GENDER LANGUAGE AND

SOCIETY :
THE USE OF LANGUAGE OF
BEAUTIFICATION AND THE
MEDIA.

Elena Arenales Arranz

44916609R
Index
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................1
1. STATE OF THE QUESTION............................................................................................3

2. ANALYSIS AND EXAMPLES.........................................................................................6

3. CULTURAL SHIFT AND

CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………7
0
Introduction
This final assignment scrutinizes some of the aspects between language and beauty
standards presented in particular for the female gender in our society. The media as the main
mean of communication for young consumers plays a decisive role in the gendered
narratives. On the age of a “fourth wave of feminism,” the deconstruction of gender binaries
and the difference between biological sex and gender identity is supported. In this age the
representation of women´s discourse increasingly occur via social media (Maclaran, 2015) as
most of the publicity does. I will examine the implication of this combination, its language
and the theoretical and practical contribution of different approaches.

To start with the topic, I wonder: Is it implicit of a feminist to ignore beauty standards and
embrace their natural looks? Or is it feminism to be able to improve not only social,
economical and psychological aspects related to gender´s but also our physique?
Beautifying might be a positive experience for women. However, being viewed as a product
of beautification does not help autonomy and equality rights. Even the industry of animated
cinema and fiction is influenced by this and we can find how Disney picture female
protagonists with a “natural beauty” ( Elsa in “Frozen”) while witches ( Cinderella) “must
build their beauty with makeup and witchcraft”.

Regarding natural beauty I would like to ponder the well-known expression: “Beauty is in
the eye of the beholder”. It is a famous adage and indeed it is true that standards of beauty
vary from one society to another or from one person to another. However, the truth is that
there always is a standard, and something that we have to live up to in order to be considered
beautiful. While there is growing pressure on men to conform to beauty standards, it is still
women who are most affected by changing ideas of what constitutes beauty.

Initially, it is also worth looking at where these standards of beauty come from, and how
they have changed. Since the twentieth century, accepted beauty standards have stemmed
from what is portrayed in the mass media. The standards seem to be arbitrary, changing from
one decade to the next, or even faster. The only thing that they have in common is that for
most women, the standard is unattainable, whether it was the super skinny look of the sixties,
or the current trend for a hugely exaggerated hourglass. All over the world the standard is
different. In certain societies where food is scarce, a plump body is prized, while in many
Asian countries, extremely white skin is seen as beautiful. The perpetuation of these
standards is seen as deeply anti-feminist. Just to take one example, as women grew more
independent and enfranchised in the 1960s and 70s, so the ideal appearance of women
became more and more childlike, the frail, malnourished looking body contrasting with the
political and economic power women were gaining.

Airbrushing of images in the media is widespread, getting rid of flaws and creating
something that is unachievable in real life, even for the models. And it isn’t just the media
which is guilty of this: most celebrities and increasing numbers of non-celebrities put
airbrushed or edited pictures on social media. Thinning thighs here, enlarging eyes there,
these tweaks create an image of a woman more akin to a doll than to anyone we might
actually see on the street. This airbrushing and the presentation of the perfect woman is
thought to have caused many problems: eating disorders are rising consistently, as is
depression and the feeling of low self-esteem caused by comparing oneself to others.

Feminists like Judith Butler would argue that the presentation of perfection makes women
spend too much time focusing on the non-serious issues of make-up and body image, rather
than on pursuing economic and political goals. The same author shred some light on how the
beauty industry is based on identity performance. Apparently, customers use beauty products
to alter their appearance. Butler’s claimed that all “acts, gestures, enactments, generally
construed, are performative in the sense that the essence or identity that they otherwise
purport to express are fabrications manufactured and sustained through corporeal signs and
other discursive means.” Thus, all individual behaviors are performative in nature because
gender does not exist outside of the acts through which these are expressed.

As we saw in the course and Caitlin Hines (1992) mentioned “As desserts, women can be
bought […] elaborately decorated (as in the use of frosting to describe the makeup of beauty
pageant contestants)” which on the one hand illustrates how even semantics is targeted to
sound sexist. On the other hand the same author point sout how Jamaican English can be
appreciative on comments to a woman with : "You don't have to sugar up your lips for me" =
'You don't have to make yourself more dessert-like, i.e., wear makeup” .

Remarkably, it gives the impression that female magazines hold to the same trend on sexist
stereotypes. These magazines make a friendly appeal, while tabloids are abusive. Women
magazines advise their readers how to select the right cosmetics, be physically attractive,
0
lose weight, The ideal of feminity is embodied by a woman who “first and foremost attracts
men” (Renzetti & Curran 1989: 115). The ´superwoman´ is talented, beautiful and sprightly
. Her professional achievement is a priority, but this depends on her physical appearance, i.e.
dressing, the right make-up, hair style. Renzetti & Curran 1989: 115)
This also happens by means of body language: women are often showed symbolically
silenced by placing their hands over their mouth in in perfume advertisements. Analogously,
women are also shown withdrawn in a distracted, introverted state. As they pose, they
become just objects for men to gaze at and desire. This can be seen a way of keeping women
down, and distracting them from seizing the power from men. Others argue that this is too
simplistic, and gives little agency to women, making them seem incapable of making their
own decisions.

