Aim: How do gender & culture relate to concepts of beauty & body image? Do Now:

What do you think the ideal female & male body images are in the United States today? Describe in detail.

Culture, Gender, & Beauty:

What do you consider beautiful or attractive for men and/or women? Where do your ideas come from?

What does it mean to be ‘beautiful’ in our society? Are there differing standards for men and women in terms of being ‘attractive’ in our society? How so?

Japanese Geishas

Foot Binding: A custom begun during the Tang dynasty and lasting until the 20th century "Because I

bound my own feet, I could manipulate them more gently until the bones were broken. Young bones are soft, and break more easily," she says.

"Every pair of small feet costs a bath (kang) of tears"

A bound foot A bandaged bound foot

The Cost of Looking Good???

List and describe some things that people in this country do to meet the standards of beauty our society has…

The Price of looking good???

Burma/Thailand• Members of the Kayan

tribe • At just 5 years old,

girls start wearing brass rings around their necks

• As they grow older, more rings are added

• Ultimate sign of female elegance and status. Some neck pieces can weigh up to 22 pounds.

"If I take the rings off now, I won't look nice anymore," one woman says. "They really are a part of my life."

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/taboo/videos/long-neck-women/

The Maori people of New Zealand practice a sacred beauty ritual—tattooing. Believe women are more attractive when their lips and chins are tattooed. A woman with full, blue lips is considered the most beautiful and desirable.

Women of Karo tribe in southern Ethiopia. During childhood, girls allow their elders to cut scars onto their stomachs. Once a Karo girl has received the last of her scars, she's allowed to marry and have children.

"The main reason for my scars is to attract a male that will give me joy, because I will be beautiful and hopefully get a husband," says one girl during her Taboo interview.

Discussion Questions:

Where does our concept of body image come from?

Why do you think it’s changed over time? To what extent does the media standard

affect your opinion of ideal body image? What are some sanctions for deviating

from the ideal body image? To what extent does culture play a role? In what ways are physical standards

different for men/women? To what extent is body image

created/upheld by the opposite gender (i.e. – men generating the ideal female body image…)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk

Dove Sketches Commercial (3 minutes)

Body Image

A picture in our mind’s eye

Belief about how others perceive us

How we feel living in our bodies

What is the “Ideal” body?Different standards for male and femaleDifferent for various ethnic and cultural groupsDefined by society, community, family . . .

What is “Ideal” has changed over time . . .

Body Image Throughout History

Prehistoric Fertility goddess

Wide hips highly desirable

Body Image Throughout History

120 BCVenus de Milo

Greek goddess

1400’s Botticelli’s Birth of Venus

Art depicted beauty – soft and curvaceous

Body Image Throughout History 1500’s

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa

1600’sRubens’

Garden of Love

Body Image Throughout History

1880’s Plump body,

pale complexion Representing

wealth, abundance of food & refined lifestyle

Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon

Body Image Throughout History

Early 1900’s Corseted,

hour-glass look

1890’s-1920’s

Body Image Throughout History

1920’s Era of the flat-chested,

slim-hipped flapper

Body Image Throughout History 1950’s

Full-figured shapes of Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield

Typical models Height 5’8”Weight 132 lbs.

1940’s-1960’s Women found sexuality a new source of power. Clothing became skimpier in the 1940's, until World War II broke out. Feeling the "American tradition" threatened, families reverted to more conservative values, but the pin-up remained a staple of popular culture.The 1960's saw civil rights campaigns, as well as a new wave of feminism, throwing off the domesticity of the 50's. As women sought to distance themselves from the role of wife and mother, the androgynous ideal once again surfaced in Twiggy, a stick-thin model made popular overnight by a single photo shoot.

Body Image Throughout History 1960’s

The gaunt Twiggy look

Height: 5’7”Weight: 98 pounds

Body Image Throughout HistoryMiss America was normal weight in the 1920’s through early 60’s

Underweight since the mid 60’s

Body Image Throughout History 1970’s and 1980’s

Taller, thinner lookNo visible body fat Muscles highly toned

from hours of working out

Typical modelsHeight 5’8”Weight 117 lbs.

Body Image Throughout History Early 1990’s

Waif-like figure of Kate Moss

Pre-teen look in adult women

< 4% of women have this tall, very thin look naturally

Typical models Height 5’10” Weight 110

lbs

Body Image Throughout History Late 1990’s

Narrow hips yet large breasts

Rare combination without breast implants

Typical modelsHeight 5’10”Weight 110 lbs.

Body Image Throughout History 2000’s

Most girls and women do NOT look like this!Average model:

Height 5’8” – 5’11” Weight <120 lbs. % body fat <18%

The average North American woman:

Height 5’4” Weight 152 lbs. % body fat > 32%

Body Image – Culture matters

Women of color generally have a very positive body image and a broader definition of beauty than white women.

