Beauty and Globalization

美與全球化
…aside from the issue that search result itself being gendered…

I.美的概念 - CONVERGENCE?
• Global standard of ideal beauty?
– Agbani Darego, Miss Nigeria 2001, Miss World
2002
– Onishi, Norimitsu. 2002. “Lagos Journal;
Globalization of Beauty Makes Slimness Trendy.”
New York Times.
– See also: https://www.dw.com/en/the-
globalization-of-ideal-beauty/a-15968524
• Regional standard of beauty?
– Nollywood Actress
Brewis, A. A., Wutich, A., Falletta-Cowden, A., & Rodriguez-Soto, I. (2011). Body
norms and fat stigma in global perspective. Current Anthropology, 52(2), 269-276.
 1945-1980
• 香水和肥皂：起源於美國和西歐。 對這些產品的需
求源於19世紀中期的城市化，導致惡臭和傳染病的
增長。
• 面部美容產品：需求來自於隨著商業攝影和印刷技
術的進步而增加的視覺意識，包括女性時尚雜誌的
大眾傳播。
• 變形美容產品：唇膏，染髮劑和睫毛膏。
– 女性整容「範本」 拱北口岸頻現「范冰冰」
(am730 2013年09月05日)
– 男性 (隱藏數字)

Jones, Geoffrey. “Blonde and Blue-Eyed? The Globalization of the Beauty Industry
1945-1980.” July 11th, 2006.
http://www.international.ucla.edu/cms/files/Geoff_Jones_for_Von_Gremp.pdf
http://travel.cnn.com/seoul/visit/ideals-beauty-plastic-surgery-capital-world-389581
 全球化衝擊

• 全球的價值觀和行為準則取代了當地的價
值觀和規範?
 The Dark Side…
• Racism and skin bleaching in fashion magazines.
• “Cosmetic Surgery in Korea began with its import
from the West. As a result, the Western image of ideal
beauty came to replace the existing Korean ideal of
beauty, and the industry in Korea became dependent
on medical techniques and surgical operations that
were originally created with Western women in mind.
As a non-white race, Korean women’s bodies were
branded as inferior and flawed, and the image of
white women as conveyed through mass media in
such forums as the Miss Universe competitions and
Hollywood movies presented a beauty ideal that
Korean women felt obliged to pursue.” (p.60)
- Prof Woo Keong Ja, Yonsei University 2004.

Woo, Keong Ja. 2004. “The Beauty Complex and the Cosmetic Surgery
Industry.” Korean Journal 44(2): 52-82.
 Empirically supported!
• “While female celebrities outside of the US and UK
compete for the opportunity to be on the cover
pages of top magazines (Vogue, Elle, Glamour,
and Cosmopolitan), non-US and UK models
(particularly Asian, East European, and South
African models) have around one-third of the
space of their US and UK counterparts in the local
version of international magazines, and almost no
opportunity to appear on the cover of US or UK
magazines. In other words, fashion and beauty
magazines do not view the non-US or UK models
as the ideal image.”
Yan, Yan, and Kim Bissell. "The globalization of beauty: How is ideal beauty
influenced by globally published fashion and beauty magazines?." Journal of
Intercultural Communication Research43.3 (2014): 194-214.
 Not just beauty
standard, but
fat stigma is
globalizing

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/n
ews/article-
1372036/Globalisation-fat-
stigma-Warped-ideas-
beauty-body-size-born-West-
exported-developing-
nations.html
II.美的概念 - DIVERGENCE
GLOBAL STANDARD FOR REAL?
DIFFERENCE AMONG SAMENESS
What “beautiful” means in 23 different
countries - Esther Honig Project

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrzDgnq8Q3k
面相

Diverse reasons of
cosmetic surgery:
- Medical need
- Psychological
wellbeing
- Eastern or Western
Culture?
E.g. Physiognomy 面相

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/special-reports/772300/the-future-s-
written-all-over-your-face
Global
standard has
to be
interpreted
within local
context, and
different from
a ‘western
body’
 Standards
It seems that the “hairy” male body
remains a socially acceptable
embodied masculinity but not the
only acceptable embodied
masculinity, or even the (most)
desirable one. Contrasting two actors
from the James Bond film franchise —
Sean Connery and Daniel Craig —
illustrates this. Both embody iconic
masculinity, but Connery’s
embodiment conformed to a more
traditional acceptable “hairy”’
masculine image (chest hair but no
undesirable back, neck, or upper arm
hair), whereas Craig’s embodiment is
more suggestive of a “metrosexual”
(“feminized”) hairless masculinity
(Terry & Braun 2013, cited in Clarke
and Braun 2019).

Victoria Clarke & Virginia Braun (2019) How can a heterosexual man remove his body hair and retain his masculinity? Mapping
stories of male body hair depilation, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 16:1, 96-114
 文化超市 (Gordon Mathews)

COSPLAY PUNK LOOK

Mathews, Gordon. 1996. “Names and Identities in Hong Kong Cultural
Supermarket.” Dialectical Anthropology, 21, 3/4:399-419.
女性主義觀點：自由 或 壓迫?
• 美麗：現代化 或 西方化
？
• 自由 或 壓迫?
• 不平等現象
• 自我管理 - My body my
life, self-empowering
• ‘地方’ 美 -為誰的文化多
樣性？ 少數民族Kayan族
（克倫尼族）
纏足
http://www.cyberschool.oxfam.org.hk/downloads/02_Oxfam_01-21.pdf
III. HYBRIDIZATION OF BEAUTY
STANDARD? GLOBAL OR
REGIONAL BEAUTY STANDARD?
MARKET VS. INSTITUTIONALIZING
BEAUTY STANDARD?
• 全球化即交雜：創建新形式(美的混合)
– E.g. Saira Mohan, (so named) perfect face in Newsweekly
11/9/03

• 文化接近性 - 全球的美 或 區域的美?

– E.g. 誰出演了化妝品廣告? 流行文化偶像

• US-自由市場的美 vs. 歐洲: 制度化的美

– The Zero-Size Debate and banning of ultra-thin models

• 定義美的力量
– 對抗肥胖污名 & 道德消費 - 消費者主權 和 公民社會。
 The Zero-Size Debate
• Catwalk girl, 18, dies six months after
her model sister starved herself to
death.
• Fashion bosses in Madrid and
Milan have set a minimum body
mass index for girls appearing in their
shows in an effort to discourage
starvation diets and eating disorders
www.dailymail.co.uk
• France votes to ban ultra-thin
models in crackdown on anorexia
(2015)
– Modelling agencies protest as those
employing models considered too thin
face fines of up to €75,000 and six
months in prison
– http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/20
15/apr/03/france-bans-skinny-models-
crackdown-anorexia http://www.people.com
美與全球化的 三個基本概念：

‘美’的趨同？

‘美’的逐異？

混合美 / 全球美或地區美 / 制度化美 / 消費者

主權 / 公民社會 ？
END OF LECTURE