Beauty Demands

With our third workshop on the homogenisation and globalisation of beauty norms taking place next week, our project lead, Heather Widdows, considers whether beauty ideals constitute an emerging global norm. I have argued previously that the current beauty ideal is becoming more dominant and narrower and that this makes it harder to resist and reject. This makes it difficult to regard the ‘choices’ we make with regard to beauty as ‘free choice’ (for further discussion, see  here ). To use just one example, the norms around body-hair have changed dramatically in the last few decades and what is required is more demanding in terms of time and money and pain (see  here ). Moreover, non-compliance is less possible, as expectations of conformity increase (refusing to remove body-hair becomes almost a political choice rather than a beauty preference). Taken together I argue that the norm demands more, it applies to more types of women, and it starts younger (as young as 3)...

In advance of our 3rd Beauty Demands workshop, doctoral researcher Adina Covaci considers the homogenisation and globalisation of beauty norms and discusses the idea that the process which underlies the spread of these norms constitutes a form of propaganda . Is it still the case that there are significant cultural differences in dominant beauty norms and ideals or are beauty norms becoming increasingly homogenised and global? If so what are the drivers of this? Is it a westernised norm? Are there key ethical, legal or practices issues which arise in this context? As I see it, the first question doesn’t contain an exclusive disjunction, so I think it can be said that, at the same time, there still are some cultural differences in beauty norms across the world, but that these standards are indeed becoming increasingly globalised. However, I don’t know if I would call these differences “significant” though, as the concept in itself is a little vague. For example, a stu...

In this post, Jean McHale discusses some of the legal and regulatory challenges posed by the globalisation of the beauty industry. Jean is Professor of Health Care Law at Birmingham Law School and Co-Investigator of the Beauty Demands project . The globalisation of the beauty industry gives rise to some fundamental regulatory challenges. Individuals seeking beauty procedures such as face lifts, liposuction and even cosmetic dentistry are increasingly likely to travel to seek such procedures as illustrated by the growth of the cosmetic surgery “holiday” market.  As many of these procedures lie outside the control exercised by the clinicians in a standard therapeutic context, whether through a National Health Service or standard Health Insurance schemes, the consumer has far greater autonomy in relation to choice of procedure, timing and provider. The scale and the nature of effective regulation of safety of beauty products and procedures is problematic. Globalisati...

Copyright Esther Honig, 2014 In the second of a series of blog posts anticipating our third project workshop on 'the globalisation of beauty', Francesca Minerva responds to the question of whether dominant beauty norms are becoming increasingly homogenised, and considers some of the ethical issues arising from  this shift. Is it still the case that there are significant cultural differences in dominant beauty norms and ideals or are beauty norms becoming increasingly homogenised and global? What humans consider beautiful is partly determined by evolution and partly by cultural influences. For instance, symmetry is universally considered beautiful for complex evolutionary reasons, and therefore we are "hard-wired" to find symmetry attractive. In this sense, some features of beauty (symmetry, some proportions in the human body etc) have always been considered attractive and probably will always be. In this sense, some features of beauty have always been ...

In anticipation of our third workshop on 'the globalisation of beauty', we asked our speakers and participants to consider whether conceptions of beauty are becoming more global. Here Andrew Edgar, lecturer in philosophy at the University of Cardiff, addresses this question from his own specialism in the philosophy of sport. Question: Is it still the case that there are significant cultural differences in dominant beauty norms and ideals or are beauty norms becoming increasingly homogenised and global? If so what are the drivers of this? Is it a westernised norm? Are there key ethical, legal or practices issues which arise in this context? Addressing this question from my own specialism of the philosophy of sport, I would suggest that there is an identifiable process of homogenisation in the shaping of the ideal athletic body.   Over the   second half of the twentieth century and early twenty-first, the muscle definition of both the male and female athlete's...

In anticipation of our third workshop on 'the globalisation of beauty', we asked our speakers and participants to consider whether conceptions of beauty are indeed becoming more global. If you would like to contribute on this topic and write a post for us please email Ruth Wareham . We welcome contributions from different disciplines and perspectives. Question for Consideration: Is it still the case that there are significant cultural differences in dominant beauty norms and ideals or are beauty norms becoming increasingly homogenised and global? If so what are the drivers of this? Is it a westernised norm? Are there key ethical, legal or practices issues which arise in this context?

Fiona MacCallum This is the second in a series of posts about the complex relationship between cosmetic surgery and body image .  Here Fiona MacCallum,  Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Warwick, and Co-Investigator of the Beauty Demands project, gives her thoughts. If you would like to contribute to this discussion please email your response to  Jan Kandiyali. Question: Cosmetic surgery is regarded by some as a 'quick fix' for more deep rooted problems of self-esteem and body-image. How far do you agree with this assessment of elective cosmetic surgery? If surgery is undertaken for reasons of self-esteem and/or body image do you think this is problematic? T here can be a range of motivations for requesting cosmetic surgery procedures. Dissatisfaction with body image is unsurprisingly a major driving force, and is often feature-specific, i.e. a potential rhinoplasty patient who is unhappy with their nose, rather t...