Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Cultural Strategies: The Beauty Myth

If we think about civilisations that came before us and what it meant to be attractive, we can see that time has brought on many changes when it comes to the subject of what is considered appealing and acceptable.

Although we would probably feel ill at the smell of our predecessors, they didn't consider antiperspirants to be necessary. In fact, the subject of underarm hair was not at all what it is today. As the global picture of beauty begins to fuse into a common image thanks to internet, cross cultural communication and activity, the cultural of perceptions of what is beautiful and what isn't change.

Why do we now think that underarm hair is disguisting? There are pictures off red-carpets showing the stubble of stars and highlighting the imperfection of an armpit that is not ultra-smooth. Underarm regions are photoshopped to make them appear smoother and uncharacteristic.

During the "hippy-era" women proudly flaunted their body hair and refused to be slaves to society's expectations of grooming and deportment. After an array of feminist movements, revolutions and changes in the way women are portrayed and perceived, what have we come down to? These days a so-called "hollywood wax" is almost implied and women are left looking like their prepubescent hairless selves. The myth of beauty and what is beautiful has spoken. Smooth=beautiful. Scented=beautiful. Deodorant is now an essential element of every persons hygene and grooming routine, because at the end of the day everybody aspires to be more beautiful.

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