Are You Considered "Beautiful?"
Gutierrez, Patricia Lorenza D. Mallari, Kimberly Rose J.
Are you considered “beautiful”?
Whenever you hear the word beauty, what first pops in your head?
BEAUTY - a six-letter word yet has a wide variety of definition. The concept of beauty varies from one culture to another. What one finds beautiful someone else might find bizarre, outrageous, or sometimes, even ugly. Spray tans are the norm for the people in Jersey Shore, yet for people in Southeast Asia, they infatuate with the pale, white skin that they consider as beautiful. Right now, it is already hard to find cosmetic products that do not have whitening agents because of this trend. In some parts of Western Africa, being fat is considered fabulous ̶ women are considered beautiful when they are overweight and sporting stretch marks. How in the United States of America? Almost the whole population think it is unpleasant, that is why a lot of Americans are obsessed with slender and sexy bodies, whether in males or in females. Western beauty is now defined with the combination of Botox, implants, plastic surgery diet, hair extensions and make-ups, and a lot of these can be clearly seen in Hollywood. Because of this concept of beauty in the West, Brazil, known as the home of the most beautiful people in world, changed their concept of beauty. Originally, Brazilian women are admired for their “guitar-shaped” body. But because of the Western media, they began to reduce their hips and behinds to match the slender and almost unhealthy ideals of the Western people. This clearly shows the effect of a certain culture to another, and how a society can define the concept of beauty of the public. The same way goes in the Philippines, where almost all of the products and practices came from the Western countries. In this way, the society dictates the true definition of beauty, especially in the Philippines.
Television commercials in the Philippines deeply promote certain ideas that define beauty, especially
Are you considered “beautiful”?
Whenever you hear the word beauty, what first pops in your head?
BEAUTY - a six-letter word yet has a wide variety of definition. The concept of beauty varies from one culture to another. What one finds beautiful someone else might find bizarre, outrageous, or sometimes, even ugly. Spray tans are the norm for the people in Jersey Shore, yet for people in Southeast Asia, they infatuate with the pale, white skin that they consider as beautiful. Right now, it is already hard to find cosmetic products that do not have whitening agents because of this trend. In some parts of Western Africa, being fat is considered fabulous ̶ women are considered beautiful when they are overweight and sporting stretch marks. How in the United States of America? Almost the whole population think it is unpleasant, that is why a lot of Americans are obsessed with slender and sexy bodies, whether in males or in females. Western beauty is now defined with the combination of Botox, implants, plastic surgery diet, hair extensions and make-ups, and a lot of these can be clearly seen in Hollywood. Because of this concept of beauty in the West, Brazil, known as the home of the most beautiful people in world, changed their concept of beauty. Originally, Brazilian women are admired for their “guitar-shaped” body. But because of the Western media, they began to reduce their hips and behinds to match the slender and almost unhealthy ideals of the Western people. This clearly shows the effect of a certain culture to another, and how a society can define the concept of beauty of the public. The same way goes in the Philippines, where almost all of the products and practices came from the Western countries. In this way, the society dictates the true definition of beauty, especially in the Philippines.
Television commercials in the Philippines deeply promote certain ideas that define beauty, especially
References: A. VIDEO CLIPS DelMonteFitNRight. (2012, May 21). Fit 'n Right Commercial: Ronna and Hiroshi [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5qWHklNYdU Nelie14TG. (2012, June 4). Jessy and Enrique for Head and Shoulders [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFIyvSwOuI4 ProudlyPinoyTVC. (2011, August 31). Eskinol "Whitening Facial Cleanser" TVC [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkT5looc3IQ B. ONLINE DOCUMENTS Hackett, J. (2012). “True Meaning of Beauty”, http://confidenceisbeautiful.blogspot.com/2012/03/what-is-beauty.html Lewis, T. (2010). “The Lengths We Go For Beauty”, http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/galleries/2010/07/19/beauty-ideals-around-the-world.html#slide1 Courtney, V. (2008) “What is Beauty?”, http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/sexuality/preventing_the_sexualization_of_your_daughter/what_is_beauty.aspx Etcoff, N., et.al. (2004) “The Real Truth about Beauty: A Global Report” http://www.clubofamsterdam.com/contentarticles/52%20Beauty/dove_white_paper_final.pdf Caporimo, A. (2011). What’s Beautiful Now: The Allure American Beauty Survey http://www.allure.com/beauty-trends/2011/american-beauty-census#slide=1