Bridget Turcotte

Communication Research Methods

Final Research Paper

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Table of contents:
Introduction

Literature Review

Hypothesis & Research Question

Methodology

10

Results

14

10

Analysis and Discussion 18

Limitations& Future Research
Appendix

23

Bibliography

24

22

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Introduction
For decades there has been extreme pressure for women to become what the world has
decided is beautiful. Women work hard to shed that extra ten pounds, bleach their hair blonder,
color their hair darker, pull their skin tighter and whiten their teeth to a pearly sparkle. What I
would like to examine is why these women go to such great lengths to conform to what society
has deemed beautiful and explore the different variations of this concept.
Girls see Victorias Secret models with perfect bodies and these angelic, magical looking
costumes walk the runway every year. They look up to characters on television shows who wear
a size 0 and a face full of makeup from a very young age. They even play with Barbie dolls who,
if made life size would have proportions more unrealistic than you could ever imagine. Young
Girls look up to these women and want to be like them. Later in life they still do the same thing
without even realizing of it. We live in a world where the media is so active that we see pictures
of celebrities, models and airbrushed advertisements multiple times a day whether we are
conscious of it or not.

I would like to examine the ideals of beauty that are set by society, more specifically I
would like to look at the influences that society and the media have on what individuals see as
beautiful. Ive been reading a book called The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf that focused on
women and beauty more specifically related to societal expectations of beauty in a time where
women were gaining power. She not only explored the concept of what beauty really is but went
further to explore how it contributed to women and their success in a world where their role was
ever changing. I found this to be very interesting, however, I would like to focus more
specifically on the idea of where our guidelines for beauty really come from and who decides

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what is beautiful and what is not. It also is interesting to think about what constitutes a beautiful
woman in different cultures around the world as well as in different eras.
I would like to focus more specifically on the idea of where our guidelines for beauty
really come from and who decides what is beautiful and what is not. It also is interesting to think
about what constitutes a beautiful woman in different cultures around the world as well as in
different eras.

An important part of separating what society deems beautiful from what we ourselves
would consider beautiful is taking away what everyone else thinks is beautiful and the way
everyone else looks. It is important to get rid of the idea that one person is beautiful because they
can be compared to another person that looks similar, wears their hair similar or dresses similar.

There are many different aspects to explore within the general topic such as how beauty
differs around the world and from time to time. I was able to find many different articles
pertaining to my subject online as well as names of different books that were recommended for
related topics. There is also a lot of information related to feminism that I could look at.

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Literature Review
Ive been reading a book called The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf that focuses on
women and beauty more specifically related to social expectations of beauty in a time where
women were gaining power. She not only explored the concept of what beauty really is but went
further to explore how it contributed to women and their success in a world where their role was
ever changing. I found this to be very interesting, however, I would like to focus more
specifically on the idea of where our guidelines for beauty really come from and who decides
what is beautiful and what is not. It also is interesting to think about what constitutes a beautiful
woman in different cultures around the world as well as throughout different times.
Wolf mainly focuses on how images of beauty affect and are used against women. She
explains how the idea of beauty plays a role in the different aspects of our lives. More
specifically, it is how women define beauty to be that creates problems throughout their lives.
She says we (society as a whole) describe beauty as being thin and youthful and women go to
extremes in order to attain these characteristics which in turn, create problems throughout their
lives.
She lists the different parts of our lives that are affected by the beauty myth and separates
them by giving each their own chapter in her book. They are: work, culture, religion, sex, hunger
and violence. She believes that having the idea of this unattainable perfect beauty affects each of
these aspects tremendously whether it is through discrimination at work or starving themselves
to be as thin as the models they see portrayed as beautiful.
"The more legal and material hindrances women have broken through, the more strictly
and heavily and cruelly images of female beauty have come to weigh upon us...During the past
decade, women breached the power structure; meanwhile, eating disorders rose exponentially
and cosmetic surgery became the fastest-growing specialty...pornography became the main
media category, ahead of legitimate films and records combined, and thirty-three thousand
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American women told researchers that they would rather lose ten to fifteen pounds than achieve
any other goal...More women have more money and power and scope and legal recognition than
we have ever had before; but in terms of how we feel about ourselves physically, we may
actually be worse off than our unliberated grandmothers."

