International Beauty Propaganda

The Standard

Norms of beauty differ in India dependent on ethnic foundation, class, region (metropolitan versus provincial), and so forth. The light complexion is overwhelmingly and usually preferred, however, then there is a critical rising number of individuals who don’t discover this marker significantly.

The light complexion is found to be a significant marker more for females than for males. Stature is viewed as more significant for guys than females. Healthy hair is extremely valued. Indians like wavy hair, straight hair, wavy hair… it relies upon your own inclinations and what one looks like on them. Big doll-like eyes are preferred with long eyelashes and thicker eyebrows.

The History

The standard of fair skin is one that is deeply ingrained within South Asian culture. There have been many occurrences that have contributed to this from multiple invasions to the caste system that Indians themselves have produced. South Asia, a heterogeneous locale, has been a cultural melting pot since antiquity. In the beginning, it was the conquering by Aryans that set the tone for the standard as the darker-skinned Dravidians were thought of less than since that time. Later on, the Mughals and Europeans invaded which amplified the fairness standard to what it is today. Along with that came the Indian caste system, a framework that associated lighter-skinned individuals with a higher caste and those who were darker with a lower caste. Surprisingly, the caste system has yet to be diminished from Indian culture despite the extreme modern progression that the country has gone through during this time.

The Obsession with Skin Lightening

The Fair and Lovely trademark is one that is familiar to practically every household in South Asia regardless of class. The brand has been the pioneer in the resulting multi-billion dollar skin-lightening industry that the Indian sub-continent has produced and has built a reputation for the standard of beauty. First introduced in 1975, Fair and Lovely became all the rage among Indian housewives and prospective brides. The skin bleaching cream became a cosmetic essential among its target market and the market soon spread to women of all ages from Sri Lanka to Singapore. The beauty standard in South Asia has always been to have fair skin, this product has only aided that rigid ideal as it gave people the perception that it is attainable for everyone. 

Advertisements for this skin whitening cream have been plastered over numerous train stations and business buildings from New Delhi to Dhaka. Children walk past these advertisements and are conditioned to believe that fair is beautiful. This mentality then grows and is shown in their actions from judgment to bullying their peers for their skin tone.  Both the artifacts of the Fair and Lovely commercials and the children’s book page share the commonplace that “pale is beautiful”. These artifacts within themselves are not unique as colorism is common across the seven seas but the universal message behind them is what makes their content fundamental. 

Conclusively, the Fair and Lovely advertisements and brand are major components in South Asian culture due to their heavy influence and reinforcement of backward thinking beauty standards that have been deeply embedded within the culture and history. What makes these commercials and messages so significant is that they have impactful contributions to beauty standards that are set in a certain society. Fortunately, the acceptance for such artifacts has decreased over time as of recently as Indian society chooses to progress beyond these ideals as seen with the brand’s revamp. This provides a powerful message on the power of people, especially considering that they were the ones responsible for both creating such standards as well as breaking them. 

 

 

 

The Islamic Republic of Mauritania is a country located on the Atlantic Coast of Northwest Africa. I came to learn more about the country through a video on youtube and I have been intrigued about their culture and beauty standards ever since. Although the nation is tormented with food deficiencies and constant droughts, Mauritanians practice the custom of “leblouh” or “gavage” which intends to fatten up a woman quickly to make her plump. girls normally start this practice as early as the tender age of 5. The obscure places where young girls are forced to undergo this process are known as “fat camps”. This is a world of difference from the typical standard of relatively skinny that most parts of the world desire.

The Standard

The ideal of beauty in Mauritania, a nation covered in desert, is the complete opposite of the typical standard faction of thin women. Mauritanian custom holds that among women, the bigger the better. Layers of fat adds on to the layers of supposed sex appeal for Mauritanian women. The inclination began hundreds of years prior among the Moors, migrant Muslims of Arabic and Berber stock who make up 66% of Mauritania’s 3.1 million individuals. To the old Moors, a fat spouse (similar as fat domesticated animals) was a symbol of a man’s riches, evidence that he had sufficient wealth to take care of her liberally while others died in the dry season terrain.

The Obesity Issue

It comes to no surprise that women of Mauritania are prone to obesity. Obesity is linked to various side effect, including hypertension, type II diabetes, discouragement, nervousness, stroke and coronary hearts illnesses. On one hand, the ladies of Mauritania are empowered and heavily rewared for carrying on with an obese lifestyle, on the other, it is a day to day existence full of medical problems. Obesity in adolescence can amount to long term medical issues. In the more Westernized large urban communities, some Mauritanian ladies are completely against the practice.

