American Beauty

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Recommended: Standards of beauty in society

Standards of human beauty take various forms across the world; the adage that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” holds a truth evident throughout diverse cultures. Skin tone, weight, and even age are a few of the factors that play into perceptions of beauty. For example, in America, the endless Victoria’s Secret ads endorse the thin, ethnically ambiguous woman (typically with long, straight hair) as the goal towards which women should attempt to shape themselves. The culture of the United States stresses the connection between weight and overall beauty. Other countries promote lighter skin tone; in West Africa, the practice of skin bleaching for dark-skinned women is common, an estimate placing the number of women using lightening cream …show more content…

Presidential election represents a culmination of underlying messaging concerning standards of female beauty and the spread of these messages via the media. President Donald J. Trump’s views on women reveal the extent to which beauty as contingent with worth have permeated the core of American culture. With a President who frequently demeans women not only for any opposition they may show towards his past and current actions but for their bodies as well, the balance of power has shifted. The impossible standard imposed on young girls and women is now a threat from multiple angles. An analysis of the intricate layers of influence and power over the ways women perceive their bodies reveals a disturbing trend in the U.S. as dangerous to a woman’s wellbeing as it is pernicious to the …show more content…

During Trump’s campaign, the story of Alicia Machado caused a significant uproar over the treatment of women in beauty pageants. Janell Ross, writing the article “Alicia Machado, the woman Trump called Miss Housekeeping, is ready to vote against Donald Trump” for the Washington Post, writes, “…all that most people who are aware of Machado have known about her is that she was crowned Miss Universe in 1996, tangled with Trump over her weight and then moved on to a career in TV and movies.” President Trump ran his campaign as a businessman for the American people. Prior to his Presidency, Trump was the former owner of the Miss Universe, as well as Miss USA

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