It is interesting that here she is suggesting that the beauty myth became a stronger
problem for women during an era where women were gaining equality and being liberated from
other anti-feministic ideas. The beauty myth is actually something that women put themselves
through more than society ever could. Sure, they see images of successful women and beautiful
women all around them but it is they that put so much pressure upon themselves to become
something they are not.
The ideals of beauty changed drastically throughout the decades, ranging from the
renascence period when women were expected to be heavier and have curves to the 1960s
where girls looked up to models like Twiggy who were unhealthy-thin. In the 1970s straight
hair was beautiful but jump ahead just ten years to the 1980s and you will find that women
wanted curly hair with lots of body.
An article by Style Caster called A Timeline of Sexy Throughout the Ages closely
examines the way that the hairstyles, clothing styles, ideal body type, and even role for women
changed throughout different time periods and decades. I found it not only interesting but also
useful for researching my topic because I want to look closer into what society considers to be
beautiful and how it changes over time.
An article also called The Beauty Myth published by The Washington Post and written
by Stephen Kuusisto is about how the blind see beauty. It was beautifully written by a blind
person who describes his own experiences and when he realized what beauty meant to him. Its
important to my research because it addresses the idea of what beauty really is without

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considering how it compares to other images. In Kuusistos article he explains how he listens and
paints an image within his mind and still is able to see the beauty although he physically cannot
see it with his eyes.
It's not that I'm inured to beauty. Imagine that you're talking to a woman who is sitting across a
table from you. When you look at her, all you see is a shimmering cloud of light. On the one
hand, you are able to observe people as mystical emanations of divine radiance. On the other
hand, you don't know what this woman looks like. So you pour some pinot grigio, and you listen.
She's talking about hats: late 19th-century "Gibson girl" hats with the flowers and jaunty brims.
She's talking about the first great era of catalogue fashion and a new kind of innocent loveliness.
A sighted person might have trouble believing this, but if you're having a nice time in a cloud of
light, and you're talking about beauty, the person opposite you is, in fact, beautiful.
Reading this article helped me tremendously to take away other elements that contribute
to societys shared belief of what is beautiful. Kuusisto describes visiting museums and glorious
far away cities without being able to see them. Surprisingly it is not a sad memory for him. He
describes the way his friends would explain every detail of the sights to him and in turn take in
its beauty on another level themselves. He was able to paint a picture in his mind of what he was
seeing and let his imagination take him away. More importantly his imagination is always
working when he meets someone new; he listens to their beautiful stories and knows that they
are beautiful people.

There are certain ideals that women hold onto and hold as beautiful. It is interesting to me
why and what makes these specific elements beautiful and other elements not beautiful. Women
are always trying to be thin because they dont want to be the fat girl and wearing makeup to
hide their imperfections but who says that pale skin and freckles isnt beautiful? Why are preteens straightening their hair every day instead of leaving it natural? Why is certain clothing that
some might not regard as fashionable, so popular? Are UGGS really THAT comfortable that

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every preteen owns at least one pair? What Im really interested in further researching is where
these ideas of what beautiful really is come from in the first place.

Obviously society plays a major role into what people think is beautiful but I would like
to further examine how these beliefs catch on so effortlessly that women dont even realize it has
happened. Timothy Sexton looked further into this sub-topic in his article The Media and
Influence on Body Image and Beauty. This article was helpful to me because it brought up
where society inserts these messages to women all over the world and it explains that it starts at a
very young age.
Girls see Victorias Secret models with perfect bodies and these angelic, magical looking
costumes walk the runway every year. They look up to characters on television shows who wear
a size 0 and a face full of makeup from a very young age. They even play with Barbie dolls who,
if made life size would have proportions more unrealistic than you could ever imagine. Young
Girls look up to these women and want to be like them. Later in life they still do the same thing
without even realizing of it. We live in a world where the media is so active that we see pictures
of celebrities, models and airbrushed advertisements multiple times a day whether we are
conscious of it or not.