Body Image

African-American models and actresses often portray unrealistic thinness

Body Image

The “Ideal” Male

Tall 6’

Broad shoulders/large muscles

Narrow waist 30”

Average male model:

weighs 145#

15% body fat

Average Man:

5”10”

34-36”

weighs 170#

23% body fat

Body Image

Historical Male Body Image

Michelangelo's David looks more realistic than the muscle men of today.

Impact of the Media

Aim: To what extent is behavior dictated by societal standards of beauty?

Do Now: What is your reaction to the picture to the left? Do you find it beautiful or ugly?

Burma/Thailand Members of the Kayan tribe

At just 5 years old, girls start wearing brass rings around their necks

As they grow older, more rings are added

Ultimate sign of female elegance and status. Some neck pieces can weigh up to 22 pounds.

"If I take the rings off now, I won't look nice anymore," one woman says. "They really are a part of my life."

Homemade remedies include a mixture of turmeric, lemon and honey on her skin to achieve a glowing complexion.

Brides also wear special clothing and jewelry, including a forehead chain, on their special days. A dot of red powder on the face—known as a kumkum—is also thought to make a woman more attractive.

India

India Each year, more than 1,000 tons of human hair are imported into the United States and used to

create extensions and weaves. Some of the best quality and most desirable hair comes from India.

Where do they get all these long locks? Some of it originates at the Venkateswara Temple in southern India, one of Hinduism's holiest sites. Many of the worshipers who visit this temple leave a special offering for Lord Venkateswara—their hair. It's part of a ritual called tonsuring, the cutting of hair for religious reasons. Every day, thousands of Hindus sit before the temple barbers to offer their hair and please the God."

Annually, the temple earns about $18 million selling this hair to exporters. As soon as the hair leaves the devotee's head, it starts the journey to someone else's.

New York City stylist Jay Ferrara uses "temple hair" in his extensions. "When this hair comes from India, it's beautiful," he says. For short extensions, Jay says he charges clients $2,000, and if you want longer hair, it will cost you as much as $4,000.

Temple hair accounts for just 25 percent of the Indian hair market. The rest comes from women who collect the hair that comes out naturally and sell it. It's called the dead hair market. You may have 60 women in one village who pool their hair together, and they'll sell it for $2. So they're getting pennies for this.

http://www.oprah.com/media/20081024_tows_japan

New Zealand The Maori people of

New Zealand practice a sacred beauty ritual—tattooing.

Believe women are more attractive when their lips and chins are tattooed.

A woman with full, blue lips is considered the most beautiful and desirable.

Ethiopia Women of Karo tribe in

southern Ethiopia During childhood, girls allow

their elders to cut scars onto their stomachs.

"The main reason for my scars is to attract a male that will give me joy, because I will be beautiful and hopefully get a husband," says one girl during her Taboo interview.

Once a Karo girl has received the last of her scars, she's allowed to marry and have children.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/taboo/all/Overview#tab-Videos/02786_04

Brazil Biggest consumer of diet pills

Emphasis on fitness Average weight of

women = 110-125 pounds

Plastic surgery becoming common (especially breast implants) Even favelas (slums) have beauty salons

New trend is blonde, straight hair

Indonesia Stagen used after

women give birth 65 foot long cloth

wrapped tightly around abdomen

"It is a bit painful, but I think what it does is to give the pressure to our womb to get back into the normal size"

WHICH COUNTRY HAS BEEN DUBBED THE NOSE JOB CAPITAL OF THE WORLD?

Iran 60,000 nose jobs a year Status symbol "I had a friend who had a

nose job, and she kept the bandage, if I'm not wrong, after two years on her nose just to show everybody that she had nose job“

Pharmacists say nose jobs are so desirable that even people who haven’t had one buy bandages to put on their nose to pretend they had one

Technology impacts body imageBefore airbrushing

After airbrushing

a - tidied and highlighted hair b - reduced shine from skin c - cleaned up eyebrows d - changed eye color from brown to blue/applied "makeup" and whitened eyes e - lessened bags/shadows under eyes f - made lips fuller g - tidied jumper

Reality versus Illusion

"Even I don't wake up

looking like

Cindy Crawford."

-Cindy Crawford

Body Acceptance Men have a more positive

body image and overlook flaws in appearance more than women.

Do you agree . . .Women are judged more on appearance than men?Society’s standard of female beauty is higher and more inflexible?

If Barbie were real . . .

1959

1971

2003

She would stand 6’ tall, weigh 101 lbs, wear a size 4, and her measurements would be 39-19-33.

Celebrity Plastic Surgery: Better or Worse? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZtcW6

MKNz4

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu-2FC8e8yw

The Swan (9 mins):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMBATvlEYFc

Gender Stereotypes in the Media:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nIXUjzyMe0