Beauty Myth Research Paper

Where and how did the "beauty myth" originate?

Women cannot find strong role models in today's society without getting a false impression. Too often the role models are of women of unrealistic beauty. Take for instance the big screen: a bunch of long legged, skinny, women with flawless faces, voluptuous breasts, and not a spec of cellulite. All of the "model" women in the media seem to have "perfect lives"; their biggest catastrophe being where to put the indoor tennis court, or the indecisiveness of what to wear to the Golden Globe Awards . Finding role models on the glossy pages of magazines and posters has become even more prominent. Gazing at these "role models" has become an act in which shapes the way women look and feel about themselves
Bianca attracts men for her beauty and her sex appeal; whereas Katherine's personality and intelligence is viewed as a barrier from being desirable to suitors. Blanch and Dorothy , in the Golden Girls , is yet another example of beauty being more desirable than brains. Two women, one is defined as the winner, and one as the loser in the beauty myth. When women think about the myth, it is the models in women's magazines that make them susceptible to the heroines of mass culture. The message delivered to women in these magazines tells us that we need to look like this, and shop here if we want to be a certain way. The message even reaches as far out to say that after reading this story, women can be better, more beautiful, starting now. It makes us want to throw away our old clothes, seek out a new job, buy every beauty product featured in the magazine, dump the boyfriend and tape the bathing suited beauty spokes model to the refrigerator. Magazines know exactly what they want, and just how to get it. In order to keep its readers interested in the magazine, most magazines insist on a woman keeping her "feminine quotient" high. This lure would insure magazines that women would not