All of these sources as well as others that I am still reading and going through will be
very helpful towards the end result of my research paper. The more I dig into the topic, the more
it piques my interest.

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References

Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used against Women. New York:
W. Morrow, 1991. Print.
Kuusisto, Stephen. "The Beauty Myth." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 12 Nov. 2006.
Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
Patrick, Liz. "Beauty Standards in the World of Subcultures." Beauty Standards in the World of
Subcultures. Brynmawr.edu, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
Andrea. "A Timeline of Sexy Defined Through The Ages." StyleCaster. Style Caster, 19 Mar.
2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.
Sexton, Timothy. "The Media and Influence on Body Image and Beauty." The Media Influence
on Body Image and Beauty. Yahoo!, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.

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Research Question & Hypothesis

I want to find out what influences an individuals view of beauty. I also want to discover
what kind of influence the media has on societys view of what is beautiful. I expect to discover
that there is a correlation between certain influences and the way that people view body image
and beauty in general. I also expect to discover that people of different backgrounds have
different feelings about these influences because of how available or present they may have been
throughout their childhood. I will also be paying close attention to gender and the difference in
the way that different genders view beauty. I predict that females will have a stronger correlation
between media influences and their own body image. I also predict that women will be more
likely to say that the media influences their beauty decision tan the men will. Men probably will
have a more realistic view of body image and therefore wont be as influenced by media. They
are also less likely to be exposed to models that appear in fashion magazines, advertisements,
etc. Finally, I expect to see a correlation between what the media portrays as beautiful and what
the subjects in my study see as beautiful.

Methodology

I decided to take a Qualitative approach and conduct an experiment by taking a survey in

the form of a questionnaire. The population or sample that will be used is young adult females
and males. In order to conduct the procedure, I will ask the participants a series of questions
ranging from whether or not certain influences such as Barbie dolls or television shows were
present in their childhood to questions about whether or not they have ever struggled with body

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image. I will measure the phenomena by seeing if there is a correlation between such influences
and a struggle with body image from one person to the next as well as one gender to the next. I
will also need special apparatus such as a physical survey that offers choices for the participants
to circle as well as sections where the participants can add other options that I had not listed. I
want to discover a few different things from this survey including how many young adults have
struggled with body image and if there are common influences among these individuals that
could have led to these beliefs. Most importantly I would like to discover what influences
peoples view of beautiful really is.

The subjects or participants will be college aged young-adult males and females ranging
from the age of 18 to the age of 25. The survey will be conducted in written format and will be
available online as well as in the cafeteria at Salem State. I am going to gain access to these
groups or individuals by offering my survey to the public during popular lunch hours as well as
online where people from different schools and communities can access it. I will try to get
participants from a variety of schools with different average tuition and income students
including Salem State University, North Shore Community College, Merrimack College,
University of Massachusetts Amherst, etc.

My biases of the experiment could include the texts I have read that relate to the topic
and could influence my general opinion. They certainly make me more aware of different issues
that have been raised in other experiments concerning similar topics. My other biases could
include my middle class community, race, family heritage, etc. I am going to make sure my
biases are not included or reflected in my research methods by making sure that my survey is
offered in a wide range of communities including ones similar to the one I grew up in but also

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different communities that may have different opinions. Because schools that have higher or
lower tuitions could represent communities that have higher or lower incomes, I will make sure
to include both when I offer the survey. Finally, the survey will be offered to people that I know
as well as strangers that do not know me. I cannot guarantee that the survey will be taken by
people of different ethnicities but it will be offered to everyone and hopefully a diverse group
will choose to participate.
To make sure that my results are accurate Im going to use test-retest reliability. In order
to do so I will collect data using my method described on a given day. I will then go back and
retest the same exact way and make sure that I obtain the same results. Reliability refers to the
consistency of a measure while validity refers to accuracy of a measure. By using the test-retest
method, I will ensure that my study is both reliable and valid.