Going much further than airbrushing, plastic surgery has experienced a boom in popularity
in the past twenty years. In the USA, 92% of all cosmetic procedures in 2016 were carried
out on women, with breast augmentation and liposuction being the most popular choices.
South Korea, renowned as the world’s plastic surgery capital, sees more procedures per
capita than anywhere else. For instance, surgeries in Korea focus on reconstructing the face,
often to give a more Western appearance.

Plastic surgery in particular is vilified as being anti-feminist. Women who go to such

extremes are seen as betraying their gender by not accepting the face or body they were born
with, and putting themselves in danger in order to please others. On the other hand, some
have begun to argue that plastic surgery is an expression of feminism: women have every
right to change their bodies if they are not happy with them. Condemning individuals for
making a decision is not helping the overall problem of creating a society which is happy
with their faces and bodies. Women have been changing their appearance for centuries,
aware that being perceived as more beautiful can give them more access to jobs and better
relationships. Beauty is power, and while men hold the power in society, women will
continue to adhere to their ideal beauty standards.

Examples
It is evident that the language that Mary Wollstonecraft, as the mother of first-
wave feminism, started has evolved immensely going from the Traditional Era (1937-1960),
through the The Liberation Era (1961-1989) to The Empowerment Era (1990-2014). I will
expose here just a few samples:

Examples of slogans from www.cosmeticdatabase.org and www.sephora.com.

“Did Someone Say Party? Crown Me Already! Don’t Toy With Me! Hello Flawless!
Swimsuit.. Nailed It! Caught In The Act, Courtney! Face Gloss In Boyfriend Glow! Be
Slapped!
Can’s A Berry Have Some Fun? Have You Seen My Limo? Where’s My Chauffer?
Give Me The Moon Show Me The Ring Buy Me A Cameo
Girls Just Wanna Play Girls and Just Wanna Party Clubbin’ I’m Bronzed To Perfection”

Vocabulary :
i.e Boyfriend Cheater Mascara

Multiple emotive adjectives to describe women in a negative manner, plus modifiers. For
example, eye shadow colours are termed as ‘disturbia’, ‘shameless’, ‘luscious’, ‘jealous’,
‘curvy’, ‘racy’, ‘flashy’ and ‘skinny’. Media and popular culture, however, associate the
term ‘diva’ as someone who is rude, selfish, spoilt and demanding.

Analysis.

Nowadays, women are encouraged to buy cosmetics by the use of language with names to
serve as a reminder of women gendered place. The selection of words to modify the basic
makeup tools also endorse patriarchal thought to perceive women as a marginalized group.

The comparison of sex-features in the language in publicity is still present. This fact might
certainly be motivated on physical grounds because, after all, men are generally bigger and
stronger than women. Nevertheless, the implications of some metaphors may transcend the
solely physical and hint at stereotypical views of manhood and womanhood (Baker, 1981;
Nilsen, 1994, 1996; Hines, 1999).

0
Perez (2013) found long term exposure to misrepresentations and sexisms of women as the
continuing factor why treatments to women never improved. She mentions wrong
representations of women cause the society to internalise the behaviour, making
mistreatments to women justified and acceptable.
There seems to be a huge amount of cosmetic names suggesting an endless search for men’s
admiration and approval that reinforces the idea that women depend on men. Unfortunately,
the perception is that the feminist discourse did not exert any kind of influence on this
language so far.
Furthermore, most of cosmetic names are created in a way that they suggest women should
resort to cosmetic to attain self-satisfaction. As a result, this fosters the patriarchal principles
that our society revolves around, ‘male centeredness’ ,‘male identification’ and ‘male
domination’. The abuse and frequency of these patriarchal doctrines impacts on the society,
who has learned that the normative views towards women are as described in the cosmetics.
We should bear in mind that the media holds an focal responsibility in propagating beliefs and
shaping perspectives. Product names that are worldwide brands and that these are marketed
all over the world deteriorates the women´s positioning . The conventional roles of women
and some expectations are still instilled in the make-up names to serve as a reminder of
women gendered place.

The fact that cosmetic are targeted to female buyers does not imply that advertisers can
simply infuse female attributes and use of semantic derogation in products. It goes without
saying that misrepresentations or stereotypical of gender make an impact on the culture to
objectify and transmit wrong messages about women.
One of the chief critical act that publicists have implemented against women is by exposing
the feminine gender as a synonym of implied and constant sensuality. Likewise, products for
women usually contain sexual allusions when they are being advertised, just due to the fact
that sex-sells according to (D’Enbeau, 2011:54).

