Excerpt: Beauty Myths and Realities and Their Impact on Women's Health

Zones, Jane Sprague. [1997] 2005. "Beauty Myths and Realities and Their Impact on Women's Health". Pp. 353-360 in Understanding Society, 2nd ed., edited by Margaret L. Andersen, Kim Logio, and Howard Taylor. Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc.

Physical beauty is a value taught to girls from a very early age. Indeed, a good many sociological articles, journals, and books are dedicated to the ideas of the social construction and communication of gender. Zones goes a step further are claims that this social construction serves a function; our cultural preoccupation with women's appearances "serves to control and contain women's ambitions and motivations to gain power in larger political contexts".

She continues to identify the "commercial imperative", that "as new standards of beauty expectations are created, physical appearance becomes increasingly significant, and as the expression of alternative looks are [sic] legitimized, new products are developed and existing enterprises capitalize on the trends." The weight-loss industry in the United States grosses over $33 billion each year in spite of a 90-95% failure rate of its products, high degree of fraud, severe negative health consequences, and a lack of real scientific evidence for the safety and efficacy of its products. The fitness industry turns enormous profits (over $82 billion in 1987). The clothing and fashion industry is even more lucrative, kept up by the tactic of "fashion leaders [to] introduce new and different looks at regular intervals, impelling women to invest in what is currently in vogue." The cosmetics industry grosses over $20 billion each year and, in spite of FDA oversight, remains largely unregulated when it comes to false advertising and the use of harmful chemicals in cosmetic products. Cosmetic surgery has become so normative that "doctors and their patients are viewing unimpaired features as defective and the desire to 'correct' them as intrinsic to women's nature, rather than as a cultural imperative".

Clearly the corporate interest is for women to worry about their appearance.

Zones describes the consequences of the "beauty myth" in terms of health. Depression rates between boys and girls is about the same until puberty, when girls become preoccupied with appearance and their rates of depression skyrocket (these results are based on a study of over 800 high school students, which was not cited in the excerpt). Girls whose appearances differ greatly from cultural standards exhibit higher blood pressure than those who are "more attractive". Tight jeans can cause meralgia paresthetica, hair dyes can cause cancer and multiple myeloma. Aerosol hairsprays contribute to over 25 tons of air pollution every day.

A good deal of the information Zones presents is fear-mongering. Her solutions of an increased governmental oversight and every woman's personal decision to just ignore the media's messages of beauty standards are optimistic and naïve and individualist. Still, when we consider how one social value is maintained and to what end, it seems almost functional; it exists to create jobs and bolster the economy, regardless of its effect on consumers. Tighter regulations on products and services may reduce the health impact on women, but the exploitation of women through cultural imperatives is worth a deeper look.

Relevance: 4/5 (relevant)
Salience: 4/5 (salient)

References:

• Iazzetto, Demetria. 1992. "What's Happening with Women and Body Image?" National Women's Health Network News: 1, 6, 7. - as an example.
• Parker, Sheila, Mimi Nichter, Mark Nichter, Nancy Vuckovic, Colette Sims, and Cheryl Ritenbaugh. 1995. "Body Image and Weight Concerns Among African American and White Adolescent Females: Differences that Make a Difference." Human Organization 54(2):103-13. - in agreement.
• Greenwood, M.R.C. 1990. "The Feminine Ideal: a New Perspective." UC Davis Magazine (July):8-11. - as an example.
  
• Seid, Roberta Pollack. 1989. Never Too Thin: Why Women Are at War with Their Bodies. New York: Prentice-Hall. - as an example.
• Chernin, Kim. 1981. The Obsession: Reflections on the Tyranny of Slenderness. New York: Harper Colophon Books. - as an example.
  
• Freedman, Rita. 1989. Bodylove. New York: Harper and Row. - as an example.
  
• Iazzetto, Demetria. 1988. "Women and Body Image: Reflections in the Fun House Mirror." Pp. 34-53 in Women's Health Perspectives: An Annual Review, edited by Carol J. Leppa and Connie Miller. Volcano, CA: Volcano Press. - as an example.
  
• Brody, Jane E. 1992. "Panel Criticizes Weight-loss Program." New York Times, 2 April, A10. - as an example.
  
• Brand, David. 1988. "A Nation of Health Worrywarts?" Time, 25 July, 66. - as an example.
• Glassner, Barry. 1989. "Fitness and the Postmodern Self." Journal of Health and Social Behavior 30:180-91. - cited in agreement.
  
• Banner, Lois W. 1983. American Beauty. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. - as an example.
  
• Shefer, Dorothy. 1988. "Beauty: the Real Cost of Looking Good." Vogue (Nov.):157-68. - as an example.
  
• Decker, Ruth. 1983. "The Not-so-Pretty Risks of Cosmetics." Medical Self-Care (Summer):25-31. - as an example.
  
• Becker, Hilton. 1991. "Cosmetics: Saving Face at What Price?" Annals of Plastic Surgery 26:171-173. - as an example.
  
• Wolf, Naomi. 1991. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. New York: William Morrow. - as an example.
• McKnight, Gerald. 1989. The Skin Game: The International Beauty Business Brutally Exposed. London: Sidgwick and Jackson. - as an example.
  
• Kaplan, Sheila. 1994. "The Ugly Face of the Cosmetics Lobby." Ms. (Jan.-Feb.):88-89. - as an example.
• Gilhooley, Margaret. 1978. "Federal Regulation of Cosmetics: an Overview." Food Drug Cosmetic Law Journal 33:231-38. - as an example.
  
• Dull, Diana, and Candace West. 1991. "Accounting for Cosmetic Surgery: the Accomplishment of Gender." Social Problems 38:54-70. - as an example.
• Bordo, Susan. 1993. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. Berkeley: University of California Press. - cited in agreement.
  
• Zones, Jane Sprague. 1992. "The Political and Social Context of Silicone Breast Implant Use in the United States." Journal of Long-Term Effects of Medical Implants 1:225-41. - author's previous work, as an example.
  
• Hansell, Stephen, J. Sparacino, and D. Ronchi. 1982. "Physical Attractiveness and Blood Pressure: Sex and Age Differences." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 8:113-21. - as an example.
  
• Gateless, Doreen, and John Gilroy. 1984. "Tight Jeans Meralgia: Hot or Cold?" Journal of the American Medical Association 252:42-43. - as an example.
  
• Zahm, Sheila Hoar, Dennis D. Weisenburger, Paula A. Babbitt, et al. 1992. "Use of Hair Coloring Products and the Risk of Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma, and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia." American Journal of Public Health 82:990-97. - as an example.
• Freedman, Rita. 1986. Beauty Bound. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books. - as an example.