Survey Questions
1.) Gender: (male) (female)
2.) School or Community:
3.) How many of the following media outlets do you follow?
Televison ( )
Magazines ( )
Internet ( )
4.) If you do read magazines, what type do you read?
Gossip ( )
Sports ( )
Fashion ( )
Political ( )
Automotive ( )
Other ( )
I do not read magazines ( )
5.) In your opinion, what body type is the most attractive (for women)
Slender ( )
Athletic ( )
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Curvy ( )
Other: please fill in _____________________
6.) If you are a female, what clothing size is most ideal? If you are a male, what would you
say is the most ideal clothing size for a woman?
(0-2) (2-4) (6-8) (10-12) (12-14) (16-18) (18 or higher)
7.) Do you see the models in the media as beautiful?
(yes) (no)
8.) What would you say influences YOUR view of what is beautiful?
(family and friends)
(what you see in magazines)
(what celebrities look like)
Other: please fill in: ______________________________
9.) What would you say influences SOCIETYS view of what is beautiful?
(family and friends)
(what you see in magazines)
(what celebrities look like)
Other: please fill in: ______________________________
10.)
On a scale of 1 to 10, how much would you say celebrities/models influence
trends in fashion/makeup/beauty in general?
11.)
Have you ever personally struggled with body image? (this could be anything
from wishing your body was different to suffering from an eating disorder, etc.)
12.)
Have you ever compared yourself to what you see in magazines, on television, in
advertisements or any other form of media?

THANK-YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO COMPLETE MY SURVEY!

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Results
I selected twenty students using a convenience sampling method. I asked students from
my classes if they would be willing to take my survey and also asked friends and co-workers
who fit the dynamics of the group I wanted to study. I also made my survey available to students
that I did not know by offering it on the school campus. At the end of my study I successfully
gathered information from twenty people aged 18 to 25. There were 10 female participants
(50%) and 10 male participants (50%). I did this purposefully in order to fairly compare both
genders as well as the group of participants as a whole.
In my results I found that the opinions of females were very different than the opinion of
males. Question 3 asked how many of the following media outlets do you follow? and offered
3 different types of media to choose from: television, magazines and internet. Overall 19/20
(95%) of all participants reported that they watch television. 90% of the female participants and
100% of the male participants. 50% of all participants read magazines; 70% of the females and
30% of the males. 90% of all participants use the internet; 100% of the females and 80% of the
males.
I then asked if you do read magazines, what type do you read? and offered the
following choices: gossip, sports, fashion, political, automotive, other, and of course I do not
read magazines. Overall 30% reported that they read gossip magazines; this includes 60% of the
female population and 0% of the male population. 20% of all participants reported reading sports
magazines. This included 10% of the females and 10% of the males. 30% of the sample group
said that they read fashion magazines. This included 60% of the females and 0% of the males.
0% said they read political magazines and only 10% said they read automotive magazines; 0% of

