Social Identity through Creating the Beautiful Body - Essay Example

?Social identity through creating the beautiful body: Radical alterations of the body in order to conform to constructs of the social definition of beauty Introduction Beauty is a concept that is defined by a society where the norms of one social group do not necessarily conform to the norms of another. There are examples throughout history of radical, and often painful, changes made to the body in order to create a representation of what is considered beautiful in a time and place and to provide a sense of identity to an individual. The concept of mutilation in one culture may be a source of great status and class within another. In understanding beauty and the sacrifices that are made for representing what is beautiful, it can be seen that most cultures have supported alterations of the body in order to attain the essence of beauty as it is defined within the social construct, creating identity and status through those sacrifices. The value of beauty is so high that great pain has been endured in order to attain that representation The concept of beauty would seem a simple concept to define, however beauty is sociologically relevant to the culture that defines it and has an evolving meaning that changes through time. At the center of modern Western society is the beauty salon. According to Black (2004), “The beauty salon stands at the intersection of a number of techniques of the body, which in turn relate to gender, the body, sexuality, class, commodification, leisure practices, consumption, and so on” (p. 7). Current Western society also supports the use of painful surgical remedies to alter the physical form and create a more beautified appearance. However, pain has been collateral to many of the ways in which beauty has been chased throughout the centuries. While contemporary society may frown upon some of the methods that have been used throughout history, the current trends are actually a continuation of culturally accepted concepts of the discomfort and pain that can be experienced in the pursuit of what is physically beautiful. The Beauty Salon in Western Society The core of the creation of beautiful through physical change within contemporary Western society is the beauty salon, a place where the hair, skin, and nails are attended to in order to project a more beautiful exterior presence. The salon is a social center, as much as it is a utilitarian entity. According to Black (2004), as she quotes Yvette, an owner of a salon, “Ordinary people come through here The desire of these ‘ordinary people’ is for pleasure and escapism” (p. 2). While what is done there occurs in order to emerge into society with the intention of the results having an impact on the way in which one is viewed, what happens within the salon is as much a part of the identity as the effect of the result. A relationship is developed between the staff and the client, a connection that is made in order to form a social contract where the professional expertise of the staff member becomes the center of the development of an intimacy with the client, the commodified relationship as emotional as it is purposeful. Often the relationship that one has to their beauty professional is as much emotionally therapeutic as it is physically therapeutic (Black 2004, p. 7). What occurs within the salon is often uncomfortable, if not painful, that level of suffering helping to form the bond between the beauty professional and the client. What is experienced and sacrificed in order to attain the result helps to create the intimacy through which the social contract is established. Furthermore, there is a sexuality that is established within the confines of the experience. The salon professional often must inflict pain in a very intimate way in order to achieve the goals of the session. The pain is endured, the recipient developing a dependency on the one inflicting pain as the release of that sensation is within the control of the professional. This pain can become a deep resource of connectivity between the one inflicting the pain and the one who is receiving it, the power and control being centered around the salon professional, thus creating a dependency within the client (Brewis and Linstead 2000, p. 130). The History of Pain and Beauty Pain and beauty have been intimately associated throughout history. There have been many time periods in which the pursuit of beauty has required very painful alterations of the body which can still be seen reflected in contemporary society. Men and women constricted their body within a garment that was cinched tighter and tighter, inhibiting bone growth, cracking and deforming the body until breath and bone structure were stolen from the person within the confines of its constricting intent. According to Thesander (1997), “The heavily corseted body was not an expression of a strict morality in the eighteenth century: it was a social symbol that marked class difference, an aesthetic ideal and a means of elaborate self-expression” (p. 36). However, when the corset became out of fashion, a new mentally inflicted pain began to emerge as the expectations of the physical form did not change, but the method through which it was attained was no longer available. Without the corset, a man or a woman had to create a physical discipline that would create the same body type (Fields 2007, p. 62) The majority of the Western world has never achieved this goal and has long suffered because of the shame of not being able to attain a thin waist, their self-esteem affected and identity impacted by the denoted lack of control and self discipline that is perceived when the waist does not meet the expectations set up by the corset. The corset, however, is not the only way that constricting and transforming the body through the pressure of binding has been used to create a beautification of the body. Women in China suffered through the ritual of binding feet, an act that would begin when a child was very young, perhaps at the age of three or four. The goal was to attain ‘golden lotus feet’ where the bones had been wrapped and warped until the foot was only three inches long. The term, ‘golden lotus’ is associated with spiritual enlightenment within the Chinese philosophical framework, the achievement of having feet that represented this definition or for a man who has a woman with such feet, suggesting a level of spirituality has been conferred upon them (See Yan Ma 2010, p. 152). In this extreme, spiritual elevation, or the achievement of good, is specifically associated with physical alteration which is defined as beautiful. The sacrifice of the female and the possession of that female giving a sense of identity within the culture. It must be mentioned that the Chinese government outlawed the practice in the early twentieth