Beauty
Today, I was in an ophthalmologist’s office. As I sat in the waiting room there was another office door that contained a business that I’d never heard of: Certified Esthetician. Hmmm? Esthetics, Esthetician. I made a note to look that up when I got home. I had a feeling that it was just a hyped of name for a cosmetology graduate and, basically, I found that I was right.
While I was waiting for the doctor in the examining room I saw several pamphlets all having to do with increasing one’s beauty: Botox injections to remove wrinkles and crows feet, micro dermabrasion to remove old skin, skin peels, RevitaLash to increase the size of one’s eyelashes, eyelid trimming, etc. The one thing that I noticed about all of the brochures was that they all featured white women in their mid to late 30′s.
It’s fascinating to watch television, look at magazines, and see billboards all advertising this ‘perfect’ look. Man! It must be hard to be a white woman. The pressure looks to be intense. If you buy into this stuff you have to be tall, thin (underweight), and wrinkle-free, regardless of age. There is no grace for growing older. No respect. I’ve seen plenty of older women, women in their 50′s who look very nice, although they don’t meet the magazine criteria. Even when an older woman is displayed on a magazine, she is airbrushed, nipped, tucked, and changed to look like something that’s unachievable.
I know of the United State’s influence across the world and remember seeing something about people in India, somewhere, protesting the American beauty ideals. Their point was that they’ve had their own cultural idea of beauty and that they weren’t interested in our ideals. Unfortunately, television and magazines are the greatest carriers of this ‘sickness’.
So, what’s it like in Europe or elsewhere? What do you think about the beauty ideal? Why are we so afraid of getting old?
I saw an interview of a woman recently who was CEO of some women’s magazines (and some teen girls magazines as well I think) and she made the interesting comment that white women (airbrushed and all that) on magazine covers is what sold regardless of the country or culture. She said that the few times they tried local women on the covers (also airbrushed and made up etc) in Malaysia, Japan, South America etc the sales were significantly lower. Apparently even super models like Tara Banks don’t sell as many magazines. I think that says a lot about US and maybe Hollywood influence on the rest of the world.
I also have a couple of Japanese friends who tell me that girls in Japan often aspire to look like white women going as far as getting surgery on their eyes to look “less Asian”. Kinda sad. For me beauty is in a nice smile and a good sense of humour.
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I have a lady friend about my age who says she gets better as she gets older and that is how she lives her life. She does! The wrinkles, the very minimal extra pounds, the gray hair all add to her beauty. Yes, I feel we have a whole industry built upon the unnatural look of women (and men) and unfortunately a lot of this world buys into that. Holly wood, shopping malls, magazines bombard us with an unreal view of the world. We compare ourselves to these unreal people and strive to look like them. Why can’t we be comfortable with ourselves as we are. At this age in my life I seek the beauty inside people rather than the physical attributes they want us to see. I agree with Cedric, I enjoy a nice smile, a sparkle in the eye, and a good sense of humor.
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Suffice it to say I agree with you that it’s more or less a sick obsession, but it certainly didn’t begin with and won’t end with the US. Look at French women of the revolutionary (American or French) period as an obvious example. Read Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (British, 1890) as a literary example of this obsession. The bizarre Chinese obsession with women who are petite like dolls or children (e.g. wrapping their feet to the point of mutilation so that it looks like a doll). It’s everywhere. We are crazy beasts!
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Just recently one of the bigger german women’s magazines decided to step out of this “beauty” spiral, especially the overly thin models: They decided to do all their future shootings without professional models. The reason they gave is that women simply don’t need to follow those patterns any more. Many of those templates were created by men and should be overcome now that the old role models are obsolete.
I will certainly follow up if that development gets broader coverage and more followers. In my eyes it’s a step in the right direction, but interesting enough on of the fashion zsars, Karl Lagerfeld, already objected.
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The beauty thing is insidious. Thank goodness I never worried about how I looked, ’cause it would have only led to frustration. Heh.
Whew! Caught up, Paul. Sorry I lagged behind.
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I remember you taking this but not “seeing” it. Holy cow. Just perfect.
Hi Chris!!!!!
Paul, don’t rag on my botox…
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@Tom: I won’t rag on your botox as long as you aren’t doing it for beauty reasons, you handsome devil!
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The whole idea of fashion is pretty sick. Well, every once in a while I play the game, the last time I did was around eight, ten years ago. Then I got fat and refused to buy all things some sizes bigger
No, I think it’s a game. You play it, you play a role, the other sex may be involved, but in he end it gets incredibly boring. The problem is, when you have seen it all, have seen it come, have seen it go, come back again, only this time in a way that the things from last time won’t fit, when you’ve seen all that, when you see how it’s accurately constructed to relieve you of your money, then you realize that it does not matter at all. And that saves you a lot and that’s OK
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