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females and 20% of males. Finally, 50% of all people sampled said they did not read magazines.
This includes 30% of the females and 70% of the males.
Another survey question asked in your opinion, what body type is most attractive (for
women? and gave three options: slender, athletic, and curvy. It also gave the option other
with a line where participants could fill in any other options. Overall 45% of all participants
chose slender. This included 50% of females and 40% of males. 20% of all participants chose
athletic including 30% of all females and 10% of all males. 35% off all participants said that
curvy body types were most attractive. This included 20% of females and 50% of males.
The next question addressed clothing size, asking If you are a female, what clothing size
is most ideal? If you are a male, what would you say is the most ideal clothing size for a
woman?. I grouped similar size ranges together for participants to choose between as follows:
0-4, 6-12, 14-18, and 18 or higher. Overall a drastic 75% of all participants chose the size 0-4
range including 80% of all female participants and 70% of all male participants. 25% of the
entire group selected the size 6-12 range including 20% of females and 30% of males. 0% of the
group selected size 14-18 and 18 or higher.
The next few questions were more direct in trying to find the correlation I am looking for
between the media and societys view of beauty. The next question asked Do you see the
models in the media as beautiful? and offered a yes or no response. 16/20 or 80% of the
overall group said yes (70% of females and 90% of males) while only 20% responded with no.
This included 30% of females and 10% of males.
Next I asked the same question which in the first scenario asked the individuals opinion
and then in the second question asked what the individual thought societys opinion would be.
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Question 8 read What would you say influences YOUR view of what is beautiful? while
Question 9 read What would you say influences SOCIETYS view of what is beautiful? the
options listed for both of these questions were the same; family and friends, what you see in
magazines, what celebrities look like, and other with a place to fill in your own response.
For question 8, 85% of all participants said family and friends influenced their view of
what is beautiful. This included 90% of females and 80% of males. 45% of all participants said
what they see in magazines influences them, including 70% of all females and 20% of males.
For question 9, 30% of all participants said that they believed family and friends
influenced societys view of what is beautiful (30% of all females and 30% of males). 85% of all
participants believed magazines influenced society (90% of females and 80% of males). 80%
believed celebrities had an influence (90% of females and 70% of males).
Questions 10 asked on a scale of 1 to 10, how much would you say
celebrities/models/figures in the media influence trends in fashion/makeup/beauty in general?
The overall results were that 10% (20% of males) said 2, 5% (10% of males) said 3, 15% (30%
of males) said 4, 5% (10% of males) said 6, 15% (10% of males and 20% of females) said 7,
20% (10% of males and 30% of females) said 8, 10% (20% of females) said 9, and finally 40%
(10% of males and 30% of females) said 10. (see figure 1).
The next question asked Have you ever personally struggled with body image? (This
could be anything from wishing your body was different to suffering from an eating disorder,
etc.) The participants were offered a yes or no answer. 55% of all participants responded yes to
this question. This included a shocking 90% of females and 20% of males. 45% of participants

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answered no to this question. This included 10% of the females and 80% of the males. ( see
figures 2 & 3)
The final question asked Have you ever compared yourself to what you see in
magazines, on television, in advertisements, or any other form of media? Again, participants
were to choose either yes or no. 40% overall said yes, including 60% of females and 20% of
males. 60% of all participants responded no including 40% of all females and 80% of males.

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Discussion
This study both supported and rejected my hypothesis in a multitude of ways. My
hypothesis stated that I expect to discover that there is a correlation between certain influences
and the way that people view body image and beauty in general. I also expect to discover that
people of different backgrounds have different feelings about these influences because of how
available or present they may have been throughout their childhood. I will also be paying close
attention to gender and the difference in the way that different genders view beauty. I predict that
females will have a stronger correlation between media influences and their own body image. I
also predict that women will be more likely to say that the media influences their beauty decision
tan the men will. Men probably will have a more realistic view of body image and therefore
wont be as influenced by media. They are also less likely to be exposed to models that appear in
fashion magazines, advertisements, etc. Finally, I expect to see a correlation between what the
media portrays as beautiful and what the subjects in my study see as beautiful.
Beginning with how this study rejected my hypothesis, I would like to take a closer look
at social and community influences that I predicted my participants would have. I predicted that
people that came from different backgrounds would have different feelings about these influence
because of how present or available they either were or were not throughout their childhood.
However, I found that all of the participants had media influences no matter where they were
from. I also predicted that people who came from communities where people looked a certain
way would be more partial to thinking what they were used to was beautiful. Again, however,
there was not a strong enough trend in my survey to fairly say that this was true. If this were of
more importance to my overall goal with conducting this study, I would go back and distribute
another survey that asked more questions about the participants backgrounds and what they had
been exposed to growing up.
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For the purposes of this study, however, I did ask how the participants felt their view of
what was beautiful. 85% of participants said they believed family and friends were an influence
on their view of beauty. When I asked the participants the exact same question only about what
influences societys view of what is beautiful rather than just their own, only 30% believed
family and friends had an influence. I found this result in particular to be quite interesting partly
because it is the individuals that come together to make up society and partly because it also
reflects the individuals view of others.
In separating the results by gender, it made it clear that my hypothesis was again both
supported and rejected by this study. When the participants were asked what body type they
believed was most attractive for women, more women than men answered with slender, more
women than men answered with athletic and more men than women answered with curvy. This
supports my hypothesis that women are more focused on being thin than men are focused on
women being thin. More men in this study said they think a curvy woman is most attractive than
any other body type.
Contradicting the results of that question were the results of the next question. This
question asked the participants what the ideal clothing size for a woman is and offered size
ranges to choose from. 75% of participants said the ideal size is between 0 and 4 and this
included 80% of females and 70% of males. I also want to consider alternate explanations for
these results which could be that males arent typically familiar with what women sizes are.
Other places that there were differences between the two genders were primarily seen
were when the participants were asked if they have ever personally struggled with body image to
which 90% of females said yes and only 20% of males said yes. Also when they were asked if
they have ever compared themselves to what they see in the media to which 60% of females said

