Many people have different ideas of beauty. Some people see beauty as a person being who they are naturally and their willingness to expose their vulnerability. Others see beauty as materialistic. For instance, in today’s society in the United States, some women don’t embrace their natural beauty and they try to change things about themselves. Some women get plastic surgery, different forms of fillers such as botox to change their physical appearance and make themselves more attractive. Some women wear wigs or extensions to make their hair longer and fuller. Some women wear makeup to enhance their facial features. Some men find these things attractive and others don’t. In China, footbinding was considered normal and men found that attractive, in other countries, female genital cutting is found attractive or vaginal plastic surgery. It all comes to down a culture’s preference and the norm of what they considered beauty.
In Lecture 6.1, the professor talks about how individuals internalize their own standards of beauty and because of this as individuals we find it hard to stand outside of this and realize that beauty is considered a cultural thing (Lecture 6.1). For instance in America, right now plastic surgery is a norm and a part of our culture. There are women who get breast augmentation, liposuction, Brazilian butt lift, nose jobs, and other types of plastic/cosmetic surgery.
However, in other countries, this is not the case. Taking a look at China, we see that footbinding was a cultural norm and a standard of beauty for women. In the article “The Peculiar History of Footbinding in China” Matt Schiavenza states “The procedure entailed bending the girls’ toes underneath the sole, using very long ribbons to wrap their feet all the way to the ankle. Basically, the idea was to keep breaking the foot whenever it grew too large, a process that usually takes between two and three years. Then the feet would be bound for the rest of the girl’s life” (Schiavenza 2013). Footbinding can be seen as a ritual amongst the Chinese women between the 12th and 17th centuries. Footbinding was connected to Confucianism and was apart of the Chinese ethnic identity (Lecture 6.1). In addition. Footbinding was a sign of obedience towards parents, a sign that the women would be a good wife, symbolize wealth (wealthy families could afford to do this for their daughters), a chance of social mobility, and men found footbinding to be attractive (Lecture 6.1).
Furthermore, in other countries, women undergo female genital cutting. Female genital cutting varies by age in different groups and culture (Lecture 6.1). Female genital cutting is connected to religious expression of faith and piety, a rite of passage to womanhood, makes women feel cleaner, and is a sign that the woman will be a good wife (Lecture 6.1). In the video, “The Perfect Vagina” there were a few women who got their labia minora clipped because they were self-conscious about and got taunted from intimate partners and family members about it, one of the women being a young lady named Rosie (7:22-8:25). Women are doing this because they want to have the “Perfect Vagina” based on the cultural beliefs in that country of what a “perfect” or “beautiful” vagina is. In the video “My Penis and Everyone Else’s” Lawrence Barraclough talks about how men have self-confidence problems with the size of their penises.
From this documentary, we can see that men are going through similar issues that women have as well with the size of their genitals.
Although in some countries female genital mutilation is considered a rite of passage or practice for religious beliefs, I think it’s used as a way to control women. I noticed that the women who are getting their labia minora, the vaginal hole being sewn to almost closed up or other vaginal mutilation are in countries where there is a patriarchal system. For instance, the lady in the “My Perfect Vagina” video, a lady went to medical facilities to find a doctor who could provide a surgical procedure on her vagina that consists of replacing her hymen to make it as if she never had sex before so she could marry a man. She was doing this because if the man she was trying to marry found out she had sex before marriage before him she would be shamed and possibly killed. I found this to be extreme and sad to watch/hear. I wish women weren’t judged by society so much for their bodies and sexual life.
If female genital mutilation were to be outlawed in the countries who use this as a ritual, rite of passage, and expression of religion, I believe it will change the cultural expectations in that country for the better. People will see that bodies come in different shapes and sizes. Their ideal of “beauty” will shift and become introduced to different forms of beauty. In order for this to happen, humans need to change their perception of beauty and allow for new ideas of beauty to become apart of their culture and implement those laws out of cultural value (Lecture 6.2).
The filmmaker’s approach was a feminist theoretical perspective. Women are treated differently than men and this inequality gender gap causes women to become more self-conscious about who they are and try to make themselves “perfect” by getting surgical/cosmetic procedures done to their body. As a result, women are spending lots of money on these procedures and causing them to have financial disparities. In addition, they are enduring an enormous amount of pain just to look “perfect”.
References
Barraclough, Lawrence. “My Penis and Everyone Else’s.” My Penis and Everyone Else’s, Vimeo, 9 Aug. 2019, vimeo.com/groups/145051/videos/11094452.
Schiavenza, Matt. “The Peculiar History of Foot Binding in China.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 17 Sept. 2013, www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/09/the-peculiar-history-of-foot-binding-in-china/279718
“Laws Are Culture, Too!” Women and Health, Department of Anthropology, 31 May 2019, anthropology.msu.edu/anp270-us19/lecture-videos/laws-are-culture-too/.
“The ‘Ideal’ Feminine Body.” Women and Health, Department of Anthropology, 31 May 2019, anthropology.msu.edu/anp270-us19/lecture-videos/the-ideal-feminine-body/.
The Perfect Vagina. By Heather Leach. Accessed August 8, 2019. https://vimeo.com/groups/145051/videos/4704237.
Outlawing FGM is actually a very complicated matter, there have been attempts in several states to outlaw the practices, but usually it just forces the procedure underground. In the US FGM is considered illegal, but you can still find individuals in certain communities that will willingly do the procedure. In places where it is banned, the practice of cutting can become a symbol of cultural and religious identity.
Hi, Lauren! I think the issues that you pointed out were very interesting. People have different opinions on beauty, but they stem from different cultural perspectives and the society that they are surrounded by. I agree that feminine beauty practices are done because it is found attractive or normal. Though I do think societal pressure is a major factor in the wish to undergo these procedures. A study stated that the higher the societal pressure is to conform to the societal “norm” of beauty, the more likely one will obtain cosmetic surgery (Furnham & Levitas, 2012). Also, although men do have some sort of beauty standard to uphold, it’s not as pressuring and widely spread as women’s. Some unrealistic beauty standards draw from patriarchy and men’s preference. An example of patriarchal views fueling practices was when you explained that a documentary woman said she wanted surgery to make it seem like “she has never been with a man before marriage” because that is considered unspeakable in a lot of countries. When and how will society realize there shouldn’t be a particular standard of beauty women should uphold? Everyone is unique in their own way, so they should be accepted in society as so.
Work Cited:
Furnham, A & Levitas, J. “Factors that Motivate People to Undergo Cosmetic Surgery.” The Canadian Journal of Plastic Surgery. 2012.