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Abstract
Being beautiful is primarily a social process and a central dimension of femininity. This study was conducted to understand the importance of being beautiful, historically and in contemporary times, and to distinguish what is distinctive about being a beautiful woman. Data were collected from in-depth, open-ended interviews. The respondents, numbering 110, were from the following samples: (1) 50 beautiful women, 25 of whom were professional beauties, e.g., models, actresses: (2) 20 women of more average appearance; (3) 30 men, 10 of whom were "Beauty Hunters," men dedicated to the pursuit of beautiful women; and (4) 10 arbiters of beauty, e.g., an internationally known modeling agent. Non-participant observation of settings in which beauty matters (e.g., a modeling session) was another research strategy. Data from popular culture and the mass media were utilized, as was information from the following fields: anthropology, psychology, economics, history, literature, philosophy, and medicine. I found that being beautiful is an exaggerated and paradoxical female experience with distinct privileges and problems, revealing of such larger social issues as the formation of identity, gender role socialization, and trends in mass society. Being beautiful is a social role with tremendous consequences for identity, self-esteem, autonomy, and goals. Attitudes about personal beauty are shaped by individual psychological, intellectual, and socio-economic resources, as well as family history and the culture at large. Woman struggle with being beautiful, and often find their problems trivialized. Some become hostage to the social conception of themselves as beautiful and organize their lives around the pursuit and maintenance of good looks--the "Beauty Trap." A transgenerational aspect operates in the creation of the Beauty Trap. In women's relationships, beauty proves divisive but can also serve as a bond. In male-female interaction, beauty intensifies gender conflict, and encourages "hyperfemininity" and traditional patterns of gender interaction. Contrary to sociological common sense, despite the Woman's Movement and the entry of women into the work force, the importance of being beautiful has become more important in woman's search for love, self-esteem, work, and survival, and the Beauty Standard has gone up.