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yes and again only 20% of males said yes. I think this is strong enough evidence to say that
women are much more influenced by the media in terms of body image than men are. I also
think that this says a lot about how much harder women are on themselves and their own bodies
than men are.
All of the figures below show a visual of the differences between the responses from
women and the responses for men. As we see in figure 2 and figure 3 there is a huge difference
in the responses gathered of men and women regarding whether or not they have ever struggled
with body image. I included on the survey that this could include anything from wishing your
body was different than it is to suffering from an eating disorder. As we see in figure 1, it is also
the women who rated the media as having a larger impact on beauty in general while the mens
scores were all over the place.

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Limitations & Future Research

After closely examining all of the results from my study, it is clear that the study was not
flawless and that there are a few things I would do differently in a future study. Since this was a
study that was done using a convenience sampling method, it was not as easy to get participants
who were willing to take the time to fill out the survey. However if I were to go back I would
find more convenient times to ask people to participate and hopefully get a larger sample group.
I would do this by asking students during a vacation week or possibly offering the survey online
like had originally hoped to do. This way students would be able to take the survey at their own
convenience and wouldnt be unable to participate in my study because they are in a rush.
While having a sample group of twenty participants that consisted of ten females and ten
males worked very well with my close examination of the different opinions of the two genders,
a larger group with an even amount of males and females would give me a broader outlook. It
could also reaffirm my results to see that I got the same ones with a larger sample group. I could
also use the test-retest method to make sure that my results were not influenced by any other
factors at the time and that they are repetitious with both sample groups.
There were also two questions on my survey that I asked and intended the participants to
choose from one of the three options however, I did not make that clear enough in the wording of
my question. I noticed that all of the participants chose all of the options that they thought
applied rather than the one answer they thought applied the most. This didnt harm my study
because I was able to look at the results differently than I had intended in the beginning. If I were
to go back and distribute the survey again, I would definitely work on wording those questions to
be more specific.

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I believe that the experimental design addressed the hypothesis. For every part of my
hypothesis I made sure to include questions that specifically addressed it on the survey. This way
I could decide if my hypothesis was directly correct or incorrect. I also tried to dig deeper into
the topics that were most important to my study. If I wanted to look more into influences in a
persons childhood or where they grew up I would ask more questions that targeted that part of
my hypothesis. However for this study I was more interested in how the media influenced
societys view of beauty than any other aspect.
Some questions related to this topic still remain including: How does social media and
the internet and the way we have a closer connection with celebrities affect the way we see
beauty? And where do these influences really originate from? Since one study cannot accurately
confirm or reject that a hypothesis is accurate, I would suggest further studies to begin with a
broader spectrum of participants (including those in other states, other schools, etc.).
My limitations for this experiment included little to no promotion that would recruit
people to participate in the study. Other limitations were also that I only offered the study in print
form. I believe that if it were also offered on the internet I would have obtained more participants
and therefore a wider outlook of results. In addition, an important limitation was that the survey
only reached people that had similar backgrounds. I would have liked the survey to be extended
to other schools and other states.

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Appendix
Figures & Tables

Response to Question 10
3.5
3
2.5
2
Female Response
1.5

Male Response

1
0.5
0
1

10

Figure 1. Response to question 10 in which participants were asked on a scale of 1 to 10

how much they believed figures in the media influenced fashion and makeup trends as well
as beauty in general.

Female Response to
Question 11

Male Response to
Question 11

Yes
Yes
No

No

Figure 2 and Figure 2. Response to question 11 in which participants were asked if they have ever struggled with body
image.

