Beauty, Capitalism, & Patriarchy

The cycle of beauty, capitalism, and patriarchy is one that obstructs women from ever reaching a stature of acceptance. Through the apparent eyes of men, women are desired to exist as unobtainable realities, which not only subordinates but divides females to create a system of competition within the individual gender. In other words, women think that men want them to look and act a certain way, which causes them to alter their wants to fit that of the apparent truth. However, because this desired character is so extreme, women begin to clash with one another in this battle to "female perfection". But is it really the men that build this image of the perfect woman, or is it women themselves? There is no denying that men have specific cravings when it comes to the appearances and attitudes of females, but so do women when it comes to males. The difference is that men can more easily find the strength to put their own desires above that of society due to their link to hegemonic dominance in the world of gender relations. As unfortunate as it is, we still live in a patriarchal society obsessed with the apparent relationship between gender and capitalism. Because men are still the dominating gender in our social order, women feel the need to match their beauty to the desires of men in order to reach the same level of supremacy in our capitalist world. However, because capitalism is so heavily linked to our patriarchal system of society, no matter what women do they will constantly be challenged because they are the inferior gender. If we want to change this cycle of female negligence, first it is the females who have to break the conflicts within their own gender before they can counteract the superiority of men.

b c & p

Beauty, capitalism and patriarchy perpetuate each other. Man's control shapes what women are supposed to look like which fuels an industry that preys on women's desire to be beautiful. And yet this capitalistic industry also uses beauty to target men that are in control. It's a vicious cycle. And because this cycle has been going on for so long, the lines between the control of each aspect are blurred. Women want to look pretty/skinny/etc because they want to look pretty/skinny/etc but WHY do they want to look that way? Men. Right? Or is it capitalism? Or does it have to do with anything? The bigger question, in my opinion, is WHAT is at the root of all of this? Is it patriarchy? Or is it beauty? (I'm going to assume it isn't capitalism because beauty and patriarchy have been around for much longer, however the patriarchal society could be what has kept it going essentially). Or is it some other factor that we're not even considering? According to She's The Man, men invented heels for women to be beautiful but women buy the shoes to look beautiful which benefits the capitalistic society. It goes round and round and round.

Beauty, Capitalism, Patriarchy

It is hard to pin-point the exact relationship between beauty, capitalism, and patriarchy because it is difficult to discern which phenomenon causes the other. For example, it is likely that because people endlessly strive to be perceived as beautiful, markets boom and capitalism is furthered. However, it is also plausible that because capitalism is ever-growing in our society, people need to find new industries to sell their products (i.e. the clip we watched from Mad Men where Don Draper says that love only exists to sell a product). So, although I can't positively say which came first, I think it is safe to conclude that beauty and capitalism together fuel and endless cycle with people obsessing over physical perfection and sexual attractiveness. This becomes a major problem when the younger generation experience record high occurrences of eating disorders and cases of self-objectification. With said self-objectification, women's beauty/clothing/cosmetic market shoots through the roof and the cycle is furthered even more, prompting women to try even harder to appeal to the male (and female) gaze by spending money to achieve this standard of beauty.

Beauty and Capitalism

Capitalism is based on competition. As Simone de Beauvoir said, women have a natural intuition to compete with one another. Thus, a capitalist society, such as the one we have in America, perpetuates more competition between women. Beauty is one of the main aspects women consider when judging others and comparing themselves. Women are constantly purchasing products and going to great lengths to be more beautiful than those around them. Another part of capitalism that carries on this competition is the fact that women are able to purchase all of these things. The natural competition between women based on beauty allows for a capitalist society/consumer culture where women are willing to purchase products in order to become more beautiful – it is a cycle where both pieces work because of each other.

Beauty, Capitalism and Patriarchy

Capitalism and patriarchy are the two most dominant forces within American society.  Our economic growth or decline depends on the capitalistic market and consumer behavior, which is often determined or greatly influenced by the patriarch within our society.

For example, the primary purpose of advertisements is to make an audience feel that they must have a particular product or service.  In order to portray this point, the advertisement describes something in your life that is currently inadequate, but through the purchase of their product or service, this inadequacy will immediately disappear!  This strategy that companies use to drive people to their product or service is good for capitalism but poor for society.  It is in this situation - when advertisers make people feel inadequate - that physical and psychological problems begin, such as eating disorders or clinical depression.  Although I understand the capitalistic purpose behind advertisements, they are not always ethical, and companies should be able to find a way to get their point across to their audience without causing physical or psychological, and possibly long term damage, to any audience or group. 

Capitalism and Perfection

The emergence of capitalism created a situation in which women both have more open doors and more walls to keep them in.  While women have many more opportunities in the workforce and in social circles, the walls have been built in their heads.  Mass media, which constantly feeds women images of what they are supposed to look like, dictates societies expectations of women.   We assume that success in the workplace and the home also means a body which successfully fulfills societies expectations of beauty.  Surely an "ugly" woman cant be happily married and a forerunner in her field!  Capitalism is a system where corporations will manipulate people's ideas of happiness and success in order to sell them products.  To create a consumer culture, it must be made clear that one cannot be happy and successful without buying it.  And part of that culture means creating an idea of "perfection" which can only be achieved through buying products.  For women, a major part of this "perfection" is based on body image. In order to appear "smart" one must have a sharp pantsuit and square frame glasses.  Even dark eyeshadow and red lipstick can help!  This connection between personality, perfection, and body image, is a creation of the capitalist culture which, in many ways, keep women trapped.

Beauty, Patriarchy, and Capitalism

Todays culture and society that we live in today portrays the perfection of any subject whether it the perfection of technology, economic system, and beauty. With the dominance of capitalism, beauty is put up on a pedestal resulting in exploiting the imperfection of ones looks. Society does crack down on women to look better by putting these "perfect" women into categories of what they call models who only a select few can be. Also simply going into a mall the ratio of mens to women's clothes and accessories far out numbered by women meaning that our culture today is enhancing women to have as many different possibilities and combinations to fit their personality and style in order to look better. We live in a culture were we are to judge off visuals of ones appearance to dictate the outcome. Patriarchy comes in when the idea of a dominant man being successful and money can buy you anything, puts pressure on women to look perfect inorder to grab the attention of these men. Being beautiful is a gift just like talents in sports or other fields but today our system approaches beauty as a profit opportunity cause we are able to change ones looks and make money while you can't have a procedure to change ones athletic ability to run faster or hit a ball farther.