This is a good
topic to discuss especially now since the
popularity of all the make-over shows. I have
always been curious as to why people, mostly
women, have this idea that they are expected to
look a certain way in order to "fit in" with
society.
We all would like to believe that quaint saying,
"beauty is in the eye of the beholder", but how
true and meaningful is that phrase when the
beholder has been brainwashed, so to speak, into
subscribing to the belief that beauty is the
artificial look we see on glamour mags, in TV
commercials, and even in some children's books?
For some time now, that image has consisted mainly
of white women and the "white standard of beauty".
I decided to take this question of plastic surgery
and the search for beauty and see how it can
affect some women in the African-American
community. According to the American Society of
Plastic Surgeons, African-Americans make up only
6% of plastic surgery patients. Why is this? Do
African-American women have a more positive
self/body image or is it that many cannot afford
it? And for the 6% who do have surgery, to which
standard of beauty were they trying to aspire?
I chose to start my search for the white standard
of beauty in 1960. I chose that year because at
the time, a TV show was airing that sought to
teach moral and societal lessons through
fantastical tales. Two episodes of this show were
very telling and prophetic, and they both dealt
with how society viewed beauty and the
expectations placed on women to be "beautiful".
That show was, The Twilight Zone.
Beauty in 1960... Rod Serling offered us a tale of
beauties and beasts in episode #42 entitled: Eye
of the Beholder. Here's a brief synopsis of the
show I found at The Twilight Zone Guide: Janet
Tyler anxiously awaits the outcome of her latest
surgery. Janet, who's abnormal face has made her
an outcast, has had her eleventh hospital visit -
the maximum allowed by the State. If it didn't
succeed, she will be sent to live in a village
where others of her kind are segregated. As her
bandages are removed, she is revealed to be very
beautiful. The doctor draws back in horror. As the
lights come on we see the others, their faces are
misshapen and deformed. As Janet runs from her
room crying, she runs into another of her kind, a
handsome man named Walter Smith. He is in charge
of an outcast village, and he assures her that she
will eventually feel she belongs. He tells her to
remember the old saying: "Beauty is in the eye of
the beholder." Although the show was filmed in
black and white, we can clearly see that Ms. Tyler
is Caucasian. The doctors appear to have darker
skin, nevertheless, the idea here was that the
viewers empathized with Ms. Tyler because she was
the classic blonde, slender beauty commonly seen
in 1960's fashion magazines. As the show closes,
the narrator speaks: "Now the questions that come
to mind. Where is this place and when is it, what
kind of world where ugliness is the norm and
beauty the deviation from that norm? The answer
is, it doesn't make any difference. Because the
old saying happens to be true. Beauty is in the
eye of the beholder, in this year or a hundred
years hence, on this planet or wherever there is
human life, perhaps out among the stars. Beauty is
in the eye of the beholder. Lesson to be
learned...in the Twilight Zone."
1964: The Standard Continues Episode #137, in
Season Five, is called, "Number Twelve Looks Just
Like You", and was adapted by a short story called
"The Beautiful People". In this episode, we meet
Marilyn, a young woman who is about to go through
a rite of passage in her community. This rite is
called "The Transformation" and it requires
citizens to choose among several models of bodies
into which they will be transformed. The message
here is that this society only sees one standard
of beauty and that one will not be happy unless
they look and act just like everyone else. Opening
Narration: "Given the chance, what young girl
wouldn't happily exchange a plain face for a
lovely one? What girl could refuse the opportunity
to be beautiful? For want of a better estimate,
let's call it the year 2000. At any rate, imagine
a time in the future when science has developed a
means of giving everyone the face and body he
dreams of. It may not happen tomorrow--but it
happens now, in the Twilight Zone."
Once again, the beautiful people are all white and
we don't see any women or men of color. What was
this episode trying to tell black women about
beauty? The closing narration: Portrait of a young
lady in love--with herself. Improbable? Perhaps.
But in an age of plastic surgery, body building,
and an infinity of cosmetics, let us hesitate to
say impossible. These and other strange blessings
may be waiting in the future--which after all, is
the Twilight Zone."
Beauty 40 Years Later
Some aspects of beauty standards have changed, but
not much. We do see more black models and
beautiful black women, but when you look at the
majority of the more famous ones, (Tyra, Halle,
Janet, Vanessa Williams, Beyonce, a few of whom
have had plastic surgery, on their noses and other
body parts), you can see straight away that they
have many Caucasian attributes: small, pinched
noses, lighter complexion, lighter eyes, straight,
lightly colored hair. It is rare that you will see
a model with very dark skin, a tight afro, wide,
round, larger nose, and full, large lips. Flip
through any issue of Vogue or Glamour and look for
that image I just described. Then look for the
first image I described.
So, are black women trying to aspire to the white
standard of beauty when they seek plastic surgery?
According to Cynthia Winston, assistant professor
of psychology at Howard University in Washington,
D.C., We really don't know much about how blacks
are influenced. Most of the research focuses on
perceptions related to skin color. Foe most
African-Americans, perception can be shaped by
their environment. For example, an
African-American woman growing up in an all-white
neighborhood in Nebraska may be more likely than
an African-American woman raised in inner-city
Detroit to compare herself with white images of
beauty.
Now What?
I suppose, it all comes down to how one feels
inside about themselves. But there is this viscous
cycle of doubt that women constantly face so it's
often hard to reconcile your inner voices with the
outside images thrown at you everyday. Many women
buy into the trends and fashions that dictate
beauty. TV shows and print ads abound with images
of sexy women. Fitness clubs persuade women to
join not so they will lower their risk of heart
disease, but so they will aspire to be beautiful
on the outside. No one tries to sell things that
will help them on the inside.
In the end, you can look at all of this and say
that there will always be standards of beauty and
those who aspire to live up those standards, and
those wanting to make a profit off those standards
(cosmetic companies, ad agencies, modeling
agencies, fashion designers, plastic surgeons,
psychotherapists). The media portrays what people
want to see and apparently, it's sex and "beauty".
Ms. Martin currently resides in sunny Southern
California with her son. When she's not writing,
she works part-time as a preschool teacher where
she hopes to help all children develop positive
self and body images.
