1. Beauty & Culture

2. Culture What is culture? Symbolic construction Articulate information
Means of self-expression
Establishes norms, defines roles

3. Idea/l of Beauty
What influences set the norm for how a society perceives the idea/ideal of beauty?
Genetics
Socialization
Family, peers, role models
Popular culture
Celebrities
Advertising/media
Commercial
Media message
Buying decisions
Culturally relative norm

4. Cultural Issues What problems do we run into regarding culture?
Reason, excuse, justification
Cultural relativism
Reconciling differences across cultures
How to int’l standards?
Domination

5. Beauty Norms
What has influence beauty norms in Africa, Brazil, and India?
Culturally-bound, culturally relative idea
Burkina Faso v. Nigeria
Western values dominate
Nigeria, Brazil, India
Women objectified
Men also held to norms

6. Industry & Beauty In GS-imported notion of beauty
How do the media, entertainment, business, and fashion industries promote (dictate?) ideas of beauty?
In GS-imported notion of beauty
Brazil and Gisele
Actresses, models, celebrities
Promote what sells, appeals to audiences
Issues of genetics, environment
Unhealthy eating habits, established patterns
Gov’t intervention
France, Italy, Spain, Israel passed laws
Men rarely mentioned

7. Food & Beauty Why are eating disorders mostly a western phenomenon?
Have enough food
Reaction to beauty pressures
Yet they are also trending in other parts of the world like Brazil and even Nigeria. Why?
Poverty pockets in Brazil; widespread poverty in Africa
Being able to eat well in an indication of wealth
Global influence of beauty ideal
How is it that ultra-thin is in, but obesity rates are increasing worldwide?