Women's Beauty and Women's Meaning: Towards a Women-Centered Account of Feminine Beauty
by Melissa Lammey
Abstract
In patriarchal societies, social interpretations of women’s bodies hold special significance in determining their identities. In particular, the notion of ‘beauty’ categorizes women across cultures. While beauty standards differ depending on social context, these standards serve similar functions in that they situate women into hierarchies, create competition among women, and keep women preoccupied with something other than the advancement of their own goals and projects. Beauty is a powerful form of social control that keeps women invested in an ideal that is unattainable for most. This ideal subjects women to public and private scrutiny and scorn, results in the starvation and mutilation of bodies, and continually fuels a multi-billion dollar industry.
However, the sentiment exists among some feminists that ‘beauty culture’ might serve to empower women once the restrictions of patriarchy are lifted. In a woman-centered context, beauty can be a creative and unifying force. In this paper, I argue that woman-centered beauty practices allow women to compliment rather than contradict one another. When standards of beauty are determined by women’s creativity rather than by men’s sexuality, women are able to flourish in their quests for beauty. On this view, the alleviation of women’s oppression requires female solidarity grounded in a commitment to women’s meanings.