B. American Myth of Women’s Beauty
No one is born with an innate sense of what constitutes good looks. The concepts of beauty are culturally constructed. People learn the cultural standards
through a process of socialization. The concepts of beauty are culturally relative. Beauty in western thought is different from other cultures. That is why the
concept of beauty comes to be a myth. It means that beauty is about value system. Every society has its own value system which governs the world’s view of its
member of society. The myth is held in common by the members of such a group and creates an ideal image of women’s beauty.
As myth of beauty is about value system, it is essential to recognize the standardized image or conception of women’s beauty in certain cultural system.
Those culturally dictated standards can be recognized by exploring its stereotypes. This kind of stereotype describes the way a culture or significant sub-group within
that culture defines and labels a specific group of women. The categorizing or the labeling of that specific group of women will describe the myth of women’s
beauty shared within that culture.
1. Understanding the Term ‘Stereotype’
Jack Nachbar in Popular Culture: An Introductory Text defines stereotype as a standardized conception or image of a specific group of people or objects
which are shared by those who hold a common cultural mindset. It is about the way a culture or significant sub-group within that culture defines and labels a
specific group of people or object. Stereotype is a direct expression of beliefs and
values. It forces a simple pattern upon a complex mass and assigns a limited number of characteristics to all members of a group. Stereotype is both applied to
humans and objects. It is a form of representation which essentializes others through the operation of power. It often reduces persons to a set of exaggerated,
usually negative character traits Barker, 2000:392. Stereotype on humans is a mean of describing the way society set about
categorizing people based on particular characteristic. Jack Nachbar gives some examples of stereotypes on humans found in western cultures around the
characteristics of age, sex, race, religion, vacation, nationality: a.
age “All teenagers love rock and roll and have no respect for their elders”
b. sex “Men just want one thing from a woman”
c. race; “All Japanese look and think alike.”
d. religion “All Catholics love the Pope more than their country”
e. vacation “All lawyers are greedy weasels.”
f. nationality “All Germans are Nazi warmongers”
Nachbar goes on to give some examples of stereotypes on objects which are stereotyped around characteristics of places and things:
a. places “All cities are corrupt and sinful”, “Small towns are safe and
clean” b.
things “All American cars are cheaply and ineptly made”, “A good house has large lawn, big garage and at least two bathrooms”
As stereotype is a direct expression of belief and values of particular cultures, those mentioned stereotypes can be different from those that work in
other cultures. The researcher uses the stereotypes primarily as a tool to examine popular beliefs and values about people, in this case is about the ideal image of
women’s beauty. To define cultural mindset, it is important to search and examine wide social pattern of thought and behavior. A stereotype is a valuable tool in
analyzing popular culture because once the stereotype has been identified and defined, it automatically provides us with an important and revealing expression
of otherwise hidden beliefs and values Nachbar, 1992:237. The beliefs and values associated with specific groups change over time. Hopefully, stereotypes
are useful in tracing the evolution of popular thought.
2. Stereotype on Women’s Beauty
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