Men Are Real, Women Are Made Up - Article Example

ANALYSIS ESSAY Introduction: This essay is an analysis of the research article by Paula Black and Ursula Sharma (2001), d “Men are real, women are made up: Beauty therapy and the construction of femininity”from the journal The Sociological Review, 49 (1): 100-116. The authors study beauty therapy, on which so far very little research has been done. They interview women with several years of experience in the industry: beauty therapy teachers and salon owners to get their testimonies. Beauty therapy is a specific aspect of the wider beauty industry; it is a profession and also a cultural practice. The beauty industry as the larger whole includes many other components such as fashion, weight reduction, cosmetics, etc. In the same way, beauty which is a culturally constructed ideal, is a part of the wider concept of femininity. The understanding of femininity is similarly culturally oriented, and it relates to the practices, identities, and representations of what is means to be a ‘woman’ in any society or culture. Discussion: 1). Three things that the authors are trying to do in this research: 1. In this research, it has been the aim of the authors to investigate the work that is done in beauty salons. The salon has been selected as the best place in which the attainment of femininity, its definition and successful achievement are key factors. In the beauty salon, the secret routines of femininity are commodified and exemplified. These feminised spaces have been overlooked in the development of social theorising. The authors try to cover this deficiency in social research. 2. The authors try to investigate the commodified nature of bodily maintenance. Their wide-ranging aims include: the extension of the leisure industry into this bodily arena; the relationships and micro-activities of the everyday world of the salon; the professional claims, rhetoric, and investment of the trade’s emotional labour on the part of the beauty therapist. 3. The main objective of this article is to investigate the relationship between feminism, beauty and femininity. Examination of claims to professional status within the beauty industry, investigating beauty therapy as work, rather than as a cultural institution. The beauty industry slowly revealed itself as a multi-faceted phenomenon, which could be investigated in several ways. 2) Two areas of limitation to the research that the authors admit to: 1. Femininity is an ambiguous concept. Class, age and ethnicity alter the way femininity is defined and experienced. There is no single way in which femininity can be taken into consideration. There do exist generalized beliefs about the culturally acceptable forms of femininity, but within this ideal, there is no one way to be feminine, or even a desire to become so. 2. There was little evidence of a standardized form of beauty that was drawn upon, in the work of the beauty salon. The client is generally helped to look and feel good. For instance, make-up is considered very subjective, and the same type cannot be used for all the clients. Treatments were provided only with reference to particular characteristics of clients. The beauty ideal had to be widened and refined, in order to be significant in the context of the beauty salon. 3) One area of limitation that the authors do not state explicitly: How exactly the system works to transform the rendering of services into a commodity to produce culturally recognizable products based on the different requirements of the women involved in the beauty therapy business. The individual desire for a specific look, and a generalized view of what is accepted cause the different positioning of the women who are clients.The generalized ideal is that of a normative femininity, which acts as an Ideal Type, rather than a practical way for living. However, not all women relate to the normative definition. Women appear to be striving not for beauty, but rather a desire to regulate their bodies in order to appear within the bounds of ‘normality’. This area of limitation would limit the significance of the research, unless several cultures were studied, and the data integrated and synthesized to give meaningful results. 4) The ways in which the authors have justified undertaking the research: 1. Very little empirical study has been done on the beauty industry, which has been the subject of much critique. Investigation on the complex relationship between femininity and beauty, based on research with beauty therapists themselves, was required. 2. Feminised spaces such as beauty salons have generally not been taken into account in the development of social theories in relation to urban sociology. Lofland, 1976: p.154, as quoted in Black and Sharma, 2001: 101, states that “…there is not a single published study of a beauty parlour, a setting in which many women may undoubtedly develop close and meaningful, if limited relationships”. 3. The social, economic, and political advances made by women have created several backlashes, one of which is the “beauty myth”. This concept in all its ramifications, was required to be studied, to gain insights into the larger area of femininity, pertaining to different cultural contexts. 4. To understand the complexities of the beauty industry, its role, and the experiences of the women who come in contact with it. Also, the social and historical background to the industry. 5. Beauty therapists offer services that have a very high therapeutic angle to it, since it boosts people’s confidence and self-esteem. Some of these methods are: pampering, treating and grooming. These days new therapies are being practised in beauty salons, like reflexology, aromatherapy, and shiatsu. Whether the subjective experience of empowerment (rejuvenation, relaxation and time for oneself), can be actually termed as empowerment. This aspect needed research to be conducted on it. 6. Whether beauty therapists are qualified to deal with stress in their pseudo-medical way, though this area has drawn less criticism from feminists than the beauty side of the work done. 7. The investigation of the delivery of a normative concept, how is ‘beauty’ and ‘femininity’ actually taken up by the women involved in its construction and maintenance? It appears that women in general are not striving for beauty, but rather they wish to regulate their bodies, in order to appear within the bounds of ‘normality’. This issue also needed to be studied through the research. Conclusion: The above are seven justifications to the authors undertaking the research. They relate to the relationship between ‘femininity’ and ‘beauty’, the beauty parlour and its social and other functions, the beauty myth, the complexities of the beauty industry, women’s sense of empowerment from beauty therapy, beauty therapists rendering medical therapy, whether they are qualified to do so, what women are striving to achieve from their treatments from beauty therapists: ‘normality’. The multi-faceted beauty therapy industry in all its complexities, will need several research studies, for gaining an understanding about the importance of its functions, to women and society. Read More