Post
World War II ~. Here we saw women
being oppressed by the beauty industry. Women were subject to what society
determined as beautiful. Exquisite movie stars who were curvy and charming,
with pale skin, frosted hair and a seemingly grand lifestyle was the ideal.
"Beauty publicists instructed women to inflate their breasts with padding
or silicone, to frost their hair with carcinogenic dyes, to make themselves
paler by whitening their face and lips with titanium to emulate that most
bleached glamour girl of them all, Marilyn Monroe" (Faludi, 204). They
were pressured to be beautiful at the sake of their health. Over and over
women were told that they could desire no greater destiny then to glory
in their own femininity. Experts told them how to catch a man and keep him
(i.e., how to dress, look, act more feminine and make marriage more exciting).
By 1968 ~ Women protested the idea of
being seen as sex objects. In Atlantic City women demonstrated against the
1968 Miss America Pageant - the whole event had been made out to be more
anti-beauty then it truly was. The women who protested the event were not
against the women participating; in fact, the protesters proclaimed solidarity
with the contestants. The Women's Liberation Movement chose the Miss America
Pageant because to them it represented all the things wrong with society's
way of dealing with women: " The contestants epitomize the role all
women had to play in society, one way or the other: a political, unoffending,
passive delicate thing" (Morgan, 64). The pageant was the beginning
of the bouncing back of the women"s movement and thus beauty was once
again the liberator.
In the1970's ~ Women no longer subjected
themselves to past health-hazardous beauty regimens. The beauty industry
felt that if they were going to make any profits they had to find a way
to celebrate this new feeling of power women had. In the winter of 1973,
Charles Revlon called a high-level meeting of Revlon executives. He told
them that he had a revolutionary concept:a fragrance that celebrated women's
liberation. The fragrance now known as Charlie was the product of several
months of interviewing women about what they wanted in a perfume. "Charlie
symbolized that new lifestyle." Revlon executive vice president Lawrence
Wechsler recalls, "that said you can be anything you want to be, you
can do anything you want to do, without any criticism being directed at
you. If you want to wear a pantsuit at the office instead of a skirt, fine"
(Faludi 205).
| The
1980's ~. Again we saw regression,
and women are repressed by beauty and sex appeal. The 1980's saw the
start of the plastic surgery craze. Women were trying all sorts of
measures to be the sexy, beautiful, thin and presumably happy women
they saw in the advertisements and on TV. Mannequin designer Filoso
believed that this attitude was a big improvement over the attitude
of the 1970's, when women "didn't care" about their appearance.
Now they not only cared about how they looked, but the medical technology
was there to be able to make them look like whomever they wanted.
Today, women can look at a beautiful mannequin in a store and say,
"I want to look like her" and she can actually can! They
went to their doctors and said "Doc, I want these cheek bones",
"Doc, I want these breasts". The question I want to ask
people is this: do you actually want to look like a mannequin or yourself? |
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The 1990's
~ As you can see, feminine beauty is subjective to the time in which you
are referring. The 1990's brought a need for women to feel beautiful and
thin at almost any cost. The market is swamped with anti-aging products
and there are huge advancements in cosmetic surgery, all in the name of
beauty. It is now easier than ever for women to "enhance" their
face and/or body. Although women of the 1990's accept that they can do anything
they choose to, they still question their self-image. The beauty industry
now sees women as individuals and begins to develop products to suit different
skin types and age groups. Products are more easily marketed via television
info-commercials and the Internet. Long-lasting results and easy access
are the names of the game.
Today
~ Women are more conscious of natural health and beauty. While we still
seem to have the stigma of needing larger breasts, women now tend to exercise
more for the perfection they seek. Staying out of the sun and using self-tanning
cream is a must. Eating healthy and taking vitamins will give you the good
skin and hair you crave. Body massages, facials and bikini waxes are the
current trends. Women seem more comfortable doing their own things for their
individual beauty needs. Let's face it: women today are both sexy and smart.
Only time will tell what we choose to do with the knowledge we've gained!
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