as the ideal, because of the “confines or bounds” of the “physical body,” including body hair, size, scarring, or having “brown” skin. This left them vulnerable to sexual violence as visibly trans women." This research article also focuses on the fetishization and sexualization trans women of color face that differs from the archetypal white women's experience. Their research suggests that the poor health outcomes experienced by many trans women are closely associated with their exposure to sexual violence as well as the social inequities and transphobia to which they are subjected. Trans women of color experience additional prejudice and discrimination due to the intersection of gender, sexuality, race, and social class. Swami's research also suggests that understanding these intersectionalities is vital in understanding the sexual violence experiences of trans women of color.

The construction of femininity within the transgender community largely has to do with how well (or how poorly) they are able to utilise the tools of "corporeal beautification provided by the commercial industries." More "acceptable" trans women, such as Caitlyn Jenner, play off of Western beauty ideals and receive overwhelming support from the masses. "Trans women such as Jenner are accepted as women so long as they adhere to the visual codes of female attractiveness."

Feminine Beauty ideals for Latina/Hispanic women (gigirojas)

I haven't added the information to the article yet as I am still in the drafting stages. However, I plan on adding how in Latin American countries whiteness and European features are ideal. Dark skin and non-European features are often considered ugly and less desirable. Beauty in many Latin American Countries such as Brasil and Ecuador light eyes, fair skin, light hair, and wavy/straight hair are seen as optimal.

I may also want to include information about A very popular Colombian produced soap opera from the 2000's called Yo Soy Betty, la Fea. In English this translates to I am Betty, the Ugly. In the show there is a group of secretaries that are referred to as el cuartel de las feas (The squad of ugly women). The secretaries include La pechugona (The Big-Breasted), La Jirafa (The Giraffe), and La Negra (The Black). All of these women's nicknames are about undesirable or ugly characteristic they possess. La Negra gets her nickname because the color of her skin is seen as ugly and undesirable. This soap opera reinforces the idea that is present in Latin American countries such as Ecuador that white is synonymous with pretty and beauty while black and dark equals with ugly.

I also wanted to add a section on how advertisements in Latin American countries such as Brazil feature primarily light skinned models.

Feminine beauty ideals in drag (zes9f9)

I want to add to the article a section about drag and how feminine beauty ideals have affected drag. Especially considering how drag has become more popular and accepted in recent years, yet it still falls prey to traditional standards of feminine beauty.

Drag queen identity has been attempted to be defined in heteronormative terms in a world of heteronormativity, and it's never quite grasped correctly.

Impersonators are terms often associated with drag queens. Murnen and Byrne explain hyper-femininity as an 'exaggerated adherence to a stereotypic feminine gender role' (p. 480). The choices that drag queens make, with the elaboration of their wig or amount of make-up to wear, may be considered an example of hyper-femininity performed by drag queens.

References

De Casanova, Erynn Masi. "“No ugly women” concepts of race and beauty among adolescent women in Ecuador." Gender & Society 18, no. 3 (2004): 287-308.