The Influence of Capitalism

16

2.2.3 The Influence of Capitalism

Nowadays, the practice of capitalism had already shifted. It is not only about the labor and the capital, but also about the consumerism which influence people way of life. Morton 2003:102 argued that capitalism is not interested in particular quality or usefulness of a singular object, but only in the exchange of the object for profit. As a matter of fact, women become the main object of the capitalist persuasion by commodity offers, like cosmetics, fashion, and aesthetic surgery. As Judith Still and Michael Worton 1993:11 said that beauty product sells at high profit margins and it could be argued that women are duped into spending time and energy in the competition to objectify them for men. Related to this study, capitalism is not only about a part of economic system, but also a kind of means to persuade people mind set in seeing beauty. It changes society perception toward cultural value, as modern people now become hedonist and obsess with something physically. Women become the object of beauty to fulfill men ideal perception. Take one example, the advertisement of beauty products in the television or magazines which represent attractive energetic young lady as symbol of beauty. Implicitly the capitalists try to symbolize how beauty should be determined. Gamble 2006:149 stated that advertising is the process by which people are persuaded to buy things, and are those transformed into consumers. It is innately sexist, presenting its audience with conservative female stereotypes which limit the ways in which women are depicted elsewhere in culture. Besides, it becomes both an expression of dominant ideological assumption within culture and by which such assumption are perpetuated. 17 Meanwhile men, they are placed as the subject who get satisfaction by seeing attractive appearance of women. They will feel proud in their community if they can possess women are beautiful physically. As argued by Maasik and Salomon 2006:488 that strong men battle for beautiful women. It means someone cannot be called strong man if he did not get a pretty woman. So that, it is something related to power and pride, and it is big deal to men. Meanwhile for men, it is a harmful situation, where they become the object and the victim of this situation. They are fettered by the beauty standard that mostly men believe. in other words, they are like a trophy if they are beautiful, and being cursed if they are not beautiful for discrimination and abuses both verbal and non-verbal they will get. As cited by Gamble 2006:97 from Way of Seeing by John Berger, that a different political of the power of relation implicit in the presence of men and women. As a man’s presence was promised of power, whereas a women’s presence implied self conscious display. Her sense of self split between the surveyors and surveyed. Shortly, the beauty which has been symbolized by the capitalist has already infiltrated people mind set, as they believe that their power lay in their representation.

2.3 Women