Beauty Pageants

Where and how did the "beauty myth" originate?

Women cannot find strong role models in today's society without getting a false impression. Too often the role models are of women of unrealistic beauty. Take for instance the big screen: a bunch of long legged, skinny, women with flawless faces, voluptuous breasts, and not a spec of cellulite. All of the "model" women in the media seem to have "perfect lives"; their biggest catastrophe being where to put the indoor tennis court, or the indecisiveness of what to wear to the Golden Globe Awards . Finding role models on the glossy pages of magazines and posters has become even more prominent. Gazing at these "role models" has become an act in which shapes the way women look and feel about themselves in today's beauty conscious society. American women base their lives on a myth, a beauty myth, which impairs their self-image and distorts their views regarding their peers, unlike their male counterparts who are not affected by such a myth.

"Men look at Women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only the relations of men to women, but the relation of women to themselves."