Week 6 – Manufacturing Beauty

Week 6 – Manufacturing Beauty

1. What does your critical analysis of the website reveal to you about Cindy Jackson’s sense of her social self, her self-concept, her self-esteem and her self-presentation?

Self concept refers to a set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself. Self-concept can also be referred to as identity and plays a key role in determining individuals’ behaviour.
She attributed the desire to drastically change her appearance to a strict father and low self-esteem.

The website reveals that as a child she had very low self-esteem. She felt and believed that she was unattractive and like a complete misfit. She did not like her physical appearance, and hence could not give favourable descriptions of herself using observable characteristics. To me I think she had issues with her Identity as a child. As a child she lived a fantasy Barbie life since she was 6 years old after her parents gave her a Barbie doll. Through Barbie she could glimpse an alternative life. As Cindy Jackson grew older, her self-concept changed, and she was readily willing to do all she could to make herself attractive. She wanted to look better, and believed that by transforming herself, she could perfectly fit into the society. turning point for her to be who she always dreamed of was in 1988 after she inherited some money. She was able to change herself with a help of the plastic surgeries. She has undergone 52 plastic surgeries to attain what she perceived to be a perfect image or physique (Cindy Jackson’s Website). The numerous plastic surgeries have had a positive effect on a social self and self-presentation.

2. How does the physical attractiveness stereotype of interpersonal attraction factor into your findings about Cindy Jackson?

Cindy Jackson numerous interviews on how her life has changed after the multiple plastic surgeries. She believed that plastic surgeries changed her life, men find her to be physically attractive, and hence desirable. Prior to undergoing plastic surgeries Cindy Jackson was unpopular, so her current popularity is the result of her physical attractiveness after the surgery. This is a clear illustration of the physical attractiveness stereotype. Some people think that if you are attractive then they are more happy, outgoing and confident with themselves. After the multiple plastic surgeries Cindy Jackson seems to have gained happiness, fame, and success. She now considers her life to be more valuable. She is so confident with herself that she has books and advises people how to better themselves with plastic surgery.

3. How does the mass media influence Cindy Jackson’s lifeworld?

Cindy Jackson had 52 operations over 23 years with the sole objective of looking like Barbie. When Cindy Jackson was six years old, she looked at a Barbie doll and decided that that was how she wanted to look like. She has spent thousands of dollars on numerous operations so as to look better. The ideals set by the media have a fundamental effect in the society. For example the ideal body type depicted in advertisements is what the society would perceive as beautiful. Hence, media had a key influence on Cindy Jackson’s decision to have multiple plastic surgeries to attain that ideal body figure. All the media attention how she changed her life how she looks like the famous Bridgett Bardot, all the talk shows all the newspaper article promoted her believe that all her efforts paid off, she is famous and people like her because she looks attractive.

4. What do you perceive that the theme of “manufacturing beauty” me

I think that plastic surgeries and cosmetic products are forms of manufacturing beauty. People buy and use such products with the sole of objective of attaining a certain degree of beauty as dictated by the society. Most of us use cosmetic products to look and feel attractive and beautiful, but some like Cindy Jackson go to the extreme of spending thousands of dollars on operations aimed at enhancing their beauty. This tends to give a notion that you don’t have to be born beautiful you can make yourself beautiful by other means. This implies that beauty can be manufactured, and hence the theme of manufacturing beauty.