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Annotated Bibliography

Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used against Women. New
York: W. Morrow, 1991. Print.
The Beauty Myth focuses on women and beauty more specifically related to social
expectations of beauty in a time where women were gaining power. She not only explored the
concept of what beauty really is but went further to explore how it contributed to women and
their success in a world where their role was ever changing.
Wolf mainly focuses on how images of beauty affect and are used against women. She
explains how the idea of beauty plays a role in the different aspects of our lives. More
specifically, it is how women define beauty to be that creates problems throughout their lives.
She says we (society as a whole) describe beauty as being thin and youthful and women go to
extremes in order to attain these characteristics which in turn, create problems throughout their
lives.
She lists the different parts of our lives that are affected by the beauty myth and separates
them by giving each their own chapter in her book. They are: work, culture, religion, sex, hunger
and violence. She believes that having the idea of this unattainable perfect beauty affects each of
these aspects tremendously whether it is through discrimination at work or starving themselves
to be as thin as the models they see portrayed as beautiful.
She also suggests that the beauty myth became a stronger problem for women during an
era where women were gaining equality and being liberated from other anti-feministic ideas. The
beauty myth is actually something that women put themselves through more than society ever
could. Sure, they see images of successful women and beautiful women all around them but it is
they that put so much pressure upon themselves to become something they are not.
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Kuusisto, Stephen. "The Beauty Myth." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 12 Nov.
2006. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
This article focuses on beauty that cannot be seen but exists in the imagination. It is
written by a blind person who describes his own experiences about when he realized what beauty
meant to him. Its important to my research because it addresses the idea of what beauty really is
without considering how it compares to other images. In Kuusistos article he explains how he
listens and paints an image within his mind and still is able to see the beauty although he
physically cannot see it with his eyes.

This article will be helpful to my research because it forces the reader to think about
beauty in more simple terms. Kuusisto describes visiting museums and glorious far away cities
without being able to see them. Surprisingly it is not a sad memory for him. He describes the
way his friends would explain every detail of the sights to him and in turn take in its beauty on
another level themselves. He was able to paint a picture in his mind of what he was seeing and
let his imagination take him away. More importantly his imagination is always working when he
meets someone new; he listens to their beautiful stories and knows that they are beautiful people.

Patrick, Liz. "Beauty Standards in the World of Subcultures." Beauty Standards in the
World of Subcultures. Brynmawr.edu, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
One important concept that came to mind when I was thinking about how different
women view beauty, is that different cultures have different ideas of beauty. In some cultures,
women who are very thin are thought to be beautiful; in others, women with more curves and

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seen as more beautiful. In some cultures women gauge their ears and in others they cover their
hair wait scarves.
Beauty Standards in the World of Subcultures gave a good insight into what people in
foreign countries dress like and how they see beauty. This article also focuses mainly on
subcultures including those in the United States. It describes a few common subcultures and
how each of those sub cultures typically sees beauty.
This article will be beneficial to my overall study because it will help me think more
about the variant of different people that exist in our own country. It also helps me think of a
more diverse group of people. It would not be fair to simply think about how people in my
subculture dress and look when that is only one small portion of the population.

Sexton, Timothy. "The Media and Influence on Body Image and Beauty." The Media
Influence on Body Image and Beauty. Yahoo!, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.

This article was helpful to me because it brought up where society and the media send
messages to women all over the world and it explains that it starts at a very young age. This
article talked about how children were influenced with television images as well as toys that
were advertised to them. One important aspect that this article brings up is that the media always
has a target audience. This means that whenever an advertisement is put out, there is someone
the advertisers are trying to reach and persuade. There are parts of the media that literally are
meant to manipulate the way you think about things. We live in a world where the media is so
active that we see pictures of celebrities, models and airbrushed advertisements multiple times a
day whether we are conscious of it or not.

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Andrea. "A Timeline of Sexy Defined Through The Ages." StyleCaster. Style Caster, 19
Mar. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.
This article closely examines the way that the hairstyles, clothing styles, ideal body type,
and even role for women changed throughout different time periods and decades. I found it not
only interesting but also useful for researching my topic because I want to look closer into what
society considers to be beautiful and how it changes over time.

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