From my view anti-aging cosmetics instill insecurities and inadequacy . These are always
describe with connotations that aging is a serious issue to face in our society. Some experts
like Brown and Knight (2015) described how in the media bombard with ads where beauty
and youth are emphasized. As a result, wrinkles are considered as a sign of failing and aging
is condemned when it should be just a physical sign of witness and experience.

Other examples.
Although this is not part of the topic, I would like to include how not only marketing
industries but what should be considered an official neutral, non-biased and credible source
such as the British government sometimes publishes messages who picture women as the
weak sex infographic:

Image from https://www.voxburner.com/blog/does-sex-sell-for-gen-z-your-marketing-guide/

0
Cultural shift in this language.

There is also a tendency on the news that pictures women in daily life with an opposite
attitude to their predecessors. Nowadays most of the women are not bound to perfection as
they were before. However, there are factors that make an impact on them as aforementioned.
Generation X (aged from 30 to 44) and millennials (aged from 18-29) but Gen Z are re-
defining the parameters since they would not exhaust themselves in search of perfection or
they would not aim to achieve an elusive ideal but to grow professionally. From Miley, Mack
´s (2009)view they “aim to be pragmatic, efficient and rooted in reality”.

“The New Female Consumer”, an American report about marketing and publicity (2009)
inferred how females showed signs that they have a general interest to be embraced for who
they are and they do not aspire to complete perfection.

In behalf of the change it must be acknowledged that some cosmetic names are empowering
and adapting to healthily towards women customers. For instance: An American brand called
Wellness Bend Beauty announced in September 2020 via Instagram that its mission is to
“create a beautiful life” and that embracing aging is part of this process. To communicate this,
the brand dropped the term anti-aging from its products… That Formula product has been
renamed Renew + Protect. This, according to the official marketing promotes that “the
nuanced choice in language is an important shift towards a new representation of beauty
products”.

Language’s power to create more transparent, equitable, and inclusive brands that reflect
consumer values seems to be taking root in the beauty industry. However, the marketing field
must re-express the very definition of beautiful.

Additionally, the new Generation Z has been labelled as ‘Generation Sensible’ as well. They
seem to have a more inclusive and positive view which enhances the displays of sex in
marketing. Undoubtedly, youngsters are really receptive to themes in relation to body
positivity , female empowerment, and a variety of dialogical ways to expressing yourself
however you choose. They are quick to call out any advertising they feel is creepy or overtly
sexual as well.
In addition we should bear in mind that is a new term in publicity named as “femvertising”.
This terminology derives from the union of “feminist” and “advertising”, which according to
Corporate.shemedia.com (2019) is described as a type of advertising that uses pro-female
talent, message and imagery to empower women and girls. This trend started with the
#Femvertising Awards that took place in 2014 .The site celebrated an Advertising Week panel
to “host brands whose advertising defies gender stereotypes. Therefore, the scenario is to
some extent, actual challenge in progress to traditional advertising, as it disrupts the stream of
clichéd female representation (Eisend, 2010).

To conclude, I will highlight that it is also true that beauty products allow clients to bring their
genders into the world through playful expression, which supports Butler argument on the fact
that there is no innate gender. As a reminder, drag is the ultimate challenge to the idea of
biological gender as it “fully subverts the distinction between inner and outer psychic space
and effectively mocks both the expressive model of gender and the notion of a true gender
identity.” Hence, language in cosmetics should respect and reflect this in a similar way.

0
BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................................................................................
Brennan, William. "Female objects of semantic dehumanization and violence." The Free
Library 22 June 1995. 06 July 2023 <https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Fmale objects

Butler, Judith. “Bodily Inscriptions, Performative Subversions.” In Gender Trouble:

Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. (New York: Routledge, 1990) 173.

H I N ES, CAITLIN Rebaking the Pie The WOMAN AS DESSERT Metaphor (1992)

www.cosmeticdatabase.org and www.sephora.com.

Gill, R. (2003). From Sexual Objectification to Sexual Subjectification: The

Resexualisation of Women’s Bodies in the Media’. Feminist Media Studies. 3(1), 99-106.

Tazanfal Tehseem, and Umme Kalsoom EXPLORING THE VEILED IDEOLOGY IN

COSMETICS ADVERTS: A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE . Department of English,
University of Sargodha PAKISTAN European Journal of Research in Social Sciences Vol.
3 No. 2, 2015 ISSN 2056-5429 Progressive Academic Publishing, UK

Wolf, Naomi (2015) The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against
Women. Ed Vintage Wolf .

Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Penguin Books, 2004.

https://www.wundermanthompson.com/insight/redefining-the-language-of-beauty

Zimmerman, A., & Dahlberg, J. (2008). The Sexual Objectification of Women In

Advertising: A Contemporary Cultural Perspective. Journal of Advertising Research, 48,
71-79.
0