Thesis
Beauty should be the source of strength and not weakness.
Beautiful by definition means aesthetically pleasing to the senses and the mind. To be beautiful is a complement mostly reserved for women in most societies to show approval for their physical appearance. The same cannot be said when it comes to men as society sees men in a very different light from women. Whereas women are supposed to be fair and feminine – and beautiful - men are identified by their ‘definition’ - how/who one is or what one does – handsome being their politically correct equivalent to beautiful. In principle, this beauty does not work to empower but to demean women as it fosters misogyny and male narcissism.
In her Vogue article, Woman’s Beauty, Susan Sontag addresses the issue of beauty, and its stereotypical application towards the woman and how to be beautiful by social standard a woman has been reduced to the outside than what lies within. Sontag looks at the objectification of women and their use as sex symbols as one manifestation of this prejudice and abuse of the word beautiful (Sontag). In the movie, Miss Representation, one can clearly see the type of associations accorded to women that end up limiting their capacity to be viewed as fully functional members of the society. In her article, Sontag has shown how the perception of beauty relegates a woman to having the obligation to be superficially viewed as beautiful. Society has reduced the woman to parts - size - and not the whole as it applies to men. A woman is her breasts, hips, feet, eyes, complexion, hair, nose, waistline among other things. Beauty for a woman does not stem from her intellect, courage, or achievements but rather her ability to preen (Sontag).
The societal notion that women are fair, fragile and weak thus lacking in capacity to be good or even great lawyers, politicians, doctors, business women, astronomers or whatever she wants to achieve is highly misplaced. The fact that a woman desires to be beautiful does not limit her intellectual abilities. In relation to beauty, Sontag says that women are damned if they do not and damned if they do. This implies that society does not appreciate the likelihood that women can conform to Socrates’ and Cocteau’s belief in beauty as being both internal and external as opposed to the Christian and post-christian notions that view beauty as a pervasive, alienated and superficial enchantment that is not central to human excellence (Sontag).
The media is a very instrumental part in creating and shaping perceptions. According to the movie, Miss Representation the media has played a critical role in building up the narrative and propagating the rhetoric’s commonly associated with women of this generation. According to some statistics of the movie about girls and how they consume content from the media on a weekly basis, “31 hours are spent watching television and reality shows, 17 hours are spent listening to music, 3 hours are spent watching movies, 4 hours are spent reading magazines and 10 hours are spent online. All this averages up to 10 hours and 45 minutes of media consumption in a single day” (Miss Representation). These statistics show the kind of power wielded by the media and the type of responsibility bestowed upon it to ensure it changes the minds of society on its perception of beauty and women. Women, as portrayed by the media, have to conform and fit into a certain size to stand out, even when representing their achievements, more often than not the headline is accompanied by a sleazy, sexist remark on their appearance. Beauty is a powerful word, and if used correctly, it can be used to empower women and not demean them. If the society were to change, its view of beauty to encompass what lies inside then the world would truly be beautiful. One would be able to look at individuals as a whole and not just a sum of their parts. What this means is that women would get a fair chance to compete with men and themselves. The power would not just be that of attracting but the power to command respect for one’s achievement regardless of the gender.
Women of this generation are strong and very aware of themselves thus are sensitive to how they are portrayed. Gone are the days when they would simply stay submissive to the male genders pounding of their character and most importantly their achievements. It is high time they get what is rightfully theirs and superficial beauty is but a complement and not their definition.
References
Sontag, Susan. "An Argument about Beauty." Daedalus 134.4 (2005): 208-213. Web.
Miss Representation. OWN documentary, 2011. film.
