The Beauty Phenomenon

The beauty myth is in everything we do. We, as a culture, are so invested in the qualities and beliefs of this myth it controls our lives. The beauty myth has manifested itself deep within our culture and dictates the way men and women live their lives. The beauty myth can affect us both consciously and subconsciously. For instance, when a girl goes on a diet or buys all the clothes she sees a model wearing in a magazine because she desires to look like her, the influence of the beauty myth is a conscious phenomenon. We want to look good for others and also for ourselves. However, where is this sense of 'looking good for one's self' coming from? I think this attitude comes from years of exposure to beautiful women and this is what we as a culture define as beauty. Why do girls not go out and buy comfortable non-stylish clothes? Why do girls put on mascara to make themselves look pretty? How is this pretty?

The beauty myth is also evident in almost every form of media imaginable, as women strive to look younger, thinner, and less like themselves. When speaking of the nature of fashion magazines, Bob Ciano, former art director of Life magazine, says, "no picture of a woman goes unretouched...even a well known [older] woman who doesn't want to be retouched...we still persist in trying to make her look like she's in her fifties" (Wolf, 82-83). This re-imaging gives grounding to the fact that many women desire to look younger than before in order to appear more desirable to men, but has it always been this way? Did women in colonial times struggle to maintain their youth? The beauty myth cannot even be called that since it is simply part of our nature, it is not a clear component, but rather a way of life.