Spring 2008

WGS 340 • COMPARATIVE BEAUTY CULTURES-W

Course Description

This course explores the intersections of race, class, and culture in contemporary and historical constructions of "beauty" in American society. We will examine how class and gender shapes definitions of beauty and why beauty is mapped on to the racialized body. We will ask, for example, who defines beauty ideals and how do definitions of beauty reflect broader cultural processes? How do body ideals take shape and who and what in society sustains those ideals? We will also analyze the culture and business of beauty including the cosmetics industry, beauty pageants, the politics of hair, and the mainstreaming of plastic and aesthetic surgery. What impact do these practices have on feminist discourse and gender stereotypes? How has feminism engaged with beauty culture? How are perceptions of beauty defined by race and class? How have marginalized groups responded to dominant constructions of beauty? Finally, we will take a comparative approach to beauty culture and explore how U.S. beauty culture has influenced or has been influenced by other cultural practices throughout the globe.

Texts

Kathy Peiss, Hope in a Jar Sander Gilman, Making the Body Beautiful Sarah Banet-Weiser, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World Alex Kuczynski, Beauty Junkies Susan Bordo, Unbearable Weight Required Films: Question of Color, 58 minutes Becoming Barbie, 47 minutes Killing Us Softly, 34 minutes Miss India Georgia, 56 minutes

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