Research Project:
The research project explored the elements that effect women beauty standards. By reading scholar books about women, feminism, beauty history, and marketing, a conclusion was made that there are three elements that affect women beauty standards: social expectation, globalized advertising, and feminism. Patriarchal society used to have the expectation on women that they should be housewives or servants staying at home, so women’s clothing and appearance were heavy and complicated; universal marketing enhanced and strengthened the stereotypes that women are submissive and the traditional beauty standards, and it also spread conventional western aesthetics to Asia, which leads to the result that Asian people appreciate white people’s appearance. In modern times, feminism springs up, and women started to work for themselves and decide what to wear and what is beautiful, so modern women beauty standards are more diverse.
Related Project:
From researching, I noticed that human personalities are not instinct, but effected by their surroundings. Surprisingly, the thesis for the draft was different from my research question. I found out that not only commercials effected women’s beauty standard, but also did the feminism and social expectations. Everyone who lives in societies are affected by everything happened in his or her life. For example, women are taught to care about their outward appearance because the society expects them to be beautiful objectify themselves so they are under males’ control. In fact, we are not “us”, who we thought we were, but the combinations of the things that we experience in the past.
In this project, I built an installation that made out of different items that represent the things that happened in my life and effected me. Putting them in certain position, their shadows shape a female figure under the light.
