CRJ #6

#3. I believe that the sexualization of women’s bodies does vary by race. In white women, being rail thin with large breasts is desired. With African American women, a lot of times curves and thicker women with large buttocks are desired. Girls who are white have a very distorted body image and it was thought that African American and Latino women did not have those same problems. In recent studies though, it was found that African American women’s purging and laxative use is related very closely with white women, but that Latino’s still had a much better beauty aesthetic than did any other race. My experience with the politics of beauty is that there is much more out there that can possibly distort a white women’s view of her body. There is some for African Americans and not as much for Latinos. I believe that it is a very good clue as to why Latinos do not have as much of a distorted image as whites do and I think that should be a good hint for society and we should strive to fix this major problem.

#1. Disciplinary beauty practices are trivial routines, rules, and practices that we engage in to maintain our body. A few examples are shaving legs, applying makeup, and curling/straightening/coloring hair. The media does a great job of constructing the female body by using perfect women in their ads and even digitally altering them at times to make them look even more perfect. I believe that the possible consequences for women of reality shows is that seeing as that they are on tv, they feel like they have to always look perfect and be perfect. They have all of their disciplinary practices shown on tv and have to make sure they are always looking good. This is related to the development of consumerism and global capitalism because I’m sure the products and things that these women use on the show has a higher sell rate at stores due to the fact that they are publisized and used by these reality show women.

#2. I think the ideal woman’s body is skinny, large breasts, tall, tan, perfect skin, and long legs. I think the ideal man’s body is tall, muscular, and tan. Power relations are reflected and reinforced in beauty and body norms in the fact that most world leader and big people in media are somewhat attractive and have a “normal” body. I believe that beauty and body norms affect men and women differently because even though men have body norms, I believe that they are usually still accepted even if they are somewhat not the norm where as women who don’t match it are immediately looked at differently. It makes me look at my body differently because it makes me feel like I have to have a perfect body to be successful in society.