Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id UAA16948 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 22 Mar 2001 20:24:15 GMT Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 12:23:05 -0800 (Pacific Standard Time) From: TJ Olney <market@cc.wwu.edu> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Fwd: Survey connects graphic TV fare, child behavior In-Reply-To: <3ABA25E2.8B888D37@bioinf.man.ac.uk> Message-ID: <Pine.WNT.4.21.0103221211130.219-100000@C157775-A.frndl1.wa.home.com> X-X-Sender: market@[140.160.80.17] Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
I've paid quite a bit of attention to this women and media thing. I am
currently of the opinion that the best explanation for the continued
popularity of the "make myself more attractive" genre of women's magazines is
sociobiological in nature.
Women who are candid will openly admit that they have a certain amount of
power that stems from their appearance alone. (A few men have some of this
as well.)
The accoutrements of beauty are extended phenotypes for women. The pursuit
of beauty can then be seen as a sort of "arms race" and the ambivalent
attitude toward the magazines becomes more understandable.
In my experience, not all women "hate" it. Many in face revel in it. I was
once at a gender focused conference where a beautiful and young woman averred
that the women who complained the loudest about the stereotypes where those
who fit them most poorly. (Gloria Steinhem is an interesting exception, but
that's another story.)
It is also interesting to note that as Naomi Wolf (The Beauty Myth, Stiffed)
has matured and made a name for herself as a feminist and supporter of
women's rights, she has been able to take a broader perspective and
acknowledge to some extent the power of beauty. (See also, Nancy Friday's
book "Beauty Power".)
Tj
On Thu, 22 Mar 2001, Chris Taylor wrote:
> > most readers of women's magazines criticise them for their mis-representation > of "ideals" of femininity, and yet they still routinely buy them. What's going on
> > there?
>
> I think its the "I hate this but what can I do" thing - i.e. they have
> to keep up because it isn't as bad as not keeping up, but is worse than
> if there was no issue at all. Also, as well as passing peer muster,
> there's the aspirational thing (which is much more sophisticated and
> insidious for women - 'be a bit like her' - as opposed to the men's
> which tends to be more just 'be like him' [and get a shag]).
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Chris Taylor (chris@bioinf.man.ac.uk)
> http://bioinf.man.ac.uk/ »people»chris
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- TJ Olney market@cc.wwu.edu Not all those who wander are lost.
-- http://mp3.musicmatch.com/artists/artists.cgi?id=113&display=1
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