 

Fat Camps

The act of leblouh is essentially force-feeding and it includes tremendous amounts of camel or goat milk, slop, dates, peanuts and oil. An average stay at a fat ranch typically includes around 3 months of leblouh and next to no active work. Frequently, the farms are run in completely isolated regions where the young girls have minimal possibility of escaping.In the event that a girl attempts to run away, or won’t follow the timetable given to her, she is beaten. According to a Mauritanian woman by the name of Aminetou Mint Elhacen,”The aim is to feed them until their bodies blow up like balloons.”

Young ladies are frequently beaten and forcefully fed to guarantee they acquire tremendous measures of weight in the brief timeframes spent at the fat camps. Regularly, they are deceived by relatives and have no clue about where they are being sent, or why. Many are informed that they are going to a day camp, and will return more beautiful than ever before. The ladies running the fat camps utilize different techniques for maltreatment to guarantee that weight is acquired. These incorporate beatings with canes and sticks being constrained between toes to urge young ladies to submit.

Conclusively speaking, for the women of Mauritania, past being a dangerous and terrible practice, it is likewise an instance of outrageous mixed-messaging. Men in their general public consider ladies of outrageous weight as profoundly alluring, and relatives support this lifestyle to extreme extents.

Regardless of the rushes of resistance, bigger political developments have influenced the oppisite direction. The practice is on the rise, because of expanded help for the restoration of more conservative and customary traditional mindsets. What’s the significance here for the ladies of Mauritania? Until more instructive education is implemented to feature the threats and ramifications of obesity,this dangerous practice will continue to reinforce the male ideal of the ‘perfect lady’. Authorities keep on choosing not to see the destructive and unfeeling act of leblouh and it is accepted that being thin as a female carries disgrace to the family.

 

For millennia, Korean women have conformed to this norm of female magnificence with astounding consistency. This standard has been resistant to the progression of time, and current headways as the development of makeup and plastic surgery have progressed. In any case, researchers today uncover that there is a perpetual arrangement of qualities that keep on characterizing the Korean standards. Hence, the ideals that were passed down for hundreds of years pertaining to the concept of the perfect South Korean female have lasted for as long as they have.

The Facial Standard

Pale and dewy skin that is resistant to any form of acne or imperfections is the standard and foundation for South Korean beauty. A sharp and slim nose, straight eyebrows, double eyelids, a V-shaped chin, soft jawline, and thin yet supple lips are then added to the list of rigid ideals for women in South Korean society. There is additionally a specific doll-like cosmetics style Korean ladies wear called Ulzzang, where the eyes are sought to look bigger, and the skin is made out to be paler with lighter foundation and concealers, and the lips are painted to look smaller. What I find ironic about these standards is that they stray away from the traditional monolid oriental woman.

The Ideal Body

South Korea has been popularizing in “alphabetization,” which is the grouping of bodies into shapes dependent on letters from the alphabet. There is the S-line body type which is where breast size is abundant and the posterior is prominent when seen from the side all the while the stomach is completely flat. There is also the X-line where long legs and arms are paired with a thin midriff. Cleavage is depicted utilizing a W-, Y-, or V-line. The picture above shows the kpop star known as Seolhyun whose cardboard cutouts took South Korea by storm. Her “perfect” body is one that is so sought after that the very cardboard cutouts of her body were often stolen in broad daylight and would be sold for a hefty sum of cash.

The Ugly Side of Beauty

South Korea is famously known for its hyper obsession with visible appearance and corrective medical procedure. The fixated focus around appearance constrains people to adjust to cultural assumptions and go through with expensive cosmetic surgery procedures to achieve something close to the ideal. As I was doing research on this topic, I was surprised to find out just how common plastic surgery is in South Korea. It is so embedded into the culture at this point that a common graduation gift for young girls is double-eyelid surgery or maybe even a nosejob. Today, South Korea is broadly viewed as the “plastic surgery capital” of the world, bragging the most noteworthy number cosmetic procedures per capita around the world, with more than 600 clinics running in Seoul alone.

Appearance is also a measure of success as it seems that one can’t progress with simply brains alone. To apply for a job in South Korea – even those where you wouldn’t be showing your face to the public – one must attach a picture of themselves to be competitive for the position. It is common for photography studios to specialize in job application photos where heavy retouching and photoshop can be done to strengthen the applicant’s chances.

The glorification of certain facial and body highlights creates an environment where the average person lacks confidence and feels self-conscious about their appearance which leads to striking mental health statistics. I feel that I should also mention that South Korea has one of the the highest suicide rates due to its extremely competitive education system. One can imagine the stress that an adolescent growing up in this environment has to face for their studies alone let alone what society thinks of them based upon how they look.