So I am posting a paper I wrote for my Sociology of Gender class. This is not a complete thought yet, and I have a long way to go before it is, but I thought I would post it and see what the blog world thought and if you had any other thoughts or statements to add. Enjoy!
A Definition of Beauty
The American culture has come a long way since its’ freedom from Britain in 1776. Then, America’s biggest concern was freedom from oppressive rulers and a desire to choose. America has taken that to an extreme and freedom is now the right to do anything, even if that right impedes other’s freedom. That which is right and correct is based on feelings and perspective rather than an ultimate answer.
According to Mead’s theories of how people develop and understand their own reality – Symbolic Interactionism and Social Construction of Reality – a person develops their understanding of something, albeit culture or a social ‘norm’, by looking at their society or culture (example: family, community, general society) (Holmes, 2008, p. 41-53). A person who grows up in a certain culture has a certain opinion about an ideology based on that culture’s opinion of it.
This idea can be seen in one of the latest movies by Tate Taylor’s The Help depicting the life of “the help” in America in the 1960s. Throughout the history of America, the issue of slavery had loomed over our country even after Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and well after into the 1960s and later. Though the African Americans in America were just as human as the Caucasians, there is a stigma that in some areas (and families) in America still presides.
This can be explained through Mead’s Social Construction of Reality and Symbolic Interactionism theories, though there are exceptions. He explains that throughout life, people look to others to understand what is generally right; those who are looked to as examples are termed as “the generalized other.” Mead believes that “we take into account what is socially acceptable in deciding how to behave” (Holmes, 2008, p. 42). An exception to this theory is in The Help: the character Skeeter Phelan is surrounded by a culture that deems “the help” as less significant. They are looked down upon in their society. Skeeter makes her decisions about “the help” by her own understanding of them in her own household. She defines them as significant and real human beings.
In regards to beauty, the common phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is a well-meaning term, though it misses an important key to beauty. In Skeeter’s society, beauty that is held by her friends was defined as ‘other white people who gave them what they wanted without getting in their way.’ This definition is proved to be wrong throughout the storyline of the movie. But, this definition and other definitions like it say something about society in general and beauty within that society. According to Mead, people construct beauty or ideologies based on their understanding of their culture; this has been proved to be true (with few exceptions, like Skeeter of The Help).
Another great example of this is The Miss America Pageants (from the Documentary watched in Sociology of Gender). Throughout the entirety of the film, beauty was based on a set of rules and regulations that needed to be met by the contestants. A (rough) quote from the film stated just this: “Pageants are fascinating because at the end of the night, someone does win. There are a set of rules that constitute beauty.” Beauty, though this should not be, is defined by what the general population decides it to be – whether that is correct or incorrect, fair or unfair, just or unjust.
When Lenora Slaughter joined the Miss America Pageant committee to ensure “fairness” and that “morals” were kept, she wrote up a set of rules. Rule number seven was that the contestants be of “good health and of the white race.” This rule alone showed the extreme bias and misunderstanding of beauty by Slaughter in and of itself.
Beauty cannot be defined by outward qualities. Though outward qualities can categorize people into different sects (ethnicity, overweight/underweight, short/tall, etc.), one of those sects cannot be beauty (beautiful/ugly). Because “beauty”, in the general sense regarding cultures perception of it, is left to be determined by society, there must be a more narrowly-defined definition that takes popularity and preference out. When popularity and preference are left within that definition, beauty becomes subjective. That defines people – “the help” in the 1960s and women around America in regards to the Miss America Pageants – as ugly or as something to be discarded. That definition of beauty is near unattainable and unjust.
Simply, beauty can be defined as being human. To have life, to have breath, is beauty. The first cry of a baby just out of a mother’s womb is beauty. A person living the entirety of their life and sharing their wisdom with someone younger is beauty. Being human has its’ own definition. A human breathes, lives, interacts, relates, creates, learns, comprehends, prospers, hurts, heals, and eventually dies. A human life from birth to death, in itself, is beauty because it spreads across any race, religion, and culture. In the Middle East, women (though very different from Americans) still desire and want the same things as American women: they want to be stylish and trendy; they want the boys in their classes to notice them; they want a college education and career; they want a family and lots of children.
My ISP team leader, Amy Foote, said while in Jordan a quote that I will always remember and that will always stick out to me. She said, “Women are women are women are women.” This statement can be applied to humanity as a whole as well: people are people are people are people.” No matter where you go, people want and desire the same things. Humanity in its’ simplest form is beautiful because race, ethnicity, and culture do not interfere with it; it is what it is.
Beauty within The Help and in The Miss America Pageants is defined solely based on societies perception of it, but those societies are missing the bigger picture. Beauty, as they say, is more than skin deep. Beauty is not popularity or preference. Beauty is humanity. Beauty is life.
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