Beauty Demands

The beauty demands briefing paper launches TODAY 9 th of June 2016. For a hard-copy please email Ruth Wareham or download a copy here . The briefing paper will be launched at the Nuffield Council on Bioethics this afternoon . The briefing document is one of the final outputs of the beauty demands network. The Network on “The Changing Requirements of Beauty” is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council under a policy highlight notice. The network is a partnership between the academic community and the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. Academics from many disciplines, including anthropology, cultural theory, history, law, medicine, philosophy, sociology and psychology, have contributed to the network. The network has also included many voices from beyond academia and we have had sessions and contributions from non-academics, including, artists, curators, doctors, journalists, nurses, psychiatrists and surgeons. The network was built around four workshops which have tak

In this post, Fiona MacCallum (University of Warwick) discusses how the sharing of idealised images via social media is influencing individuals' perceptions of body image and wonders what actions can be taken to counteract the negative consequences of  selfie culture. We’re used to seeing adverts telling us that we can have perfect skin in “3 easy steps” or “just one week”. However, digital technology claims to speed the process up further with apps designed to improve the photos we post on social media, such as the “Instabeauty” app which offers a “one-tap makeover” to give the user “flawless skin”. This raises the interesting question of what effect engagement with social media, and particularly with a stream of carefully chosen idealised images, might have on individuals’ satisfaction with how they look. Evidence has shown that exposure to visual mass media depicting idealised bodies is associated with higher levels of body image concerns (e.g. Grabe, Ward & Hyde, 2