Beauty Demands

I’ve studied my field, body image, for the last 6 years. I have published, presented and gave media interviews about how important a topic it is. I completed my, 90,000 word PhD in it last year. And since then I have had time to reflect and I’m not sure that what I was doing was right. I’ll step back. What are we, as body dissatisfaction or beauty impact researchers, hoping to achieve through our research? I believe it is ultimately to make the world a little more just. We know the consequences of unrealistic beauty ideals. We know how people tend to dislike their appearance. We know this impacts our wellbeing, relationships and aspirations in myriad ways. Ultimately we want our research to point out that this is a problem, is suffering, is an injustice and needs remedy (or justice).   Nancy Fraser (2001) says that justice can only be achieved when both of the following are undone: 1) misrecognition,“[the] institutionalized patterns of cultural value [that] constitute some ac

Americans’ burgeoning consumption of cosmetic procedures and anti-aging enhancements such as Botox raises important questions about exactly how and to whom these drugs are being marketed.  Profiting on societal expectations for women’s bodies and faces to remain young and beautiful, Allergan, the pharmaceutical company that owns and manufactures Botox, aggressively markets the drug to the typical American middle-class and middle-age everywoman. This targeted advertising campaign has been extremely successful. Over 90 percent of users are women and almost 60 percent are between the ages of forty and fifty-four . However, small but notable populations of younger women are also turning to this anti-aging “wonder drug.” Botox procedures in the 19-34 demographic have more than doubled in the last decade .   In fact, more women between the ages of 22 and 40 use Botox than do women over 60.  The principal reason for this is that dermatologists, cosmetic surgeons, journalists, an