century. Some Asian and African cultures have used the concept of the neck ring in order to attain a certain level of beauty. Neck rings are placed around the neck of very young girls and gradually increased in number in order to elongate the neck. The process can also cause damage to the collarbone and ribs which are pushed down during the process (Allan 2003, p. 184). The creation of a deformed body in order to create a sense of beauty is part of the ‘masquerade’ of fashion, the identity transformed by defining the physical image. According to Barnard (1994), fashions are defined by the ability to conceal or reveal, to create identity through a constructed physical image (p. 166). In hiding the neck and elongating it in this manner, a mystery is created that requires inquiry, thus a sense of beauty has been attained. Modern Body Alteration These practices, at first glance, may seem to be far beyond the boundaries of Westernized concepts of beauty. However, the Western aesthetic includes a great deal of transformation and change. If one looks at the practices of exercise, at the extremes to which some people go in order to attain a certain body type, parallels can be drawn with the pain that is endured by those who have bound their feet or elongated their necks because of the consequences of altering the physical form. According to Craik (1994), body building “entails self-denial, purity, pain, a sense of the body as alien, and mastery”(p. 68). Extreme alteration of the body’s natural course of development is exhibited, the muscles enhanced to an unnatural level and the physical form transformed. While the extremes of history seem far-fetched and alien to contemporary thoughts of beauty, the truth is that current beliefs of what is beautiful and how to achieve that goal include extremes of mutilation at a level that is beyond those of history. Plastic surgery entails the body to be invaded, to be surgically altered from beneath the skin. The desire to define oneself according to the ideals of beauty has reached a proportion in which the physical form is no longer just dressed or cosmetically enhanced, but the structure of the body is broken and reconstructed in order to create an altered image. According to Barnard (1994), fashion and beauty are a performance, an ongoing theatrical experience that provides a construction of the identity within society (p. 167). Through applications of plastic surgery, an individual will create a new identity, a permanent character through which to enter the continuing theatre of society. The relationship between feminism and plastic surgery has been primarily negative. According to Pollack (1996), “Traditionally, the relationship between feminism and plastic surgery has been extremely volatile and contentious” (p. 155). The French artist, Orlan, revealed the nature of plastic surgery, the ugliness of post-surgery healing through which at the far end comes the hope of a beautiful result. According to Pollack “Because Orlan challenges the logic of a system which privileges form over matter, male over female, she exists as a prime example of how this injunction systematically strips the female artistic subject bare of her position within the critical discourse of contemporary art”(p. 153). The identity of the female is objectified, her body becoming more important than her substance, her beauty the value upon which she is judged. The identity becomes an extension of the physical, rather than an extension of the individuality of the person. Thus, this comes in conflict with the ideals of feminism, the person less than the physical exterior, the female objectification the primary concern of the operative experience. Through the use of plastic surgery, some celebrities have formed their identities. Examples of these celebrities would include Dolly Parton, Liz Taylor, Joan Rivers, and Victoria Beckham. Dolly Parton, in particular, has created a career in which her talent had to be strong in order to defy the objectification that was a result of her extreme physical attributes. According to Miller (2008) “While acknowledging that this emphasis on image risked trivializing her craft Dolly had no regrets because she believed it was necessary in order to achieve recognition; a sad, but realistic reflection on the entertainment business” (p. 281). For many celebrities, the sacrifices that are made to have surgery are far less important than the benefit of increased public representation through beauty. Moreover, sometimes the increased publicity from the surgery carries a benefit that extends beyond the simple beautification of the body. Conclusion The importance of beauty is part of the core of how identity is created and defined within society. Fashion and appearance are so intrinsically linked to the construction of identity that no sacrifice seems to large to attain beauty. On a deep level, society defines beauty as good, while ugliness and deformity can be defined as evil. Enlightenment has helped members of contemporary society to look beyond the physical to see that this is not true, but on a instinctual level, this is the first level of reaction to what is visually perceived (Detsi-Diamanti, Kitse-Mytakou, and Yiannopoulou 2009, p. 88). The level of importance that is conferred upon beauty is shown through the levels of pain that people are willing to endure to attain beauty. Those who have endured the sacrifice, earn the accolades that come with the effects of that sacrifice. While physical beauty that is natural and unintended is at the highest level of value, having endured the many sacrifices that are required to attain artificially created beauty has its social rewards as well. Resources Allan, Nigel. 2003. Pearls of the Orient: Asian treasures from the Wellcome Library. London: Wellcone Trust. Barnard, Malcolm. 1994. Fashion as communication. London: Routledge. Black, Paula. 2004. The beauty industry: Gender, culture, pleasure. London: Routledge. Brewis, Joanna and Stephen Linstead. 2000. Sex, work, and sex work, eroticizing organization. London: Routledge. Craik, Jennifer. 1994. The face of fashion: Cultural studies in fashion. London: Routledge. Detsi-Diamanti, Zoe, Katerina Kitse-Mytakou, and Effie Yiannopoulou. 2009. The future of flesh: a cultural survey of the body. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Fields, Jill. 2007. An Intimate Affair: Women, Lingerie, and Sexuality. Berkeley: University of California Press. Miller, Stephen. (2008). Smart blonde - Dolly Parton. London: Omnibus Press. Pollack, Griselda. 1996. Generations and geographies in the visual arts: Feminist Readings. London: Routledge. See Yan Ma, Shirley. 2010. Footbinding: A Jungian engagement with Chinese culture and psychology. London: Taylor and Francis, Inc. Thesander, Marianne. 1997. The feminine ideal. London: Reaktion Books. Read More